The need for onshoring has surged in recent months, but transitioning supply chains back home is no easy feat. Executives face a maze of challenges ranging from supplier readiness to regulatory compliance. Here are the top 7 risks your team must manage:
The rush to source domestically often results in onboarding suppliers without proper vetting. Decision-makers may be tempted to rely solely on directories, industry contacts, or outdated lists. But without a structured qualification process, you risk working with suppliers who lack the capacity, quality controls, or certifications required for your industry. Worse yet, poor documentation or unclear expectations can stall production before it even starts.
New domestic suppliers often come with new contracting complexities. Legal teams need to align on payment terms, IP protections, quality clauses, and risk allocation. Without standardized templates and controlled version histories, contract negotiations can stretch for months—delaying start dates and introducing risk from missed details or misaligned expectations.
Onshoring initiatives usually involve multiple business units adopting different workflows, tools, or ERP environments. This creates procurement chaos. Teams struggle to issue consistent purchase orders, align supplier expectations, or gain visibility into spend. Without harmonized procurement practices, it's difficult to scale production or manage costs effectively.
Industries such as aerospace and defense, as well as food manufacturing, operate under strict regulatory frameworks. Adding new suppliers—especially domestic ones unfamiliar with these standards—can trigger audit red flags. Onboarding suppliers without compliance checks, document tracking, or audit trails invites significant risk, including legal exposure and reputational damage.
Even when contracts are signed and POs are issued, execution is far from guaranteed. Suppliers need ramp-up time, and production timelines often slip due to miscommunication or missed dependencies. Real-time logistics tracking and proactive ramp planning are essential for minimizing disruptions.
Shifting to domestic suppliers doesn’t always mean savings. Without cost transparency, organizations struggle to benchmark performance or justify long-term contracts. Legacy systems may not support dynamic pricing models or switching cost analysis.
Finally, rapid onshoring impacts every function—from engineering to procurement to quality. Without shared systems and clearly defined processes, teams operate in silos. The result: miscommunication, duplicate work, and missed opportunities to optimize.
Rapid onshoring doesn’t have to be chaos. ChainLink SRM brings structure to the madness by embedding collaborative business process automation at every stage of supplier engagement. Here’s how:
ChainLink SRM automates supplier onboarding with custom workflow to facilitate requests, approvals, and digital checklists. All documentation—certifications, risk assessments, and compliance forms—lives in one place. This enables faster qualification without sacrificing diligence. Our supplier relationship management tools help you score and segment suppliers by geography, industry, and readiness, so you always know who’s up for filling your purchase order.
Contract Lifecycle Management (CLM) in ChainLink SRM replaces email threads and scattered PDFs with standardized templates and clear workflows. Your legal, procurement, and sourcing teams stay aligned with version tracking, stakeholder routing, and centralized document storage. Goodbye, “Which version is this?” headaches.
ChainLink SRM creates a consistent procure-to-pay (P2P) experience across business units. With pre-configured business processes tied to every purchase order, teams issue POs, track shipments, and handle exceptions the same way—every time. Our platform supports ERP, QMS, and TMS integration to synchronize transactions, statuses, and supplier data across your enterprise.
Built-in compliance controls ensure your suppliers meet regulatory standards from the moment they enter your ecosystem. ChainLink SRM supports custom forms and approval gates tied to certifications like AS9100, ISO 9001, and FSMA. Every supplier action—good or bad—is logged for audit readiness. And we provide supply chain visibility to your second-tier-and-beyond suppliers, helping you identify hidden risks early.
With Required Purchase Order Acknowledgments, ASN tracking, and order status updates, ChainLink SRM gives you a real-time view of every shipment. Need to adjust forecasts or reschedule delivery windows? Our collaboration tools connect buyers and suppliers instantly, so you know if your new partners are really ready to deliver with each purchase order that goes out.
RFQ modules and bid comparison help you benchmark suppliers beyond just price. ChainLink SRM also tracks switching costs, defect rates, and delivery performance—so you see the true cost of every sourcing decision. Our platform helps forecast spend more accurately because good data only comes through consistent collaboration—not stale spend history.
At its core, ChainLink SRM is built to align teams. With a single source of truth for supplier records, contracts, communications, and exceptions, your quality, sourcing, finance, and compliance teams finally speak the same language. Supplier relationship management becomes a strategic asset, not a spreadsheet chore.
ChainLink SRM isn’t just for one project or product line—it’s your command center for cross-enterprise supply chain visibility. Whether you’re onboarding suppliers in aerospace, sourcing electronics, or managing food production compliance, our platform scales across multiple supply chains and business units for a consolidated view of corporate spend control.
You get faster supplier enablement. Stronger compliance. And fewer surprises. All driven by collaborative business process automation.
David is the Chief Operations Officer and Director of Business Development at TTP Solutions LLC. Since 2019, David has been the driving force behind sales, marketing, and organizational development. David holds a B.B.A. in Entrepreneurship and a B.A. in Spanish from Middle Tennessee State University. He has a passion for helping others to solve problems creatively. Husband to KerrieAnn, David loves photography, hiking, traveling, and reading.