Ongoing global crises, particularly the escalating effects of climate change, are making the need for systemic and transformative responses increasingly urgent. The production sector must actively drive the transformation of value creation systems, with localized production structures emerging as a promising pathway to accelerate this shift. In this context, there is often discussion of visionary small factories that can produce everything in a short time and to a high standard of quality. The current situation differs from this ideal. However, what does the status quo look like, and how can we already promote local manufacturing at the point of need and integrate Circular Economy Principles? One possibility is the large-scale interconnection of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which is prevalent in industrialized countries, allowing them to join forces in value-adding networks. At the same time, concepts and ideas are needed to enable all enterprises to become more sustainable and circular. This article couples the investigation results from analyzing sustainability reports of manufacturing SMEs using a Qualitative Content Analysis approach with results from a Quantitative Text Analysis of published guidelines and roadmaps from leading European countries, technical institutes, and research initiatives, resulting in an approach to foster sustainable and circular management decisions in SMEs.