Reshoring is everywhere right now. Tariffs, years of highly visible supply chain disruptions, and growing concern about where critical parts come from have pushed more companies to rethink their manufacturing sourcing strategy. At Precision Expedited, the question we hear underneath all of it is more useful than “where should this part be made.” It’s “who should be making it.”
Reshoring investment is rising. So are manufacturing imports.
Here’s the part that doesn’t make the headlines. According to Kearney’s 2026 Reshoring Index, U.S. imports of manufactured goods increased 4.6% in 2025 and reached a four-year high, despite tariffs and record investment in domestic manufacturing. Companies are spending heavily to bring production home while buying more manufactured goods from overseas. You’d expect those trends to move in opposite directions, and they haven’t.
That gap shows that deciding to reshore and building a domestic supply chain that works are two separate events. A company can announce a reshoring initiative, invest real money in domestic capacity, and still be sourcing parts overseas a year later, because qualifying a new domestic supplier takes time. The supplier has to show it can:
- Hold the required tolerances
- Meet quality and inspection requirements
- Provide the necessary capacity
- Deliver consistently
- Support the right materials and processes
- Respond when something changes
The location decision can happen quickly. A dependable supply chain rarely does. Every move also resets first article and requalification on the parts that change hands.
Moving production doesn’t fix supplier problems
An address doesn’t tell you who is managing the job, how well the shop understands the drawing, whether it can hold your tolerances, or what happens when the schedule changes. You can bring manufacturing back to the United States and still get late shipments, missed tolerances, inconsistent quality, poor communication, and several suppliers blaming each other when something goes wrong. Those problems trace back to the manufacturing partner far more than the postal code. Domestic shops are also working through a skilled labor shortage that reshoring is making tighter.
The best manufacturing location depends on the part
Precision Expedited is based in San Clemente, California, and our team and inspection operation are here. We didn’t build our network by limiting it to one country, though. Some of our strongest supplier relationships are overseas, developed through years of real production work, quality verification, and consistent performance long before any customer needed an emergency quote.
Where a part should be made depends on the part, the program, and the requirements. ITAR-controlled manufacturing stays in the United States, with no exceptions. Other parts may make more sense overseas because of cost, process availability, volume, or capacity, and many programs use a mix of domestic and international suppliers. The work is in managing all of it as one coordinated program, with tariffs and freight built into the total landed cost instead of handed to you afterward.
Geography is one input to supplier performance
Bringing production home may reduce certain geopolitical, transportation, or compliance risks. Geography alone doesn’t tell you:
- Which shop is best suited for the process
- Which supplier has capacity this month
- Which parts actually need to move
- Whether the supplier can meet the tolerance
- Whether the deadline is realistic
- Who takes responsibility from quote through delivery
A reshoring strategy that works starts with the requirements of the part rather than a blanket rule about where every component must be produced.
Start with the drawing
Before we ask where a part should be made, we ask what matters. What can’t slip? Which tolerances are critical? What inspection documentation is required? What’s the real deadline, beyond the date printed on the PO? Then we place the work, domestically or overseas, with a shop from our vetted vendor network that has earned it.
Precision Expedited is ITAR Registered and provides one point of contact from RFQ through delivery across CNC machining + sheet metal fabrication + injection molding + additive manufacturing + finishing, including multi-process programs for defense and industrial customers.
Frequently asked questions
No. It can reduce some geopolitical, freight, and compliance risk, but it adds requalification time and runs into tight domestic capacity and labor. The right call depends on the part and the program.
PE keeps ITAR-controlled manufacturing in the United States, with no exceptions.
From the drawing and program requirements: export control, tolerances, process, volume, inspection documentation, deadline, and total landed cost. Location follows from those.
