{"id":8023,"date":"2020-09-30T10:00:05","date_gmt":"2020-09-30T09:00:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-gb\/blog\/?p=8023"},"modified":"2026-01-29T10:09:22","modified_gmt":"2026-01-29T10:09:22","slug":"digital-resilience-erp-post-coronavirus-manufacturing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-gb\/blog\/digital-resilience-erp-post-coronavirus-manufacturing\/","title":{"rendered":"Digital resilience: How ERP is the foundation of post-coronavirus manufacturing"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\tDigital resilience: How ERP is the foundation of post-coronavirus manufacturing\t\t\t\t\t<\/h1>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\"Raj\t\t\t\tRaj Harash<\/span>\n\t\t\t<\/a>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Enterprise resource planning (ERP) is meant to be the nervous system in the digital body. It connects legacy systems so they can provide more value, and for longer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s where managers get key insight. And it\u2019s the easiest point of entry for new technologies such as the Internet of Things (IoT) which will add whole new datasets to the manufacturing operation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s no surprise, then, that an ERP system<\/a> is at the heart of agile working for post-coronavirus (COVID-19) manufacturers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What may be a surprise, though, is how many ways ERP can contribute to the resilience and reinvention of your operation. We cover some of them in this article.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Download your free Managing Uncertainty guide to help you create business continuity plans that keep your company moving during uncertain times<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Supply chain resilience<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Coronavirus has already taught most manufacturers \u2013 especially those exposed to China \u2013 that supply chains can break.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Michael Larner, principal analyst at ABI Research, says<\/a>: \u201cTo mitigate supply chain<\/a> risks, manufacturers should not only not source components from a single supplier but also, as COVID-19 has highlighted, shouldn\u2019t source from suppliers in a single location.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That complexity, and the need to orchestrate more suppliers feeding into a more unpredictable demand scenario, leads ABI Research to predict that manufacturers\u2019 spending on ERP will increase to $14bn (\u00a311bn) by 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Traceability<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

If supply networks are one half of supply chain resilience, traceability is the other.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As Cleantech reports<\/a>: \u201cProduct traceability<\/a> and provenance is a cornerstone of supply chain resilience. Tracking what happens to a product along each link of a supply chain is the first step to solving issues of product sustainability, non-compliance and risk.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite the trend towards onshoring<\/a>, few sectors will honestly be able to say that, in increasingly variable supply chains, they can trace every component of a product without digital assistance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As ideas such as independence of food supply and food miles become political hot potatoes (as well as consumer priorities), process manufacturers in particular will need ERP to keep provenance and traceability reporting under control.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Social distancing<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Forbes recently put ERP at the centre of workplace reinvention, saying<\/a>: \u201cIt is the recent evolution of ERP that allows much of the work that previously had to be done on-site to now be performed remotely.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ERP allows workers not on the factory floor to operate remotely, with all the information they need to make decisions in real time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the floor, it frees up workers to operate flexibly \u2013 and therefore distanced \u2013 for example using handheld scanners to process materials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the backbone of an emerging IoT environment, ERP can marshal sensors to spot production problems before they become shutdown issues and also reduce the need for on-site personnel by triaging those problems early enough (often fast enough to resolve without a service call).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Download your free Managing Uncertainty guide to help you create business continuity plans that keep your company moving during uncertain times<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Lean Manufacturing<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Nobody would argue with the fact that we are now in a cost-cutting era. Businesses are focusing on core activities and trimming fat from operations in order to secure as long a financial runway as possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For manufacturers, the playbook has been written over many years. Lean processes reduce waste and minimise cost across the operation. If you\u2019re looking to optimise:<\/p>\n\n\n\n