As the country reevaluates manufacturing, sourcing and purchase decisions, due to tariff and pandemic-induced supply chain turmoil, we should consider the wide-ranging advantages of collaborative partnerships. Reshoring is a team sport; together we can win our shared objective to boost U.S. competitiveness!

Studies show that Americans prefer U.S.-made products and that this preference can help bring manufacturing back to the United States. Consumer choices have a real impact on the economy, but some surveys indicate that less than half of consumers tried to purchase U.S.-made goods. Here’s a buying strategy to help you and other consumers turn preferences for U.S. goods into more purchases, which will help rebuild the U.S. economy.

U.S. companies have, too often, removed manufacturing from their list of “core competencies” focusing instead on finance, marketing, and design. But how can OEMs increase U.S. competitiveness and reshore profitably? Learn to reevaluate the offshoring/reshoring decision and close any remaining cost gaps.

Tap into sourcing solutions, resources, and tools to meet today’s challenges. As OEMs and suppliers work to fulfill orders with strong market fluctuations, knowing how to navigate supply chain disruptions is key to competitiveness.

Paul Ericksen writes one of the best-read monthly columns for IndustryWeek. He draws on his decades of supply chain experience, sharing some eye-popping facts in this “top 10” column.

The COVID-19 pandemic revealed the vulnerabilities of 40 years of hollowing out U.S. manufacturing. So, how dependent is too dependent? Understanding the risks will drive our national motivation to achieve a safe balance.

OPTIMIZE = Optimize operations. Purchase locally. Train your staff. Invest in new technology. Monitor efficiency. Innovate. Zoom calls. Execute on the data. An expert with 40 years of experience in the machine tool industry shares his thoughts on improving competitiveness.

Companies are averting supply chain disaster and pivoting to the “new normal.” Priorities are beginning to shift from cost minimization to more resilient, localized supply chains and risk minimization. With today’s supply chain turmoil, companies are reevaluating their offshore sources, and reshoring is beginning to surge in 2020.

Options for rethinking a supply chain approach include lean, agile, or a combination of the two, sometimes called “leagile.” Here’s a quick introduction to all three, plus a stress test to help spot supply chain vulnerability.

We’re surviving tariffs, trade wars, and COVID—by the time the next disruption inevitably strikes, will you have created a more resilient supply chain? Options for rethinking your approach include lean, agile, or a combination of the two sometimes called “leagile.”

The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed a lack of adaptability, flexibility, and resilience in meeting the demand for critical goods, materials, and production equipment in the United States. As it became clear that the United States, over a period of years, had decided to buy, and not build, items that were suddenly critical supplies, equipment builders and manufacturing supply chain management were thrust into public view after having long been in the shadows.

Supply chains have evolved as an efficient way to source raw materials and parts from the most cost-effective global sources for the manufacture of final products. To date, they have not focused on resiliency, visibility, or redundancy; instead, the goal has been to deliver speed and quality at the lowest cost.

The supply chain disruptions caused by COVID-19 may have appeared unexpected and sudden, but they are the result of decades of decision-making that led to key parts of the North American manufacturing supply chain being offshored. Often, those decisions made sense. It is profitable for American companies to lower their labor costs and decrease their regulatory burden; but in doing so, many became over-reliant on foreign suppliers, and the supply chain buckled under this recent pressure. The weaknesses in the supply chain are likely to widen and threaten the American industrial base unless action is taken.

Tier 1 companies are relying on transformative technologies to get through the pandemic and navigate their future. Familiarize yourself with these accessible assets and learn how to strengthen your own operations and be a part of rebuilding the supply chain.

IMTS is different this year, and not just because of COVID-19 and its impact on supply chains. In the era of standard manufacturing technology, conversations between providers and customers are focused on the classic “Ps” of marketing: product, price, performance, people, promotion, and place. Digital manufacturing technology changed that paradigm. As the IMTS community comes together through the IMTS Network and IMTS spark, IMTS suggests participants absorb information within the framework of “3 Es.”

