Case Study: Building a Resilient Supply Chain in a Volatile World
Key Highlights
- World Emblem tripled its size over six years by embracing reshoring, nearshoring and automation to enhance supply chain resilience.
- The company shifted from a cost-first to a speed- and control-focused sourcing strategy, reducing its dependence on long-distance imports.
- Implementation of AI accelerated product rendering and design processes, leading to a 40% increase in volume and improved customer satisfaction.
- Cultural transformation included employee training and restructuring, enabling the company to scale efficiently and improve on-time delivery.
- Leadership’s proactive approach turned external disruptions into opportunities for growth, market share expansion and operational stability.
It’s hard to stay the course when the world is unsettled. In the last six years, the pandemic turned the world on its head, tariffs have thrown off industries, inflation has gone bananas, and the Iran War is disrupting global supply chains.
Although turmoil is difficult to navigate, challenges can provoke growth for both a company and its leaders.
That was the case for World Emblem CEO Randy Carr, who took the external chaos of the last few years as an opportunity to self-examine his company and his leadership. The result led the company to shorten its lead times, use AI to remove friction for customers and invest in a stronger culture for its employees and teams.
It all began with the pandemic in 2020, when Carr and his company realized it couldn’t raise prices enough to keep up with inflation. Since then, the company has tripled in size (about a third of that due to an acquisition), maintained consistent on-time delivery, and seen a 6% lift in gross profit.
This is how he did it.
Near-shoring and reshoring
World Emblem produces about 1 million emblems a day across North America for products like uniforms, companies like Levi’s and for a variety of brands. Like many manufacturers, the company historically relied on production and global distribution in Asia.
With an interest in shortening long lead times from weeks to days, the company began reshoring and nearshoring production.
We made the mistake of really trying to stick to what we had, and not really understanding and identifying where we needed to go.
World Emblem began reshoring some of its production from Mexico to the U.S., using automation to achieve labor costs comparable to those in Mexico. In 2024, World Emblem acquired a company that brokered products largely throughout Asia, and began shifting that production to its Mexico facility.
Even after shifting some production to the U.S., World Emblem’s Mexico facility was handling so much production that it was a single point of failure for the company. Then in 2025, the Trump administration levied a 25% tariff on products from Mexico. While the tariff has since receded, the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, which governs free trade among the three countries, is up for renegotiation this year, leaving the future of World Emblem’s facility in Mexico uncertain.
With a significant portion of its production in Mexico, the uncertainty of that agreement puts the company at a huge risk. Not only was World Emblem too dependent on Mexico, but Carr took stock of the increasing risks related to global supply chains, geopolitical tensions, freight volatility, long lead times and exceptional inflation since the pandemic.
Carr and the company decided to seek more nearshore solutions for anything it couldn’t afford to reshore in the U.S. Now, World Emblem is building a like-facility in the Dominican Republic, which is expected to open in June.
This re- and nearshoring strategy shifted World Emblem’s cost-first sourcing mindset to one focused on speed, control and resilience. The company now enjoys shorter supply chains and beefed-up regional capacity, and has reduced dependency on long-lead-time imports and redundancy across facilities.
“The situation that we — that everybody's — being handed is a challenge. But we continue to look at our strategy, which is to nearshore, go faster and get closer to the customer, use automation and AI where absolutely possible, but do it in a way that gives us a direct return on our investment,” he said.
AI and culture changes
For instance, developing renderings of patches used to take several days and some redesigns, but with automation, renderings are completed instantly. This has sped up processing, helped convert more customers and has led to a 40% growth in volume, he said.
In this time of transition, the company also invested heavily in changing its culture to embrace scaling. This was a personal challenge for Carr, who had long focused on where the once-small business had come from rather than on the 1,800-employee company he was building.
“We made the mistake of really trying to stick to what we had, and not really understanding and identifying where we needed to go,” he said.
The company then invested in employee training, including the use of proper KPIs, improved problem-solving, and adjustments to its structure to scale the business systematically. That meant letting people go who didn’t want to adjust or — the harder decision — saying goodbye to good employees who lacked the skills to take World Emblem to the next level.
In the process, he found World Emblem’s customers value speed and reliability more than a marginal unit cost savings, Carr said. Now, the company is delivering on faster turnaround times with greater consistency and on-time delivery, along with an improved ability to flex with demand. The model has also reduced exposure to global disruptions, and the company is growing its market share as competitors struggle with longer, less reliable supply chains.
“The core idea is simple: We built the business to perform in a volatile environment, not depend on stability,” he said.
Managing in stressful times
When external pressures rise — like inflation, market instability or global uncertainty — the body reacts. Your nervous system interprets that pressure as a threat, directly impacting your decision-making, emotional regulation and risk tolerance.
The result is more than just “feeling stressed.” It compromises your capacity to think clearly, lead effectively and communicate strategically, said Prudence Hatchett, a leadership resilience specialist.
“Resilience in turbulent times is sustained through clarity. Not just clarity of strategy but clarity of self, your values, your decision-making filters and your long-term vision,” she said.
To stay resilient amid uncertainty, she recommends creating an “internal operating system” of intentional practices to stay grounded and stabilize thinking. This includes:
- Pausing before reacting
- Regulating your emotional responses
- Separating perceived urgency from actual priority
The goal isn’t just to survive the pressure, but to lead through it without losing your capacity to think, connect and make high-quality decisions, she said.
About the Author
Andrea Zelinski
Contributor
Andrea Zelinski is an award-winning freelance journalist with a passion for translating complex issues, trends and strategies into clear, engaging content to help people improve their businesses and their lives.
She spent 15 years as a political reporter covering state governments in Illinois, Tennessee and Texas, reporting from the halls of state capitols for publications including Texas Monthly, the Houston Chronicle and the San Antonio Express-News. In 2021, she shifted her focus to business journalism, joining Travel Weekly as senior cruise editor, where she covered the travel industry’s recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.
When not reporting, Andrea is probably hiking. Known for embracing ambitious challenges, she hiked the entire Appalachian Trail in 2020 and the Pacific Crest Trail in 2025.
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Managing in stressful times
When external pressures rise — like inflation, market instability or global uncertainty — the body reacts. Your nervous system interprets that pressure as a threat, directly impacting your decision-making, emotional regulation and risk tolerance.
The result is more than just “feeling stressed.” It compromises your capacity to think clearly, lead effectively and communicate strategically, said Prudence Hatchett, a leadership resilience specialist.
“Resilience in turbulent times is sustained through clarity. Not just clarity of strategy but clarity of self, your values, your decision-making filters and your long-term vision,” she said.
To stay resilient amid uncertainty, she recommends creating an “internal operating system” of intentional practices to stay grounded and stabilize thinking. This includes:
- Pausing before reacting
- Regulating your emotional responses
- Separating perceived urgency from actual priority
The goal isn’t just to survive the pressure, but to lead through it without losing your capacity to think, connect and make high-quality decisions, she said.
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