Optimising your operations in FY2026 will help you combat the challenges of a volatile trading environment.

Up, down, in out…Since the commencement of the second Trump presidency on

20 January, 2025, tariffs have been the topic in the business world. The United States’ major trading partners, including Canada, Mexico and China, have had them imposed, paused, hiked and slashed in the space of a few weeks.

Here in Australia, we’ve gotten off somewhat lightly with 10 per cent tariffs across the board, excepting for steel and aluminium products, which have been slapped with a tariff of 25 per cent.

Whether that’s where things will land long term is anyone’s guess. In the meantime, the FUD – fear, uncertainty, doubt – factor has been off the scale for many Australian manufacturers that export their products to the US.

Taking trading conditions in your stride

In fact, their predicament is far from unique. Some local producers faced comparable challenges in 2020, shortly after the onset of the Covid crisis, when Australia’s largest trading partner, China, suddenly slapped higher tariffs onto a range of products, including wine.

Sales contracted dramatically as a result, leaving them scrambling to find new markets for their suddenly surplus stock.

Fast forward five years and, in many instances, it’s proven to be a story of struggle that’s had a happy ending. Pulling in their belts and pivoting to other overseas markets on the fly enabled hard hit producers to survive and thrive despite the unexpected shake-up of the long-standing status quo.

In fact, a surprising number of businesses have found themselves in stronger positions as a result; their operations leaner and tougher, their markets diversified and their teams battled hardened and better prepared for emerging threats – and opportunities.

Smart steps to survive uncertain times

Our local manufacturing industry would do well to follow their example, in the upcoming financial year.

Taking positive action can be tricky when times are uncertain – the natural human reaction for many folk, business leaders included, is to ride it out in the hope things improve or revert to the way they used to be.

Unfortunately, sitting tight is no way to safeguard your business and ensure it has a future, selling goods at home and abroad. In actual fact, it’s a surefire way to ensure you are vulnerable – to today’s trading uncertainties and to whatever challenges tomorrow has in store.

By focusing on new territories and markets and optimising your operations will see you better placed to combat the challenges of a volatile international trade wars.

Laying the foundations for continuing success

Decommissioning legacy software programs and platforms and migrating business critical data to a single, cloud-based enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution is one way small and medium manufacturers can give themselves a solid efficiency boost.

Choose a vendor that understands the unique challenges and requirements of the manufacturing industry and you’ll enjoy a range of benefits, from improved shop floor control to real time visibility into your productivity, information and operations. That’s an invaluable resource for your leadership team, one that will enable them to respond rapidly to changing conditions and make timely, data driven decisions about the future direction of the business.

Ideally, your ERP software of choice will incorporate extensive safeguards to keep your business and customer data private and secure, including multi-factor authentication, firewall protected servers and the latest encryption technology.

Creating a stronger future for your manufacturing business in FY2026

In 2025, former US president Benjamin Franklin’s quoted observation that ‘nothing in life is certain except death and taxes’ has never rung truer. Today’s manufacturers are faced with many uncertainties, among them a shifting international trading landscape in which tariffs look likely to play a significant part.

Pursuing fresh opportunities, operating efficiently and drawing on current data to make business critical decisions will be the key to surviving and thriving, in the next 12 months and beyond.

If that’s a priority for your manufacturing business, there are tools and technologies that make it easier to do and should be top of your investment list for FY2026.