RESHORING CASE

Marklin (Germany)

Company details
Code: 
MarklinG
Company name: 
Marklin
Company country: 
Germany
Number of employees: 
980
Sector: 
C - Manufacturing
Sector detail: 
C32 - Other manufacturing
Sub-sectors: 
C32.4 - Manufacture of games and toys
Reshoring details
Reshoring announcement date: 
24/01/2015
Starting implementation date: 
January, 2014
End of Implementation : 
December, 2015
Reshored to: 
Germany
Location of affected unit(s): 
Göppingen
Location code: 
DE114
Reshored business function: 
Production
Reshoring governance mode: 
In house (in own facilities)
Reasons for reshoring: 
Economic crisis
Energy costs
Firm's global reorganization
Implementation of strategies based on product/process innovation
Know-how in the home country
Poor quality of offshored production
Case narrative: 

Marklin is a German producer of toys, famous for producing toy locomotives.
In recent years the company has aimed to save costs by adopting offshoring strategies to China. However, in 2014 and 2015 it invested in the German plant in Göppingen, in order to backshore production. Sources are not clear regarding the number of new jobs created through the backshoring. Moreover, sources do not clarify the exact motivations behind the backshoring, however a generic claim regarding access to higher quality goods has been cited. 

Sources: 

KPMG press release, 26 August 2015 

NWZ, 24 January 2015 

Offshoring details
Offshoring location: 
China
Offshored business function: 
Production