Why Onshoring Is the Smart Long-Term Strategy for Medical Equipment Manufacturers

While some companies respond to global instability by stockpiling inventory, this reactive strategy comes with serious downsides: tied-up capital, increased storage costs, and the risk of excess or obsolete or non-compliant stock. A more sustainable solution is onshoring—building products where demand exists. At TouchPoint Medical, we’ve long believed in this approach.  

Over our decades in business, even when industry trends and market forces pointed toward outsourced and offshored solutions, TouchPoint Medical remained steadfast in our onshore investments.  Here's are some benefits we’ve realized from remaining proudly onshore:

1. Faster Response to Market Shifts. By eliminating long overseas transit times, we can respond more quickly to customer needs and reduce lead times.   
2. Simplified Compliance. Meeting U.S. quality, safety, and environmental regulations is often easier, and faster, when products are built domestically.   
3. Greater Supply Chain Control. It’s simply more efficient to work with suppliers and partners in the same region, where in-person collaboration is possible.   
4. Cost Advantages Are Narrowing. Rising wages in countries like China and India are shrinking the labor cost gap. When factoring in shipping, tariffs, and delays, the overall savings of offshore production are not as clear-cut.   
5. Support from Local Incentives. U.S. manufacturers can often take advantage of government incentives, tax breaks, or grants for domestic production.   
6. Protection from Tariff Volatility. Trade policies can shift rapidly, introducing unexpected tariffs that inflate costs overnight. Onshoring reduces exposure to these uncertainties and helps maintain pricing stability for both manufacturers and customers.   

TouchPoint Medical's commitment to onshoring is demonstrated by our significant investment in state-of-the-art facilities and a skilled American workforce. Our facilities in Medford, Ore., and Odessa, Fla., are equipped for a wide range of manufacturing processes, including CNC machining, sheet metal fabrication, powder coating, and final assembly. This vertical integration, combined with our ISO 13485 certification, ensures that we maintain the highest standards of quality control throughout the production process.

Our local sourcing of materials such as aluminum castings and injection-molded plastics further reduces lead times and improves reliability. This capability allows us to be highly responsive to customer needs and market changes.   

Our established commitment to onshoring translates into tangible benefits for our customers:

• Reduced inventory shortages
• Lower freight and logistics costs (especially for bulky equipment like medication dispensing cabinets)
• Decreased environmental impact
• Faster time-to-market
• More flexible, scalable production
• Stronger supplier relationships within a domestic network

Onshoring isn’t without its hurdles. Labor may be more expensive, and achieving the same economies of scale as offshore operations can require upfront investment in automation and skilled personnel. For companies new to this strategy, the transition can be daunting. But now, it’s every bit as mission-critical. And it’s urgent.

The stability of past decades has given way to an era where manufacturers must anticipate volatility as the norm, with supply chains under constant assault from a barrage of threats: geopolitical tensions; tariffs, sanctions, and other trade restrictions; the rising specter of cyberattacks exploiting the increased digitization and connectivity of supply chains; climate-related transportation and logistics disruptions; the escalating frequency and severity of climate events and natural disasters; and the shifting sands of regulatory landscapes.

Any of these adverse scenarios can delay the delivery of essential medical devices at any time—and in healthcare, those delays matter. In 2023, supply chain disruptions cost the healthcare industry over $25 billion in unexpected and unnecessary expenses. Such statistics highlight the critical importance of robust risk mitigation strategies. In the current landscape, proactive supply chain resilience is not optional, it's essential.

Other companies, who are responding reactively to offshore supply chain challenges, are no less than six to nine months away having the onshore capacity to deliver a fraction of what TouchPoint Medical can already deliver right now. That’s why it helps to work with an established onshore partner like TouchPoint Medical—one who has a proven, long-term strategy for building close to demand. 

The era of reactive supply chain management is over. Onshoring is no longer just a way to reduce risk, it's a competitive advantage. At TouchPoint Medical, we’ve spent decades building out our onshore infrastructure and domestic production expertise to serve customers where they are. It’s an approach we’re proud of, and one that’s allowed us to maintain steady growth, deliver consistently, and create and maintain lasting customer relationships.   

Let’s build the future together.
If you're looking for a medical equipment partner with supply chain resilience built in, reach out to the experts at TouchPoint Medical today.