U.S. manufacturing output growth has been slowing, especially since 2000. Our goods consumption has grown at least as fast as GDP, but we no longer make the majority of what we consume. Understanding why offshoring became so strong will help define how to drive rebuilding the supply chain.

The U.S. share of global manufacturing has shrunk from about 50% in 1945 to 17% in 2018. How did this trend occur? What success have we had since 2010 in reversing the decline? What needs to be done to restore self-sufficiency, to reestablish U.S. supply chains? How can companies engage and benefit? Get answers.

The United States is consistently ranked as the top destination for foreign direct investment. A major portion of that investment is in the manufacturing sector. As the world responds to the pandemic by adopting more nationalist policies and deglobization accelerates, the inflow of FDI is expected to significantly decrease.

To avoid disruptions in production, more companies are taking a cue from Walmart and Amazon. They are using Vendor Managed Inventory or outsourcing inventory for someone else to manage to ensure the right product goes to the right person at the right time.

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 provided financial incentives for making capital investments through increased Sec. 179 expensing limits and 100% bonus depreciation. These government incentives play a critical role in helping manufacturers acquire new technology to improve their global competitiveness.

Students around the world are putting their CAD-CAM, 3D printing, and metal cutting skills to work making a variety of equipment including respirator masks, ventilator components, and face shields.

More than a quarter of manufacturers are now known as “Social Supers,” meaning they are dedicated to improving the environment and the world, according to Deloitte’s 2020 Manufacturing Industry Outlook.

Wisconsin manufacturer quickly adapts his industrial dust-collector product to help create a HEPA-filtered, negative-pressure environment for use in a COVID-19 hospital unit. With his commercial business down 50 percent, the product helps keep workers employed and boosted their moral when they heard none of the healthcare workers in that hospital have contracted the virus.

Learn how to show customers that the lowest price is not always the lowest cost. Here are six ways job shops can help strengthen the supply chain…and gain new customers.

With supply chains disrupted, what can the industry do to adapt and thrive? Leverage data and analytics via a “digital twin,” take your supply chain for regular stress tests, and adopt a flexible API-driven mix of onshore and offshore supply chain for global resilience. Most importantly, avoid short-term thinking that focuses on a cost-averse strategy, which increases risk and is symptomatic of a corporate philosophy that devalues long term thinking.

Two longtime manufacturers discuss the industry’s future supply chain, tools to help calculate actual supply costs, and where to find supply chain resources.

No stranger to setbacks, Illinois manufacturing business owner Nicole Wolter has learned to embrace uncertainty by acting quickly, gathering facts, and relying on others. Here’s how she’s responded to her state’s recent stay-at-home order.

COVID-19 forced an intervention when fragile, over-extended supply chains broke and exposed our inability to domestically supply critical items, from N95 masks to circuit boards for ventilators. This article touches on the history of our industry and supply chain.

Since the first show in 1927, IMTS, under its former name - the National Machine Tool Builders’ Exposition, has had a history of reenergizing the advanced manufacturing industry after challenging times. Take a look back at some defining moments for the industry. IMTS is positioned once again to lead the industry out of a crisis.

How Airon, a Small Florida Manufacturer, Quickly Partnered with Ford & GE Healthcare to Make Ventilators.

In just 12 days, good old fashioned American ingenuity helped this team fast-track a ventilator production agreement to help healthcare workers fight COVID-19. Managing a business requires confident leadership in the face of pressure. It's easy to feel uncertain during the pandemic, but what can we do about it? Here are five ideas to foster a resilient business.

Managing a business requires confident leadership in the face of pressure. It's easy to feel uncertain during the pandemic, but what can we do about it? Here are five ideas to foster a resilient business.

Many in the IMTS community are helping the world fight COVID-19. From exhibitors who make tools to media publication partners who are providing online resources, here are some examples of our industry supporting the fight.