How Local Manufacturing Helps Michigan OEMs Reduce Supply Chain Risk

Here’s what you need to know about how local manufacturing helps Michigan OEMs reduce supply chain risk.

Why Long-Distance Supply Chains Create Risk for OEMs

Sourcing parts from overseas or from vendors scattered across the country adds distance between an OEM and its production. Every extra handoff is another place where a shipment can slip, a part can get damaged, or a lead time can quietly stretch out.

Tariffs have made that risk even harder to plan around. According to the Reshoring Initiative, tariffs were cited in 454% more reshoring decisions in 2025 than in 2024, as manufacturers reconsider where their parts come from.

How a Local Contract Manufacturer Reduces That Risk

A single, local contract manufacturer can absorb work that used to require several vendors. Fewer handoffs between design, metal fabrication, and welding mean fewer places where a project can stall.

Working with one local partner instead of several distant vendors typically gives OEMs:

• Shorter, more predictable lead times
• Fewer freight handoffs and less exposure to shipping delays
• One point of contact for quality and scheduling issues
• Easier communication when specs or timelines change

At DeWys, we worked through this exact scenario for a medical device OEM facing rising costs and unreliable delivery from its previous supplier. That low-risk manufacturing transfer moved production to a single local partner without slowing down the OEM’s own output.

Why Proximity Still Matters for Michigan OEMs

Shorter shipping distances mean lower freight costs and faster turnarounds, especially for OEMs that need frequent, smaller shipments rather than one large overseas order. That advantage holds up even better while freight costs and shipping delays stay unpredictable.

Michigan’s manufacturing base makes this kind of local partnership easier to find. The state is home to more than 600,000 manufacturing workers across more than 12,000 companies, according to Michigan’s Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity.

That local capacity keeps growing. In 2024, DeWys completed a facility expansion in West Michigan to take on more OEM production, part of a broader shift as manufacturers rethink outsourcing precision sheet metal fabrication in the first place.