Download the report

A Case for Cloud Manufacturing

Fast Radius’ report charts the future of custom manufacturing

Scroll for more

Custom manufacturing in an on-demand world

Businesses face immense pressure to deliver high-quality products quickly and on a global scale. However, the manufacturers that are key to these efforts experience challenges — beyond supply chain issues — that slow innovation and decrease revenue. A widespread lack of visibility into manufacturing processes means companies no longer know who they can trust to deliver accurately made parts on time.

To better understand today’s manufacturing challenges, Fast Radius conducted a survey of 250 engineers, industrial and product designers, and procurement professionals. In our report, we dive into their pain points and the cloud manufacturing strategies that can help businesses course correct and meet global demand.

Key findings

58
%

of engineers, industrial and product designers, and procurement professionals said product and development cycles keep getting shorter.

52
%

said reducing the costs of new product development would help them innovate 
more frequently.

51
%

said inconsistent product quality impacted their bottom line in the last 12 months.

52
%

have found out about delays or errors in production after it was too late to hit their shipping deadlines.

The current state of manufacturing

From quality control failures to unexpected delays, here’s the state of contract manufacturing through the eyes of the professionals who know the industry best. Read our full report for more on their perspective and the promise of cloud manufacturing.

insight 1

Nearly half of respondents are moving away from just-in-time (JIT) manufacturing due to concerns about flexibility, resiliency, and expensive delays.

insight 2

More than half of respondents say development times are getting shorter. Communication difficulties that arise from this rush hold back product innovation.

insight 3

Inconsistent quality is a major pain point and it’s difficult to trust a custom manufacturer to deliver quality products, according to more than half of respondents.

insight 4

Companies are suffering from unexpected delays and errors. Nearly three-quarters of respondents who missed shipping deadlines said delays had a costly impact.

takeaway

Long lead times 
and high costs are 
top supply chain 
pain points

When asked to name their top manufacturing pain points, respondents answered:

42%

Long lead times

40%

Rising costs

35%

Lack of flexibility

takeaway

Inefficient communication is the number one design and development pain point

Respondents reported that:

one

Communicating with manufacturers takes up too much of my time

28%
two

The quotes I receive from manufacturers are inaccurate

20%
two

Manufacturers’ minimum order quantities (MoQs) are too high for my needs

20%
three

It takes too long to get a quote from a manufacturer

17%
four

Manufacturers have trouble understanding my project requirements

15%

Access the full report

Download now

Tap into deep industry insights

Thank you! Your submission has been received!
Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form.