Over the past few years, supply chain disruptions have shifted from occasional setbacks to consistent challenges. Global pandemics, geopolitical tensions, natural disasters, and cyberattacks create an unpredictable landscape where manufacturers must do more than simply survive—they must build resilience that enables adaptation and growth regardless of circumstances.
Supply chain resilience is your organization's ability to anticipate, prepare for, respond to, and recover from disruptions while maintaining continuous business operations. It's not simply about bouncing back to normal; it's about having the agility to pivot quickly, minimize impact, and potentially emerge stronger from challenges.
For manufacturers, resilient supply chains mean:
• Minimal production downtime during disruptions
• Maintained customer satisfaction and delivery commitments
• Protected revenue streams and profit margins
• Competitive advantage through operational flexibility
• Reduced long-term costs associated with crisis management
Modern manufacturers face multiple risk factors that can derail operations:
• Supplier dependencies: Over-reliance on single suppliers or geographic regions creates dangerous bottlenecks. When one supplier fails, your entire production line can grind to halt.
• Demand volatility: Rapid market shifts, changing consumer preferences, and economic fluctuations make accurate forecasting increasingly difficult.
• Logistics disruptions: Transportation delays, port congestions, and shipping cost fluctuations can severely impact delivery schedules and profitability.
• Technology failures: System outages, cybersecurity breaches, and inadequate digital infrastructure expose critical vulnerabilities.
• Limited visibility: Without real-time insights across your supply chain, you're operating blind; unable to identify problems until they become crises.
Priority's comprehensive ERP solution is specifically designed to help manufacturers build robust, adaptive supply chains. Here's how:
End-to-end supply chain visibility
Priority provides end-to-end transparency from procurement through production to delivery. Monitor orders, inventory, and shipments in real-time through intuitive dashboards accessible from anywhere. Track inventory across multiple warehouses instantly, view supplier performance at a glance, and receive real-time alerts about potential disruptions before they impact operations.
This single-platform visibility eliminates the information silos that prevent quick decision-making during critical moments.
Intelligent inventory management
Priority's advanced inventory system maintains optimal stock levels across all locations while minimizing costs. Real-time tracking across multiple warehouses, automated reorder point calculations, and multi-location balancing prevent both stockouts and overstock situations.
The system includes lot and serial number tracking for full traceability, mobile barcode scanning for accurate movements, and multiple costing methods (FIFO, average cost, standard cost) to support your specific needs. Safety stock optimization ensures you're protected against disruptions without tying up unnecessary capital.
Advanced procurement and supplier management
Priority transforms procurement from a reactive scramble into a strategic advantage. The automated workflow from requisition to purchase order to receipt eliminates delays and errors. Supplier performance tracking provides data-driven insights for building a diversified, reliable supplier base.
Multi-currency support enables seamless global supplier management, while automated three-way matching (PO, receipt, invoice) catches discrepancies before they become problems. The vendor portal improves collaboration, and purchase price analysis keeps costs under control even during volatile market conditions.
Smart demand planning and MRP
Priority's Material Requirements Planning (MRP) engine optimizes production planning and material procurement using advanced algorithms that consider actual demand, lead times, and inventory levels. Automated material calculations, production schedule optimization, and capacity planning ensure you're always prepared; and they’ve even allowed manufacturers such as BioThane USA to reduce inventory costs by 40%.
What-if scenario analysis lets you test different strategies before committing, while integration of sales forecasts and actual orders provides accuracy. The system automatically generates purchase and work orders, executing your plans seamlessly across multi-level bills of materials.
Integrated warehouse and logistics management
Priority's warehouse management ensures efficient operations from receiving through shipping. Mobile barcode scanning throughout the facility maintains real-time inventory accuracy across all locations. Automated replenishment between locations optimizes stock distribution, while shipping integration with leading carriers provides seamless logistics coordination and real-time tracking.
Integrated manufacturing and production planning
Priority seamlessly integrates supply chain management with manufacturing operations, enabling rapid response to changing conditions. Multi-level bill of materials management, routing and work center planning, and shop floor data collection provide complete production visibility. Production scheduling, capacity planning, and quality management workflows ensure you can pivot quickly without compromising standards.
Seamless integration and automation
Priority integrates smoothly across your entire business ecosystem through modern APIs and EDI capabilities. Automated order processing with suppliers and customers, EDI integration for electronic document exchange, and e-commerce platform connectivity eliminate manual data entry and delays. Third-party logistics integration and shipping carrier connections provide real-time tracking across your entire fulfillment network.
Financial visibility and control
Supply chain decisions directly impact financial performance. Priority's integrated financial management provides complete visibility into costs, profitability, and cash flow implications. Real-time cost accounting, landed cost calculation, and purchase price variance tracking ensure accurate financial insight. Cash flow forecasting considers payment terms, while multi-currency and multi-entity support enables global operations. Automated invoice matching and comprehensive reporting complete the financial picture.
Mobile-first supply chain management
Priority's mobile platform keeps your team productive whether they're in the warehouse, on the factory floor, or meeting with suppliers. Complete warehouse management from mobile devices, barcode scanning for transactions, real-time inventory inquiries, purchase order approvals, and production data collection ensure operations never slow down.
Real-world success: Arkal Automotive
Arkal Automotive, a global manufacturer of plastic and composite parts for the automotive industry, transformed its complex multi-location supply chain with Priority ERP. The unified platform delivered real-time visibility across manufacturing, inventory, and logistics, enabling optimized production planning through integrated MRP and streamlined coordination between plants and logistics teams.
"Most of the quality assurance processes that we use on the floor are in real time and scanned. That helps cut out some of the errors that you would have between making documentation on the floor and having to come back up to an office," explains David Dunaway, Supply Chain Manager at Arkal Automotive.
With Priority, Arkal now delivers precision-engineered parts faster and more reliably, maintaining exacting quality standards while achieving the supply chain resilience needed to respond quickly to disruptions and urgent customer demands.
Priority's cloud-based architecture provides consistent performance, automatic updates, and accessibility from anywhere without infrastructure investments. The system's scalability supports expansion into new locations, products, or markets without limitations. Rapid implementation means faster time-to-value, while expert support provides ongoing guidance and best practices. Continuous innovation through regular updates ensures you always have cutting-edge capabilities. As manufacturers continue to navigate uncertainty, resilience has become a strategic priority. At the Enterprise Software Showcase (ESS), technology leaders and industry peers explore how modern ERP platforms like Priority strengthen visibility, agility, and control across the supply chain. For organizations assessing their next steps, ESS offers the opportunity to see these capabilities in context and consider what resilience could look like in their own operations. Register to join the conversation at ESS