When Xometry launched the topline outcomes of its new Manufacturing Outlook Report, the information confirmed simply how a lot stress producers really feel heading into 2026. Prices are rising, reshoring is accelerating, and executives stay uneasy about their potential to climate the following main provide chain disruption.
Of the executives surveyed, 76% count on to lift costs once more subsequent 12 months, and 1 in 5 are planning will increase of 16–20%. But 59% of consumers have largely accepted these worth hikes, an indication of continued demand regardless of financial uncertainty. On the similar time, reshoring continues to speed up. Based on the report, 45% of producers have already moved some operations again to the U.S., and 81% are engaged in reshoring in some type. Home sourcing grew 28%, whereas worldwide sourcing nonetheless rose 22%, underscoring the complexity of at present’s provide chain choices.
To know what this implies for the businesses that truly design, supply, and produce elements, I spoke with Mike Cavalieri, Xometry’s Senior Vice President of Market Operations. Cavalieri has spent greater than twenty years constructing provide chains for robotics and automation firms. He now helps lead one of many world’s largest AI-powered manufacturing platforms. His insights clarify how digital manufacturing is evolving, and the place additive manufacturing (AM) matches in.
Mike Cavalieri. Picture courtesy of Xometry.
“Many executives merely don’t really feel ready”
Cavalieri said that “65% of executives solely really feel considerably ready, or not ready, for vital provide chain danger or disruption. Even those that suppose they’ve a contingency plan typically battle as soon as an actual disruption hits. They could know what they’ll do, however really stopping a disruption of their outbound items is one other story.”
If the COVID-era chip shortages taught the business something, it’s that it wants built-in backup choices, not last-minute fixes when a disruption hits.
Xometry’s report exhibits that reshoring stays a significant precedence and isn’t slowing down. However it’s additionally extra complicated than merely “bringing all the things again to the U.S.,” explains the chief. Producers are in search of resilience, not simply proximity.
“We see firms strategically selecting a number of geographies. They need secure political relationships, however in addition they need to keep away from having all the things uncovered to at least one area’s climate, flooding, or different acts of God.”
Though reshoring is accelerating, U.S. producers aren’t pulling out of abroad markets solely. As an alternative, they’re spreading manufacturing throughout extra areas to keep away from being depending on any single nation. That’s why Xometry continues increasing in China and India, and is constructing new capability in Vietnam. That’s to not change U.S. reshoring, however to provide clients a number of low-cost choices when disruptions occur.
Europe exhibits the identical sample, says Cavalieri. Many producers depend on Japanese European suppliers for close by, inexpensive manufacturing, whereas Asian firms proceed sourcing inside Asia. The development isn’t “carry all the things residence,” however “don’t maintain all the things in a single place,” he famous.
This push is pushed by a need for resilience, not ideology. And as Cavalieri emphasised, probably the most dependable provide chains comply with a easy rule: “serve in area, from area.” Doing so not solely reduces danger but in addition improves communication and retains logistics prices down.
Inconel steel 3D printing. Picture courtesy of Xometry.
Additive’s rise: from “good to have” to important
Cavalieri sees AM as an vital software for the type of stability many executives say they’re lacking: “Additive is a staple within the R&D section. Even in down cycles, technology-leading firms shield their R&D budgets. And that demand constantly hits our additive funnel. And since additive depends upon available supplies and digital information, the provision chain is of course less complicated. So when you have the filament, the powder, the resin, and the identical gear in two locations, you may make the identical half in both place. That’s an enormous benefit.”
From Xometry’s vantage level, AM is now not only a “prototype-only” software. It’s turning into a versatile bridge between early concepts and low-rate manufacturing.
The corporate’s Manufacturing Outlook Report is free and open to everybody, providing an in-depth view of the forces shaping U.S. manufacturing within the 12 months forward.
In Half Two of this sequence, we discover how additive manufacturing is gaining floor and what challenges stay earlier than it turns into a completely mainstream manufacturing software.
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