March 25, 2025
The concept of supply chain resilience has existed for as long as supply chains themselves, but it really came into focus during the COVID pandemic when the flow of goods underwent unprecedented shocks. Now, with trade wars heating up, severe weather events happening more often, and manufacturing hubs shifting to new locations, additional shocks look likely. In a recent Gartner survey, forty-two percent (42%) of procurement professionals surveyed named “supply disruptions” as their primary concern.
Supply chain resilience will be essential for stability and growth in the coming years—but frequent and unpredictable disruptions will make that difficult. Forward-thinking manufacturers understand that the measures they took in the past to safeguard their supply chain are not adequate in today’s dynamic climate. They also understand that the time to get more resilient is now, not later.
For any manufacturer concerned about the future of their supply chain, ERP technology provides an unparalleled resource for achieving and preserving resilience.
Using ERP Technology for Managing Disruptions
From traffic accidents to strong hurricanes or labor strikes, supply chain disruptions come in different shapes and sizes, yet they all have the same solution: Predict problems before they happen.
While it can’t reveal the future, ERP technology gives manufacturers levels of foresight that would be impossible otherwise. By integrating data from multiple tiers of the supply chain together with operational and financial data from all corners of the production process, ERP gives manufacturers deep visibility into their present and future stock requirements. ERP also comes with powerful tools for analyzing data, exploring insights, and forecasting outcomes, all of which help manufacturers anticipate disruptions in advance.
Consider how manufacturers are already using industry-specific ERP solutions like Cloudsuite Industrial to make their supply chains resilient in the face of anything:
Superior Demand Forecasting: Integrated data gives manufacturers better historical insight into the factors that drive demand, with which they can move sooner and be more strategic about securing the stock they will need to meet forthcoming demand.
Improved Inventory Management: Making smart decisions about where, when, why, and how to keep inventory on hand becomes simple and consistent with a cohesive view of what is in stock, what is in route, and what has yet to be ordered.
Faster Procurement Processes: From vendor selection and contract negotiations to order processing and shipment tracking, ERP synthesizes procurement into a streamlined process that happens in one place, eliminating countless errors and inefficiencies along the way.
Integrated Supplier Systems: ERP solutions provide the technical foundation upon which manufacturers can link their own IT systems and data sources with their suppliers’ systems, giving them the earliest and most reliable indicators of when disruptions might occur.
Getting Serious About Supply Chain Resilience
The right ERP solution enables supply chain resilience even in turbulent times—but that also requires the right implementation and enhancements, combined with proven techniques and best practices.
Guide Technologies can supply all that and more as a team with expertise in manufacturing and supply chains as well as ERP and digital transformation. Resilience comes from being proactive. Contact us about CloudSuite Industrial and other transformative manufacturing solutions.
