Resource-efficient production including life-cycle approaches was stated as early as 2002 as the only way forward for the industry. Now, twenty years later, this is a reality in many ways. This represents a challenge to manufacturing small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) due to a disruptive industrial environment as well as changing market needs that require more capability to manage predictable as well as unpredictable changes. This paper explores some aspects manufacturing SMEs must manage, such as developing new capabilities to stay competitive in a disruptive industrial environment with uncertainties in supply chains, technologies, energy costs, changes in customer demands, and circularity. This paper presents a conceptual guideline for assessing the capabilities to develop as a manufacturing SME in a circular industrial environment. One way to manage this transition towards circularity in an industrial environment can be to develop transdisciplinary collaborations between different stakeholders and competencies.