Last updated on July 24th, 2025

Amid tariffs, trade wars, and continuing geopolitical tensions, supply chain disruptions remain one of the primary concerns among manufacturers in 2025. Let’s look at some of the supply chain-related challenges manufacturers are currently facing, as well as some of the ways businesses are attempting to mitigate these challenges.

Fictiv, a global manufacturing and supply chain company, published its 10^th Annual State of Manufacturing & Supply Chain report for 2025 based on insights from leaders in the industry. The following are some of this year’s most significant supply chain challenges and strategies, according to Fictiv’s report.

Supply Chain Challenges

• Trade policies and global uncertainty: Changing tariff policies, geopolitical tensions, and climate-related issues such as natural disasters and major weather events within the past year have led to an increasing state of global uncertainty. This uncertainty impacts supply chains by increasing the risk of disruptions, driving up production costs, and making planning and forecasting more difficult.
• Lack of resources: Companies report continued staffing shortages, rising labor costs, and lack of capital as significant factors preventing effective management of supply chains.
• Supplier issues: Manufacturers are facing challenges related to supplier quality, reliability, and compliance, making it difficult to maintain production standards.
• Lack of supply chain visibility: Lack of visibility along the supply chain hinders manufacturers’ ability to anticipate and manage issues.
• Barriers to product innovation: Sourcing has become an obstacle for some when it comes to developing new products. Manufacturers are having difficulty sourcing high-quality product prototypes in small volumes within a fast enough production timeline. In addition, many companies report that their engineers are spending too much time focused on sourcing instead of designing new products.

Supply Chain Strategies

• Onshoring and nearshoring: To minimize risk in the face of global uncertainty, many manufacturers are moving operations closer to home, either to the U.S. or other North American countries. Fictiv reports that, of the industry leaders surveyed, “68% of leaders report onshoring to the U.S. as key strategy in 2025, followed by nearshoring (50%) and diversifying global manufacturing operations (39%).”
• Diversifying suppliers: Diversifying suppliers helps to strengthen the resilience of supply chains against unpredictable events and circumstances.
• Digital manufacturing solutions: “Smart supply chains,” featuring AI and predictive analytics, utilize automation to predict disruptions, forecast demand, assist in maintaining strategic stock levels, and improve visibility.
• Focus on sustainability: According to IBM, sustainability in supply chains can “make operations more cost efficient—for example, by reducing waste and minimizing energy requirements—and improve reliability and resiliency within the supply chain. Together, these benefits can deliver significant savings and improve profitability.” Fictiv’s survey indicates sustainability as a priority for manufacturers in 2025, as companies turn to nearshoring and onshoring—along with other strategies—to reduce environmental impact, build more resilient supply chains, and meet customer demand for sustainable practices.

Navigating supply chain challenges and implementing strategic solutions is no simple task, especially given the current climate. For additional guidance, the Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) National Network offers resources and services to help improve supply chain performance and manage disruptions, including supply chain mapping, risk assessment, supplier scouting, procurement strategy, and more.

While you focus on your supply chain and other priorities, you can count on RBT CPAs to handle your accounting, advisory, audit, and tax needs. Give us a call and find out how we can be Remarkably Better Together.