Navigating Tariffs and Market Pressures: How Air-Way Supports Stability in a Shifting Landscape

Monday, July 7, 2025

 

Manufacturers continue to face challenges related to pricing, supply chains, and international tariffs. The situation is fluid and can shift quickly, creating pressure across operations, planning, and customer relationships. At Air-Way Manufacturing, we’ve taken a long-term approach to these issues and remain focused on minimizing disruption and supporting our customers with stability, transparency, and preparation.

We know this is something every manufacturer is dealing with. That’s why we’re sharing what we’re doing, what we’ve already done, and how we’re positioned to adapt going forward.

Experience in Uncertain Times

Tariffs and supply chain fluctuations aren’t new. Air-Way began adapting to tariff challenges as early as 2018. Since then, we’ve built a more flexible sourcing strategy that includes long-standing partnerships in India, which now make up 20–30% of our imported product volume. While a majority of our imports still come through China, we’ve worked steadily to expand and diversify our sourcing footprint.

These decisions are part of an ongoing effort to reduce risk, increase efficiency, and better serve our customers. That includes expanding inventory in our U.S. facilities and Air-Way Canada to shorten lead times and reduce vulnerability to international shipping delays.

Flexible Operations and Targeted Investments

Air-Way is a privately held company, which enables us to make swift operational changes and invest in equipment quickly. Over the last several years, we’ve reinvested in our manufacturing operations with capital equipment purchases aimed at increasing capacity and efficiency. Another new machine is already scheduled for installation, continuing that investment cycle.

These moves allow us to produce more parts in-house, faster, and with more control over pricing and availability. While we will always maintain global supplier relationships, our ability to bring more work into our U.S. plants when needed gives us and our customers greater flexibility.

A Collaborative Approach to Customer Communication

When pricing or sourcing conditions shift, open communication becomes critical. We’ve built our customer relationships on transparency and planning. Whether it’s a discussion about inventory forecasting, sourcing alternatives, or pricing strategy, we aim to keep customers informed and ready to respond alongside us.

Our goal is to keep communication transparent and collaborative, not reactive. We know that planning around cost and availability is essential to OEM operations. That’s why we provide updates, work through options, and make ourselves available for conversations that help align supply and demand.

Continual Evaluation in a Fluid Environment

We continue to monitor developments around tariffs, global shipping, and raw material costs. These conditions can change rapidly, and our team remains engaged with suppliers and policy updates to assess risks and adjust plans accordingly.

Our growing supplier network, diversified sourcing, and expanded North American inventory position us well to navigate these shifts. And because we’ve been building this approach for years, we’re not scrambling to react. We’re working to stay ahead, so our customers don’t have to.

Focused on Long-Term Stability

Tariffs and pricing pressures are likely to remain part of the landscape for manufacturers. At Air-Way, we’re committed to making decisions that support long-term stability for our operations and yours. This means continued investment in production efficiency, ongoing diversification of sourcing, and a focus on proactive communication.

If you’re looking to strengthen your supply chain and plan around uncertainty, our team is here to help. We’ve been working through these challenges for years, and we’ll continue doing what it takes to support quality, reliability, and cost efficiency for our customers.

If you have any questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to reach out.