If President Donald Trump’s efforts to use tariffs as a tool to bring back U.S. manufacturing are successful, Milwaukee-based
Mayville Engineering Company is among those that stand to benefit.
The vertically-integrated manufacturer is a leading Tier 1 supplier to many original equipment manufacturers in commercial vehicle, construction, powersports, agriculture and military end markets.
The company, which generated more than $580 million in net sales in 2024, is the largest fabricator in the country and has more than 3 million square feet of manufacturing facilities, including Wisconsin plants in Mayville, Beaver Dam, Fond du Lac and Neillsville.
MEC has 100% domestic manufacturing with more than 90% of its materials sourced domestically. In addition to Wisconsin, the company has plants in Ohio, Michigan Pennsylvania, Virginia, Arkansas and Mississippi.
Pointing to the company’s U.S. sourcing and locations,
Jag Reddy, president and chief executive officer of MEC, said “we’re really well-positioned to take advantage of any increased tariff regime we might see in the long run.”
However, that potential benefit has not been realized quite yet.
Reddy told stock analysts that the company has been having “good discussions with both existing and new customers as it relates to tariffs.”
“We have provided a number of customers with quotes and pricing on potential opportunities,” Reddy said on the company’s earnings call. “Given the dynamic nature of current tariff discussions our customers are being very conservative, and they are not in a position yet to make significant decisions because the tariffs sort of magically go away in three months, tight? You know, they don’t want to be stuck with a different price structure in their supply chain.”
Reddy said if by the middle of the year it was clear that increased tariffs will be more structural, as opposed to temporary, then MEC could start new programs for customers in three to four months, if not shorter, so it is possible reshoring could benefit the company’s results yet in 2025.
“If the tariffs are going to be structural, right, that’s a huge advantage for MEC,” Reddy said. “We will wait and see. Of course, like many of us, we want more U.S, manufacturing, we want a certain level of competitiveness for U.S. companies so given all of that, I’m optimistic that even some small structural changes, we will be able to gain ground and gain more business in the second half.”
He did note MEC has been talking with “a couple of powersports customers” who are evaluating how many of their components made in Asia they want to bring back to the United States. MEC’s powersports customers include
Mercury Marine, Honda, Harley-Davidson, Polaris and
Kawasaki.
“Our teams have been extremely busy in answering inquiries around reshoring and onshoring opportunities,” Reddy said. “It’s an exciting time for us because, yes, there seem to be some dark clouds on the horizon, but our team is highly engaged with our customers. We’re trying to control our cost structure and we’re cautiously optimistic about some sort of settlement towards this tariff regime, whether structural or not, we’ll have some clarity in the coming months.”
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