SAN FRANCISCO — Fictiv released its third-annual State of Hardware Report. This year’s survey polled 1,136 developers and manufacturers spanning 72 industries to provide insights uncovering the most critical challenges and opportunities for more streamlined collaboration throughout the manufacturing process. Ultimately, the report found that the manufacturing industry must take significant strides towards more technology-driven standards to keep up with the pace of innovation product teams demand.

Results from the survey suggest that while speed to market is a top priority for developers, there are a number of inefficiencies that constrain the process of moving from digital to physical quickly. Most urgently, hardware developers are increasingly relying on nearshoring for earlier stage projects because of short timelines. However, local manufacturing capacity remains limited and those that can support projects are constrained by a lack of technology to efficiently meet project deadlines. Despite challenges, 2017 gains in orders and production capped the strongest year for American factories since 2004, highlighting an opportunity to strengthen domestic supply chains for faster, more efficient product development cycles.