What you should know about manufacturing countries:
Choosing a country for manufacturing is an important and critical decision and is based on many factors such as type, complexity, quantity, raw materials and components of the intended product. Following is a few basic criteria for each country.

China
By far the largest manufacturing country in the world, China like Japan in the early 40s has grown from a low cost, low quality manufacturing to a giant in manufacturing by developing significant manufacturing infrastructure and technical know how. China's initial advancements were due largely to expert entrepreneurs from Taiwan and Hong Kong who in a large part trained and developed the infrastructure. China's growth however, has been due to government policies and continued market reform and massive foreign investment. China's excellent work ethics, its improved manufacturing base and ability to manufacture many products places it on top of the list. 

Taiwan
With a solid manufacturing base, remains a strong manufacturing country for more specialized, technical and information technology products. Since the manufacturing base is primarily composed of smaller firms, product volume requirements are normally smaller than in China.

Hong Kong
Since becoming part of China in 1997, Hong Kong has been slowly integrated into the main stream China and has transferred many of its labor intensive product manufacturing to China. Hong Kong, however, has maintained some light and specialized manufacturing facilities such as, electrical equipment, appliances, toys, jewelry and specialized plastics.

India
India is emerging as a new manufacturing haven for certain specific products and industries. Despite their standing as the largest English speaking nation in the world, due to their slow regulatory environment, already established manufacturing habits, and underdevelopment infrastructure has remained limited for international manufacturing. India's major exports include jewelry, chemicals, metal castings, and textiles. India also exports engineering, software and CAD services.


Thailand
Emerging for such products as electronics, wood products, clothing, and jewelry.

South Korea
Due to its developed economy, Korea's manufacturing is in capital intensive facilities, such as automobiles, ship building, electronics, and petrochemicals.