Overview
As more businesses consider moving manufacturing closer to home, the challenge lies in making products cost-effective to produce in higher-wage economies like the UK. This article explores how experienced product designers can rework consumer products to suit local manufacturing (also known as nearshoring or onshoring) – reducing part counts, simplifying assembly, eliminating unnecessary features and designing with packaging and automation in mind. It also highlights why this complex redesign process requires deep manufacturing knowledge and is best tackled in close collaboration with a chosen factory.
Product Design for Local Manufacturing
As manufacturing costs rise overseas and supply chains face increasing pressure from US Tariff changes, more businesses are exploring near-shoring and on-shoring as viable alternatives. Producing closer to home offers improved responsiveness, greater supply chain control, and fewer shipping uncertainties. But these benefits often come with a cost: higher labour and overhead expenses.
To make local manufacturing financially viable, experienced design teams must go beyond surface-level tweaks. They need to re-engineer the product itself. In this article, we explore how product design for local manufacturing can unlock cost efficiencies without compromising quality or user experience.
1. Simplify Components and Assembly
Reducing the number of parts in a product directly cuts material costs and assembly time. A skilled product designer will:
- Consolidate parts and integrate functions
- Design self-locating and self-fastening features
- Eliminate unnecessary fixings like screws and glues
Simplified products are not only cheaper to manufacture but are also easier to automate, essential when local labour is costly.
2. Use Locally Available Materials
Global sourcing can no longer be taken for granted. Designing for local manufacturing means choosing materials that are:
- Readily available in domestic or regional supply chains
- Cost-effective in the local market
- Compatible with UK manufacturing processes
This may involve rethinking the bill of materials and exploring new materials that balance performance and cost.
3. Design for Local Manufacturing Techniques
Domestic manufacturing facilities often use different processes than offshore suppliers. Instead of labour-intensive assembly, UK-based production typically relies on CNC machining, injection moulding and automation.
Product designers must adapt designs to suit:
- Faster, more automated production techniques
- Tolerances appropriate for locally used tools and machinery
- The practical capabilities of identified manufacturers
Designing for what local factories do best leads to smoother production and fewer costly surprises.
4. Rework Cost-Heavy Features
Some features that are easy and affordable to produce offshore, such as integrated electronics or complex moving parts, can become prohibitively expensive to produce locally.
Where possible, designers should:
- Reassess which features truly add value for the end customer
- Redesign or simplify high-cost elements
- Explore mechanical alternatives to expensive electronic solutions
This rethinking often leads to more focused, user-friendly products.
5. Design for Easier Automation and Reduced Labour
When labour costs are high, shaving even seconds off assembly time can significantly impact profitability. Experienced product design teams:
- Design assemblies that snap together instead of requiring screws
- Eliminate tools and jigs where possible
- Build in clear visual or tactile alignment features to speed up production
The goal is always to reduce manual handling and simplify every step of the build process.
6. Consider Packaging Early in the Design Process
Packaging and logistics are often overlooked in product design, but they matter even more when producing locally, where warehouse space, packaging materials, and fulfilment labour are all more expensive.
Optimising product design for packaging includes:
- Reducing product fragility to cut protective packaging needs
- Designing products to nest or stack efficiently
- Making the product smaller to allow for more compact, lower-cost packaging
- Enabling faster, simpler packing processes
This approach reduces total cost per unit and increases sustainability.
7. Review the BOM and Apply MVP Thinking
Rather than trim around the edges, sometimes the most effective way to design for local manufacturing is to go back to basics. That means:
- Reviewing the full bill of materials (BOM) for components that add cost but not value
- Reimagining the product using MVP (Minimum Viable Product) principles
- Stripping the product back to what users actually want and are willing to pay for
This deeper rework ensures that every element in the product serves a purpose and that none of them break the production budget.
Success Story
When a vehicle accessories company approached us, their existing UK made product worked well for consumers but was proving costly to manufacture at scale. Our task was to reduce production costs while maintaining or improving product quality and customer perception.
We introduced several design-led cost-saving innovations:
- Folding frame redesign: We developed a new folding version of the product, which enabled a 40% reduction in packaging material usage. This dramatically cut packaging, storage and shipping costs.
- Alternative production method: We identified and recommended a more efficient process that removed the need for a highly expensive specialist tape, reducing assembly complexity and recurring material cost.
- Improved material selection: We proposed a new material that looked more premium to the client while also offering better performance. Crucially, it removed the need for a secondary production process, further reducing costs.
- Range development for higher margin: Rather than simply cutting costs, we also helped the business explore a new premium range, which slightly increased cost but significantly improved perceived value and margin.
This project demonstrated how focused, strategic design changes can unlock considerable savings and even create opportunities to grow profit through smarter positioning.
Key Takeaways
- Simplify designs to reduce part counts and labour
- Select materials and processes suited to domestic manufacturing
- Remove or redesign features that are cost-prohibitive to produce locally
- Always design with automation and fast assembly in mind
- Consider packaging constraints during early design phases
- Use MVP thinking to eliminate cost that doesn’t deliver value
Product Design for Local Manufacturing FAQs
What does it mean to design a product for local manufacturing?
It means adapting a product’s design so it can be manufactured efficiently and affordably using the capabilities, materials, and processes available within the UK or nearby. This often involves simplifying the design, selecting local materials, and minimising labour-intensive features.
Is it more expensive to manufacture in the UK than overseas?
Labour and overhead costs are typically higher in the UK, but thoughtful product design can offset these by reducing part counts, simplifying assembly, and using automation. Local manufacturing also saves on shipping, reduces risk, and can offer faster turnaround times.
Can any product be redesigned for local manufacture?
Most products can be reworked to some degree, but the extent of redesign depends on complexity and feature requirements. Products that rely heavily on labour-intensive assembly or specialised offshore components may require more substantial changes, or a modular approach that combines local and offshore production.
How early should I involve a product design team in the reshoring process?
As early as possible. The best results come when designers work closely with your chosen manufacturer from the start, ensuring the design fits the factory’s processes and capabilities. This collaboration avoids costly redesigns and ensures efficient production.
Why choose D2M for local manufacturing projects?
D2M combines creative design skills with real-world manufacturing experience. We don’t just make things look good – we design them to be built affordably and reliably, right here in the UK. From BOM reviews to packaging optimisation, we help clients make reshoring practical, profitable and painless.
Conclusion
Why Experience Matters
Product design for local manufacturing is not a standard design task. It requires experience, a working knowledge of domestic manufacturing processes, and the ability to collaborate effectively with factory engineers. Most industrial designers simply haven’t had to balance cost pressures with UK production realities.
That’s why this kind of work is best done with a manufacturer already lined up and open communication between engineers and designers from the outset.
At D2M, we thrive on this kind of challenge. Our team knows how to balance function, cost, and manufacturability. If you’re considering re-shoring your product, we’d be a very sensible place to start.
