10 Common Challenges Subprimes Face When Reshoring Aluminum Extrusions — And How to Prepare for Success

Government subprimes are taking on a larger role in 2025: making sure defense, aerospace, energy, medical, and infrastructure programs are supported by reliable, often domestic, supply chains. Aluminum extrusions are usually near the top of the list because they’re structural, highly engineered, and often run through complex, multi-step processes.

Reshoring those extrusion programs isn’t as simple as sending a print to a new supplier. Subprimes run into technical, operational, and documentation issues that can slow things down or create risk if they’re not addressed early.

Below are 10 common challenges we see when subprimes reshore aluminum extrusions—and simple ways to prepare so the transition goes more smoothly.

1. Unclear Domestic Capacity

Domestic extrusion capacity isn’t uniform. Press sizes, backlogs, and alloy preferences vary by region and by plant, and the U.S. still relies on imported aluminum to meet overall demand.

How to prepare:

• Define your required profile envelope (max width/height) and alloy before you start outreach.

• Call out any critical tolerances up front so suppliers can quickly qualify or disqualify themselves.

2. Multi-Step Supply Chains That Slow Everything Down

Even when you move the extrusion itself onshore, the work often still runs through separate shops for machining, finishing, packaging, and sometimes assembly. Every handoff adds risk—especially when schedules are tight and visibility across vendors is limited.

How to prepare:

• Map your current workflow (extrusion → fabrication → finishing → packaging).

• Identify which steps could be combined under a single coordinated partner to reduce handoffs and scheduling conflicts.

3. Lead Time Variability in Domestic Markets

Industrial production for fabricated metal products has been under steady pressure, which translates into fluctuating queue times and capacity utilization on domestic presses.

How to prepare:

• Ask suppliers for both typical and peak-season lead times, not just a best-case number.

• Ask how they handle press downtime, spikes in demand, or major maintenance events.

4. Offshore Drawings That Don’t Align With U.S. Standards

Prints that were originally developed for offshore production can carry different assumptions—on wall thickness, tolerance philosophy, corner radii, or die design. Those differences can make the part more expensive than it needs to be or difficult to run domestically.

How to prepare:

• Have engineering review wall minimums, radius requirements, and tolerance stack-ups against what U.S. extrusion houses and machine shops typically support.

• Build in time for a drawing revision cycle before you expect firm pricing.

5. Missing or Incomplete Finishing Specifications

Finishing is one of the biggest sources of friction in a reshoring project. Anodizing thickness, powder-coat systems, gloss level, adhesion requirements, masking, and environmental exposure are often only partially documented—or not documented at all.

How to prepare:

• Decide whether the part needs anodizing or powder coating, and what performance is required (e.g., corrosion resistance, durability, UV exposure).

• Provide any known color standards (e.g., “match existing part,” RAL/Pantone if available) and basic masking instructions as early as possible.

6. Undocumented Secondary Operations

It’s common to discover that the offshore supplier was doing more than the drawing shows—deburring, drilling, tapping, light assembly, or other secondary ops that were never formally captured. That gap can stall a reshoring project.

How to prepare:

• Request a current sample part and good photos from multiple angles.

• Build a short list of secondary operations (hole sizes, threads, deburring expectations) and share it with potential suppliers up front.

7. Packaging and Shipping Differences

Prime contractors often have very specific expectations for labeling, palletization, part protection, and lot traceability. Those requirements rarely line up neatly with the way parts were packed offshore, and they’re not always spelled out on the print.

How to prepare:

• Create a simple one-page packaging spec that covers orientation, protection, pallet type, and labeling.

• Note whether parts ship directly to a prime, which usually raises the bar on documentation and labeling.

8. Price Misalignment for Low- and Mid-Volume Runs

Domestic pricing is built on different labor, energy, and overhead assumptions than offshore factories optimized for ultra-high volume. Small and mid-volume programs can see unexpected price differences if the context isn’t clear.

How to prepare:

• Provide annual volume ranges or expected reorder patterns instead of treating each order as a one-off.

• Ask whether pricing improves with blanket orders or scheduled releases so you’re comparing realistic program costs, not just spot quotes.

9. Compliance Visibility and Documentation Requirements

Subprimes carry a lot of responsibility on documentation—DFARS, material certs, inspection plans, FAI/PPAP, and any prime-specific flowdowns. Those requirements can materially change how a supplier sets up and runs your parts.

How to prepare:

• Send all required certs, inspection plans, and flowdowns with the RFQ instead of introducing them later.

• Confirm early whether the program will require FAI/PPAP or DFARS-compliant material so suppliers can plan appropriately.

10. Lack of Risk-Mitigating Redundancy

The most common strategic mistake in reshoring is moving a critical program to a single domestic source with no backup. Multi-sourcing and flexibility are consistently cited in policy and research work as key drivers of supply-chain resilience. 

How to prepare:

• Ask potential partners about backup extrusion and finishing paths (multiple plants, partner facilities, or alternate routings).

• Define clear triggers (e.g., missed deliveries, sustained capacity issues, quality problems) for when work should shift to a secondary source.

Preparing to Successful Reshore Aluminum Extrusions

Reshoring aluminum extrusions takes more planning than simply changing the ship-to address, but the benefits are real: tighter logistics, better communication, improved quality control, and schedules that are easier to protect.

Teams that do the groundwork—clarifying tolerances, finishing requirements, secondary operations, packaging, and documentation—see smoother transitions and fewer surprises once production starts.

If your team is evaluating a reshoring effort this year and wants a partner experienced in coordinating extrusion, machining, finishing, assembly, and multi-site sourcing, we’re ready to help.

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