SHOULD YOU OUTSOURCE OR NOT?  AND WHY?

I am quite aware that outsourcing has a bad name for many people.  Yet there is a time to outsource and times not to.  My largest concern in this area is that not everyone knows all that is at stake in these decisions, or how to approach the decision compare points, and when does it make sense? 

I have never made the decision for a company to outsource.  Yet I have outsourced millions of dollars of work - some to the US, some to Mexico, and some to China.  Why?  Everyone works for someone, including me.  One can give their opinion, but if the decision is to outsource, then I wanted to be the one who did it.  Long before I outsourced anything for a company I could see it coming in the near future - at the time.  So I did a few things I never regretted.  One was that I went to a powerful outsourcing seminar that covered the common sense of what to outsource and what not to outsource and why.  I will not give the answers here, but I would be glad to share that with anyone who hires our firm.  I feel that everyone should know the wisdom of that class before even thinking about outsourcing.  I have seen many make mistakes and outsource the wrong things. I have also seen some who seem to have seen the wisdom in it through their own intelligence and make all of the right decisions.  One of those was my eye doctor, whom I admire for many reasons.  He is not only skilled, but one of the most ethical people I know, but he also seems to have figured out what to outsource without taking the class.

The second thing I did was to get on the newly formed Motorola Outsourcing Steering Committee - that was formed even before Motorola did outsourcing.  And I also was the person who managed to get the CEO of the largest electronics outsourcing company in the US a speaking engagement at Motorola.  He still owes me!  But maybe, just maybe, we all help each other, and that should be the point.

But even if one decides to outsource, will that person compare the right costs?  I find that most do not.  It seems to me that in some companies someone on their board might wake up one morning and say "we are going to outsource".  Now, that might be their right, but it would be best to have an evaluation.  For example, at the same time some companies are pushing their manufacturing far away, some other companies are insisting that their suppliers be very close to their final assembly area.  They both cannot be right at the same time.  What are the considerations?  I can help - at least many people - on some of this.

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