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Think about the last project you took the lead on.
Did you run into issues getting the parts you needed?
Were there moments when communication felt like a struggle – maybe because of time zone differences or language barriers?
And how about those frustrating shipping delays?
These challenges are all part of navigating the 2025 supply chain. For manufacturers, it’s all about having the right materials and components ready to keep things moving. Failure to do so stalls production, leading to delays and added costs.
Working with a domestic mechanical motion control manufacturer can make things smoother and help you avoid many of these common supply chain frustrations.
2025 Supply Chain Outlook
If you’ve read a few articles on the supply chain outlook 2025, you’ve probably come across the same theme – supply chain management this year will remain as it has for the last several years: challenging.
While there’s not a global pandemic throwing a giant wrench in the global wheels of commerce, there are a few key factors that are making managing the 2024 supply chain a bit tricky:
- Global Trade Disruptions: The 2025 supply chain faces pressures from geopolitical tensions like conflicts in Ukraine and the Red Sea, which disrupt shipping routes and raise security risks. Shifting trade policies, including increased tariffs between major economies like the U.S. and China, further complicate supply chains.
- Transportation Costs: Volatile fuel prices significantly impact shipping expenses, creating uncertainty for operating budgets. Coupled with new environmental regulations requiring investments in cleaner technologies, the maritime industry faces mounting challenges to balance costs while meeting sustainability targets in 2025.
- Supply and Demand Imbalances: The delivery of large container ships expected in 2025 is set to outpace demand, contributing to an oversupply in container capacity. This surplus, coupled with slowing demand, makes it difficult for shipping companies to formulate sustainable pricing models, potentially leading to soft pricing extending into 2025.
Why More Companies Are Bringing Manufacturing Back Home
If your company is looking for mechanical motion control solutions, it’s best to look to a U.S.-based manufacturer.
Why is that?
The third-party supplier profile is changing.
In the past decade, more than 1 million jobs have been reshored back to the U.S.
A movement is afoot, brought on not only by a pandemic and its subsequent supply chain disruptions, but also a legislative push to bring back localization – manufacturing a product in the same country as its market.
4 Reasons to Reshore With a Motion Control Manufacturer
There are many routes to effective supply planning for your manufacturing needs.
We'll look at some of the ways reshoring supplied parts – such as those for motion control – can mitigate supply chain issues, including:
1. Localization
Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, there’s a renewed emphasis on producing goods locally for the market they’re intended to serve.
Weaknesses in a global supply chain were fully exposed during the pandemic. For instance,
foreign factories suffered losses and slowed production, or shut down entirely. At the same time, shipping companies also struggled to maintain their routes with fewer workers, only to reach American shores and have nowhere to unload due to backlog at the docks.
Companies now calculate supply-chain risk in their overall cost analyses – and it pays to source locally for:
- Mitigating supply chain disruption
- Benefiting domestic economies
- “Made in the U.S.A.” branding
- Freight costs
Companies reshoring elements of their supply chains have also found gains in better communication and faster lead times working with U.S. manufacturers.
2. Single Sourcing
Single sourcing is the deliberate choice of a company to contract a single supplier to provide a particular part or component. This is different from sole sourcing, where a provider is selected because they’re the only supplier available.
The single-sourcing approach helps companies:
- Increase efficiency
- Cut costs
- Improve quality
Because it’s a competitive process, partnering with the right single-source supplier streamlines purchasing and frees up administrative time spent procuring parts.
Working with a single-source, American-based hinge manufacturer, you only need to make one phone call to one source. And building closer relationships with your supplier leads to further savings through improved communication and collaboration on future projects.
How do you find the right single-source supplier?
Don’t spring for the lowest bidder – a quality-based bidding process takes into account the extent and quality of a bidder’s product, as well as its reputation for service, collaboration, and delivery. Overseas manufacturing prices are generally cheaper. However, the finished product(s) don’t always live up to expectations.
When integrated into a localized, reshoring approach, single sourcing with the right hinge manufacturer leads to:
- Better communication,
- Higher quality parts,
- Speedier development and delivery, and
- More convenient interactions.
3. Vertical Integration
Taking control of two or more stages of the production and/or distribution process for a product, i.e. vertical integration, allows manufacturers to control costs, ensure better quality control, and gain greater efficiencies in the supply chain.
When you work with a vertically integrated hinge supplier, they control every aspect of their process, from the initial design phase through production. They handle:
- Prototyping
- Testing
- Raw materials processing
- Finishing
- Assembly
- Packaging
- Shipping
With everything under one roof, they have better control over product quality and lead times, as well, boosting both your production schedule and finished products.
4. Inventory Management
Since inventory counts on a company’s balance sheet as assets, it’s essential to manage it properly. Company leaders must weigh the risks of not having enough inventory (think: supply chain disruptions) against the onus of eating up company cash to store more product than necessary.
In turning away from traditional production (the higher the output, the higher the profit margin) they’ve come up with a variety of “lean” inventory management methods, such as Just-in-Time (JIT).
With the JIT method, as the name suggests, a company holds only enough inventory to meet its current demands. Operating under JIT reduces waste and saves a lot of money – but, it’s also gambling that nothing will disrupt the supply chain. In JIT, supply chain disruptions, which are more common now in partnerships with overseas manufacturers, cause bottlenecks, which cost a lot of money.
Many companies have invested countless hours and dollars implementing lean manufacturing, including JIT inventory management styles. Should they abandon JIT for more traditional methods to mitigate supply chain issues?
Absolutely not.
Combining lean inventory management with localization enables a company to reap the benefits of storing less inventory while shortening the physical distance between it and its suppliers. Reducing transportation time for goods, as well as reducing communication problems, also lends well to the JIT method.
Supply Planning Made Simple
Reshoring isn’t just about bringing production closer to home – it’s about finding a U.S. manufacturer that offers single-source services, vertical integration, and solid inventory management.
By building partnerships that focus on reducing risks, shortening lead times, and avoiding bottlenecks, companies are creating better experiences for their customers while strengthening their operations in the long run.
Partner With the Right Hinge Manufacturer
As a vertically integrated, single-source partner, the Weber Knapp team is ready to become an extension of your team, sharing technology and contributing to the design of your product through a continuous collaborative effort. Let’s work together.
