Swiss Manufacturing Survey - National Study 2018

The report focuses on the manufacturing sector in Switzerland, and is annually realized to present the situation of the industrial sector in the country. In 2017, the participants in the survey were 186, of which 139 SMEs and 45 large companies that totally represented 11 industries. Results show that one third of the surveyed SMEs, and two third of the large companies changed the geographic production footprint in the last three years; mostly they offshored to China, Germany and Eastern Europe. The main reason for offshoring was the reduction of production costs. Moreover, companies implemented a total of 10 relocation decisions, of which 3 from China, and 3 from Balkans. The decision to produce and to relocate in Switzerland is closely linked to the vicinity between production and R&D activities; on the contrary, the "made in" effect is not so relevant. Main barriers for manufacturing in the country are the high labor costs and the currency exchange rate.