R&S Logistics and R&S Warehousing Solutions are used interchangeably in this blog post. They are one and the same company!
Quote from Landon, VP of Business Development at R&S Logistics
I've talked to countless automotive manufacturing industry leaders over the last year, and they were stressed out. Since we work with a variety and are in this space, we get the challenges. We want to be a helpful resource to those in the automotive supply chain space, and we want to help others be as productive and successful as they possibly can. It's the business we're in.
With 2025 behind us and 2026 here, it’s clear that auto manufacturers, OEMs, and tier 1 and 2 suppliers are looking for a more strategic and safe approach to their supply chain. Building supply chain resiliency, having visibility into your supply chains, and being adaptable matters now more than ever. Tracing back to 2020, the automotive supply chain has been dealt some major blows, which has made building strategic supply chains all the more critical.
So, what are the key questions to be asking to ensure a resilient supply chain in the automotive industry for this year ahead?
How Will Changing Geopolitics and Trade Policy Shape Your Supply Chain Networks?
Let’s face it, 2025 was almost like whiplash. Did you feel it? We sure did. Trump was changing the tide on key tariffs on imports and exports left and right. It left businesses, domestic and international, at a standstill of what to do next. In many ways, 2025 was almost a year of “wait and see.” At R&S with businesses and companies we were prospecting, we saw countless businesses in the U.S. and elsewhere pause before making any major decisions. Since Trump and the 2026 U.S. administration has steadied some on their changing trade and tariff policies, many manufacturers and suppliers have been thinking more strategically about their sourcing strategies and sourcing partners for the year ahead.
This year, in 2026, we may see that procurement professionals and supply chain leaders in the automotive industry are less focused on the lowest cost and more focused on regional resilience. In essence, having “regional resilience” is about creating more localized supply chain networks to create more stable, reliable, and predictable flow of supplies to your assembly lines. This ensures that no matter any key global event, you’d have supplies available and at the ready because local suppliers or regional suppliers wouldn’t be impacted by global events (in comparison to having a supplier that was global!).
Some key strategies in creating regional resilience include reshoring, near-shoring, friend-shoring, or “local for local”. Reshoring, near-shoring, and friend-shoring all have to do with bringing production or key supplier production partners back to their domestic country, a nearby country, or a politically aligned or “friendly” nation. “Local for local” is a new term or mantra rather being used in the automotive industry where vehicles or major components needed for automotive production are made in the same region where they’re sold. This reduces shipping delays and tariff impacts.
For example, Toyota has a few major manufacturing plants in the U.S., one of which is close to us in Mississippi. For Toyota, this would mean making sure they have an engine manufacturer or supplier nearby like in Alabama for example.
Key questions supply chain leaders should be asking:
- Should you regionalize production further to reduce risk?
- Can you find more regional suppliers in your area that produce high quality products?
- With your current suppliers, how could you be impacted by tariffs or trades? How would that affect you as an automotive manufacturer or supplier?
- Where do you need redundancy to protect continuity? Or in other words, where do you need to have multiple suppliers that do the same thing so you can make sure you can continue operating your assembly lines and production plants on time and on schedule?
How Will AI Really Affect the Automotive Industry?
With the launch of ChatGPT and then other AI technology platforms this past year like Claude.AI, Gemini, and more, every industry in every country has been asking and reevaluating technology use. It’s not really a question anymore if anyone is using AI but rather how?
Automotive supply chain teams are using AI for specific tasks where its automation, prediction power, and efficiency come in handy. For example, how can you use AI to improve forecast accuracy, end-to-end visibility, and scenario planning? This really helps decision makers and strategic thinkers in automotive supply chain management be ahead of the game rather than behind the eight ball.
Some key questions to consider include:
- What data is helpful to use AI to sort through for the automotive industry?
- How do you use the data it generates to help with production and efficiency?
- How can AI technology help anticipate bottlenecks and disruptions that could come in the future?
How Do You Balance Service and Costs?
The automotive market has definitely slowed. We know here in Knoxville, TN where we are that it’s been tough for automotive dealers to sell cars in this market. With ongoing inflation, tighter consumer spending, and competitive pricing, automakers might be asking themselves – how do you operate leaner?
It’s such a balance of keeping great quality service and production while also keeping costs low. We’ve listed a few questions that may stir some creative ways to think through striking this key balance for those leading in the automotive industry supply chain.
Key financial questions include:
- Where can you reduce waste and resources that aren’t used efficiently?
- How do you optimize inventory levels?
- Are there opportunities for just-in-time inventory nearby?
- Are there opportunities for you to outsource some services?
Looking Ahead
It’s no argument to say that trying to answer these 3 questions is tough. There could also be a few more we could add to this also like sustainability and where EV (electronic vehicles) and autonomous vehicles are headed in the future. However, these 3 questions are tough enough to plan for and think about for the year ahead.
The key for effective automotive supply chain management in 2026 is planning with intentionality and agility. If you’re involved at all in creating automotive supply chain solutions, ask yourself about how you’re planning for technology, changing geopolitical landscapes, and striking a balance between service and costs.
We’re confident that the most effective leaders in the automotive industry supply chain will be strategically asking these questions throughout the year and remaining agile to changes, disruptions, and opportunities.
If we can help you outsource your warehousing and logistics as a 3PL (third party logistics) provider, we’d be glad to see if we can help save you money and help build supply chain resiliency. If we can help you in how to select a third party logistics provider, this may help too.
🚚 We're agile and invested, and we steward as if your products were our own.
Quick on the fly, ready to help, and ready to adapt. In the supply chain world, it’s not a choice. It’s critical to everyone’s success.
“The reliability, flexibility, and professionalism of R&S make me know that I have a business partner I can rely on. It’s one less thing that I have to worry about.”
— Jeremy Smith, Primient