The headlines say one thing. Your shop may agree...or be experiencing something different. We'd love to hear from you.
A four-minute survey for U.S. manufacturers — and the numbers we can't get any other way.
Reshoring. Tariffs. Supply-chain resilience. Industrial policy. There is no shortage of commentary on what all of it is doing to American manufacturing — and almost all of it runs on data from large manufacturers and government aggregates.
If you run a job shop, a contract manufacturing operation, or a precision manufacturing business, you are the part of this industry those conversations are ostensibly about. You are also, almost always, missing from the numbers behind them.
That's what the 2026 State of Custom Manufacturing Survey is for. It's open now to suppliers across the Trustbridge network, it takes about four minutes, and it asks the question the macro coverage keeps talking around: how is your business actually doing, and what's actually driving it?
What We're Asking
The spine of the survey is year-over-year performance and the pressures behind it — where your business is up or down versus last year, what you expect over the next twelve months, and which of the forces everyone writes about are actually showing up in your numbers versus which are mostly noise from where you sit.
From there it gets into the operational detail that macro data never reaches: how work comes in, what quoting actually costs you in time, and — in one section — why bids go sideways and how often anyone bothers to tell you. Twenty-nine questions, four pages, mostly quick multiple choice, with room at the end to say anything in your own words.
That mix is deliberate. Sentiment alone isn't worth much, and operational detail without the business context around it doesn't tell you why anything is happening. Together they produce something that doesn't currently exist: a picture of what this year has actually looked like for small and mid-size custom manufacturers, in their own reporting.
Why We're Running It
Because the aggregate view of this industry is assembled from the top down, and the people closest to what's happening are the least likely to see themselves in it. Concrete, sourced numbers from operators — not another opinion piece, not another projection built off large-cap reporting — are worth more to this industry than anything else we could publish. We intend to share them, including with press covering the sector.
It's also direct input into what we build at Trustbridge. That's a real reason; it's just not the main one.
Who This Is For
Written primarily for custom manufacturers, job shops, and precision manufacturing businesses. Other suppliers in the network — material suppliers, integrators, distributors, contract manufacturers — are welcome and genuinely improve the data.
We're not surveying the entire manufacturing industry, and we won't describe it that way. This is our own network, reported as a stated number of respondents over a stated window, broken out by company type and order value, because a five-person shop and a larger operation are not having the same year and averaging them together hides exactly the thing worth knowing.
None of this is a wall. If you run a larger manufacturing operation, your answers are useful too — as a comparison point, not a contradiction of the pattern we're describing. The gap we're naming is about whose experience shows up in the data, not about excluding anyone from contributing to it.
What You Get for Participating
Everyone who completes the survey gets full access to the report, including the company-type and order-value breakdowns. Anyone who doesn't participate sees only a partial version later. Your answers are confidential — nothing is attributed to your company by name. If you want to talk through what the results mean for your business specifically, our team will walk through it with you directly.
Completing the survey also enters you in a drawing for a $250 prize, awarded to one randomly selected respondent — a separate mechanism from report access, limited to legal U.S. residents 18+ (void in RI, FL, NY, and where prohibited), excluding Vulcury LLC/Trustbridge/Calisade/Vulcury Advisors employees and immediate family, and further limited to respondents identifying as a custom manufacturer, job shop, or precision manufacturing business. No purchase necessary. Closes August 24, 2026, 11:59 PM PT. Full terms in the Official Rules.
Everyone has a theory about what this year has done to American manufacturing. Very few people have asked the shops actually living it. Four minutes, and you're in the data instead of being described by it.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. What is the 2026 State of Custom Manufacturing Survey?
The 2026 State of Custom Manufacturing Survey is a survey focused on the real-world experience of U.S. custom manufacturers, job shops, precision manufacturing businesses, and other manufacturing suppliers. It looks at topics such as RFQ volume, quote win rates, time spent quoting, lost bids, buyer communication, and the challenges suppliers face when trying to win new business.
2. Who should take the State of Custom Manufacturing Survey?
The survey is primarily intended for custom manufacturers, job shops, and precision manufacturing businesses involved in the RFQ process. Material suppliers, contract manufacturers, integrators, and distributors within the Trustbridge network are also welcome to participate and can contribute useful data about the broader manufacturing supply chain.
3. How long does the 2026 State of Custom Manufacturing Survey take?
The survey takes approximately four minutes to complete. It focuses specifically on the RFQ and sales experience of manufacturing suppliers rather than attempting to cover every issue affecting the manufacturing industry.
4. What do participants receive for completing the manufacturing survey?
Everyone who completes the survey receives full access to the resulting report, including breakdowns by company type and order value. Responses are confidential and are not attributed to individual companies by name. Eligible respondents can also enter a separate drawing for a $250 prize, subject to the official rules and eligibility requirements.
