One in seven manufacturing companies has brought its offshore operations back to the UK in the past two years, according to a report.
The EEF study of 300 organisations showed manufacturers were moving production back due to concerns about poor quality and higher freight costs.
The trade body, which represents thousands of manufacturing companies in the UK, said the country had become "increasingly competitive and efficient" over the past few years.
"Many companies have taken advantage of the low-cost emerging markets, both as market opportunities and also as a means of reducing costs," the EEF's chief economist Lee Hopley told the BBC.
"If lower labour cost producers can't provide what they need when they need it, then the alternative is to produce in-house and bring production back to the UK, which some are clearly doing."