2025 Manufacturing Outlook & Predictions: Resilience-Ability
by Keith Brown, President & Owner, Siena Group

Per our Thermoforming Report a couple of weeks ago, we highlighted and discussed a Forbes article by Ethan Karp that considered the outlook for this year. In another predictive Forbes article by Lisa Caldwell, “Theory Of Resiliency: How Manufacturers Make 2025 The Year Of Einstein,” Jan 2025, the author shared similar ideas. With a very cold January in the books, we look to draw some parallels and wrap up our thoughts on where this year is headed in manufacturing.
“Resilience-ability”

Out of the gate, Caldwell’s main point is that the last 5 years have been nothing but difficult for so many industries and people! Manufacturing most certainly felt the effects. Those companies that weathered the Covid storm are stronger and more resilient as a result.
Though each industry and manufacturing platform will have its own unique challenges, Caldwell’s article highlights four specific areas – and parallel our previous Thermoforming Report.
- Lean in on Technology
- Connect the Sustainability Dots
- Invest in a Talent Culture
- Prioritize Customer-Centricity
- Reliance on China
- Upskilling your Workforce
- Sustainability
- The Metaverse
- Technology + Metaverse. Point 1 connects to point 4. There is true urgency to figure out how to leverage the crazy fast changes in technology. Manufacturers tend to be behind the curve when implementing new systems. That just isn’t going to cut it if you are going to be resilient. As a result, making sure you think through the how’s and what’s of technology implementation is imperative, as is making sure you have the right skills on the team to effectively get it done.
- Sustainability. Points 2 and 3 reiterates the criticality of sustainability efforts as it relates to driving innovation. Caldwell’s conclusion is similar to Karp’s: being sustainable – much like implementing technology – is about investing in it across the board. “… to drive impact at scale, manufacturers must now integrate and enable sustainable practices across their entire ecosystem of suppliers, partners, and customers” (Forbes). Exactly!
- Talent Investing + Upskilling. Point 3 dovetails with point 2. Allow your team to participate in the use of new technologies. Instill a culture of change so that when it happens, they can change with it and even lead the charge! Caldwell indicates that a team’s “ability to adapt quickly to changing market conditions rests on the collective creativity and flexibility of the workforce, not just the actions of individual functions, geographies, and departments”. The “workforce” in this statement are those many people and teams who are running your manufacturing lines! Yes, you must have a plan and a few key people leading the charge. Enabling all of your teams and people – via training, aligning expectations, and more – will pay dividends and significantly impact your ‘resilience-ability.’ (Is that a new word?!?)
- Customer-Centric Priorities. Caldwell’s point 4 above parallels the focus of our September 2024 Thermoforming Report: Relentless Pursuit. In the Forbes article, Caldwell stresses that “firms must place customers (not features and functions) at the center of their business models, using insights grounded in data and tailored innovations to drive satisfaction, loyalty, and advocacy.” What I find interesting in this topic comes directly from our clients. Those clients that are all-in on customer satisfaction are thriving; it is easily a common thread. They may not be the lowest cost producer or even have all the best whiz-bang features in their products. What they have is a very high level of focus on quality, and they are highly attentive to their existing clients and are listening to their prospective clients to align future products to the market.
Thriving
Caldwell wraps up her article with this great thought: “The traditional manufacturing mantra of cost reduction and streamlining no longer applies. Instead, the ability to navigate and respond quickly to disruption has become the industry’s most important driver of success—both in 2025 and beyond.”
I do, however, disagree with the sentiment that cost reduction/streamlining “no longer applies”. It absolutely applies to all manufacturers.
The difference is leveraging the organization’s ability to ‘navigate and respond quickly’ to deliver those cost reductions and improved processes and to deliver innovative products that meet the needs of the customers. It is still about profit and margins, right?
What’s going to happen to the economy with the new Administration? What about tariffs? What about global forces that impact the supply chain? What about the long-term labor shortage that everyone seems to be predicting?
Caldwell proposes that “the manufacturers best placed to respond to these questions tomorrow will be the ones that bake resilience into every part of their operations today.”
Wrapping Up
Difficulties, challenges, and chaos now define our world. But… if you take the time to reflect on previous decades, it is mostly the same:
- The 60’s: Man on the moon, assassinations (JFK, MLK, Malcolm X), Vietnam War, Berlin Wall built
- The 70’s: Vietnam War continues, energy crisis, Iran hostage crisis, the Cold War, Nixon resigns
- The 80’s: Challenger blows up, Mount Saint Helens blows up, HIV, Exxon Valdez, Tiananmen Square, Berlin Wall comes down
Billy Joel’s We Didn’t Start the Fire comes to mind! Written in 1989, the song contains 119 references to historical people, places, events, and phenomena.
The names are different. Technology is different. Yet, the world is the same (though it did get a lot smaller!). Those leaders that invest the time to understand these things and build resiliency into the core culture of their organizations are the ones that will be here to see 2030 and beyond!
So, what will 2025 look like? That is entirely up to you and your team!
At Siena Group, we are your Thermoforming Talent Partner! We’re here to help in any and every way possible! With more than 30 years of experience in manufacturing, hiring & recruiting talent, we bring a greater understanding of the companies we partner with and the candidates we pursue. Let’s Strengthen Your Search!

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