Leveraging the Economic Benefits of Foreign Trade Zones

 

The following is excerpted from the 13 July 2011 issue of Industry Week. It was written by an FTZ software provider and may be of interest to members.

Foreign Trade Zones (FTZs) confer clear financial benefits to manufacturers and retailers. Using an FTZ can expedite product flow to market or enable strategic product releases motivated by demand rather than dictated by overseas shipment timing or the need to recoup tariff costs. In addition, FTZs can provide a methodology for overcoming quota restrictions. If your firm has taken all the obvious steps-outsourced production to the lowest-cost overseas manufacturer, analyzed the supply chain and identified the most cost-effective carriers and transport methods, and maximized automation across operations-consider the FTZ as your next best strategic option to be more competitive in today's challenging economy...

This article is available in its entirety on the Industry Week website at: