MCLEAN, VA—What products and components offer the biggest opportunities for reshoring? What advanced manufacturing technology is needed to enable the reshoring? To what degree did the pandemic disrupt supply chains, and how did it affect sourcing? To answer these questions and better understand the needs of the manufacturing technology community, AMT—The Association for Manufacturing Technology and the Reshoring Initiative are asking manufacturers to participate in an online survey to help in rebuilding the supply chain. The survey is open through March 31.

COVID-19 has accelerated deglobalization in manufacturing, but that shift was already underway before the pandemic. Between 1990 and 2016, global trade had been growing at average annual rate of 4.9 percent, according to the World Trade Organization.

Growing sustainability and resilience concerns brought about by trade war uncertainty and the COVID-19 pandemic have companies looking for ways to mitigate risk and increase agility.

Since the end of the Great Recession, U.S. manufacturing jobs increased steadily, from 11.5 million in December 2009 to 12.9 million in November 2019.

Current conditions are propelling a global supply chain shift. Tariffs, the COVID-19 pandemic and sustainability concerns are driving this change.

We—manufacturers, government and the public—have failed dismally to capitalize on the opportunity to revamp supply chains and grow U.S. manufacturing.

All things being equal, most U.S. consumers would prefer to buy products that are made in the USA. So when a company claims a product is made in this country when it's not, it can get burned.