While offshore manufacturing can reduce costs and increase efficiency, it also has drawbacks such as language barriers, time zones, infrequent face-to-face communications. One solution may be looking closer to home by establishing manufacturing operations in Mexico, according to Robert Brenner, vice president of warehousing and distribution at Avnet Inc., an electronic components firm based in Hoffman Estates, Illinois. Mexico has a skilled work force and a diversified economy, Brenner wrote in an article in Inbound Logistics.