Return of the blacksmith

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Kevin O’Marah, the eloquent content director of UK-based supply chain research group SCM World, writes this week about the emergence of new types of manufacturing jobs to be found in the developed world. The basic premise is that labour-intensive manufacturing employment is unlikely to return, despite all the voluble claims about reshoring, whereas highly skilled artisanal manufacturing will become increasingly important in developing economies, as companies need to bridge the gap between the mass-produced and the customised.