THE SEE-THROUGH SUPPLY CHAIN END-TO-END VISIBILITY SUPPLY CHAIN RESET 7 Trends Remaking Manufacturing
new materials, Tease says, adding that many of Lenovo’s servers incorporate more than 10% recycled content. Nearly 300 products included recycled plastic content from end-of-life IT and electronics, Lenovo says. Circularity and land ll harvesting are core to Eco Material Technologies’ business model. The company harvests and processes legacy y ash, a byproduct of coal burned to generate power. Eco Material removes it from utility land lls and repurposes it into high-performance, low-carbon cement alternatives. “It’s not just sustainable; it’s regenerative,” says Marci Jenks, director of rail logistics. The company has sourced more than 3 billion tons of reclaimed supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs) in the United States. (SCMs are recovered from land lls or disposal sites, and often are y ash that was stored decades ago.) “We’ve built a supply chain that’s not only resilient but fully aligned with the push for greener, American-made manufacturing inputs,” Jenks says. 5 Supply Chain Network Redesign Earlier in 2025, Eco Material opened its Blissville Rail Terminal in Queens, New York. The terminal is the company’s rst major presence in the city and will allow
bring low-carbon materials directly into dense urban markets by rail. “It’s about both carbon ef ciency and resilience— strengthening last-mile access while reducing emissions in one of the most demanding logistics environments in the country,” Jenks adds. Eco Material isn’t alone. Nearly three-quarters of companies responding to a 2024 Gartner survey said they had added or removed production locations from their supply chain networks, driven by a desire to increase resilience or redundancy as a way to manage risks, as well as the need to improve agility or exibility. 6 Labor Shortages An ongoing shortage of labor continues to shape manufacturing supply chains. To address the issue, some organizations have begun re-evaluating their automation strategies, especially in skilled manufacturing positions, Tancredi says. They’re exploring modular automation solutions and focusing on speci c processes within their operations that could bene t from lower-cost automation options. For example, they might automate material handling tasks that don’t require advanced skills. Skilled employees can then spend less time on these activities and concentrate on higher-value tasks, reducing a company’s overall labor needs. Technologies such as mobile devices, wearable tech, and quality and warehouse management systems can connect workers and offer them real-time data and decision support, Isaacson says. By boosting ef ciency, reducing errors, and accelerating training, these tools can also help to close the skills gap. 7 Taking Action Now Even as uncertainty pervades the business environment, some argue that taking action is the best move. “The ones who take action, even if it’s just starting to think about where they need to go, will be in a much better position,” Javor says. Rather than reactive participants, they’ll be proactive trailblazers within their industries. n
Eco Material Technologies powers a circular supply chain by harvesting legacy fly ash from utility landfills and transforming it into low-carbon cement alternatives. By reclaiming 3 billion+ tons of supplementary cementitious materials, the company turns waste into a regenerative resource for sustainable infrastructure. it to annually distribute about 50,000 tons of harvested y ash from its national network to support local infrastructure projects, the company says. By connecting East Coast demand to a national y ash network, the terminal helps Eco Material reduce both costs and its carbon footprint while increasing supply chain exibility, Jenks says. The Blissville Terminal represents one of many strategic projects intended to redesign the company’s logistics network to reduce reliance on truck transport and
Mineral Dependence: Cracks in the Chain
As companies work to bolster the resilience of their supply chains, one emerging concern is the availability of critical minerals, such as barite, lithium, and titanium. These non-fuel minerals or mineral materials are essential to the economic or national security of the United States, have no viable substitutes, and yet face a high risk of supply chain disruption. Currently, China controls 60% of worldwide production and 85% of processing capacity, according to The German Marshall Fund of the United States, a nonpartisan organization focused on transatlantic aairs. Companies that can accumulate three to six months of stockpiles should be better able to deal with short-term disruptions, says Edward G. Anderson, professor for business at the University of Texas. Over the long term, it makes sense to reshore production of these minerals to the United States or at least move purchases to a more friendly country.
Barite
Lithium
Titanium
30 Inbound Logistics • August 2025
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