Why Manufacturing Agility Isn’t Optional Anymore—and How ERP Makes It Real

Drawing on insights from a Solutions Review Solution Spotlight featuring experts from PCG, the American Society of Safety Professionals, Infor, and Avalara, the Solutions Review editorial team expands on why manufacturing agility is no longer optional.

The word disruption has been so overused in manufacturing circles that it’s lost some of its weight. That’s a problem, because what’s actually happening to manufacturers right now deserves the full force of the word.

Supply chain fragilities are exposed by single-source dependencies, tariff regimes are shifting week to week, the workforce gap isn’t closing, regulatory environments vary across 50 states and dozens of countries, and legacy systems—some running on technology concepts from the 1950s and 60s—sit at the center of operations that need to pivot on a weekly basis. This is the perfect storm, and it’s not passing.

That was the framing for a recent Solutions Review Solution Spotlight featuring a panel of manufacturing and technology experts brought together by PCG and Infor. What followed was a practical, grounded conversation about what agility actually requires of manufacturers—not as a concept, but as a set of operational decisions with real consequences.

Manufacturing ERP Agility: What It Takes to Thrive Through Disruption

The central argument running through the panel was direct: agility is no longer a competitive differentiator for manufacturers. It’s a survival mechanism. Organizations that cannot respond quickly to external shocks—whether geopolitical, regulatory, or supply chain—are not just falling behind, but becoming structurally unsustainable. And the systems most manufacturers have relied on for decades are now among the biggest barriers to the adaptation they need.

What Is Making Manufacturing So Difficult Right Now?

Justin DeWitt, industry director at PCG, identified the core problem as a compounding of external volatility and internal rigidity. China’s export restrictions on minerals such as gallium and germanium sent shockwaves through the electronics and EV battery manufacturing sectors in 2024, nearly paralyzing segments of the US supply chain. The lesson wasn’t just about those specific minerals—it was about what single-source dependencies do to an organization’s ability to respond when the source disappears or becomes prohibitively expensive.

Layered on top of supply chain fragility are operational inefficiencies that compound the damage: manual shop-floor execution, poor traceability, outdated planning tools, and siloed functions that prevent cross-functional decision-making. These aren’t new problems. They’re familiar ones that became critical vulnerabilities the moment the external environment stopped being predictable.

How Cloud ERP and Smart Manufacturing Technology Enable Agility

The technology response to this environment centers on a few interconnected capabilities. Real-time data visibility across production and supply chain operations is the foundation—without it, decisions lag reality by hours or days. AI and IoT components take over mundane, repetitive work, freeing workers to focus on decisions that require judgment. Integrated cloud ERP platforms provide the cross-functional operating environment that siloed systems fundamentally cannot.

The Infor demonstration during the event illustrated what this looks like in practice. Role-based workspaces give executives—supply chain officers, CFOs, sales managers—immediate access to the KPIs most relevant to their decisions, without navigating multiple systems. Process mining capabilities automatically surface bottlenecks and workflow deviations, identifying where the gap lies between the documented process and what’s actually happening on the floor. Generative AI summarizes project status and flags issues in seconds, replacing the manual work of assembling status reports with actionable insight available at a click.

The case for cloud over on-premises is also straightforward: organizations that hand infrastructure maintenance to a cloud provider redirect their internal IT capacity toward business problems rather than system upkeep, while gaining the security posture and scalability that most in-house environments can’t match.

How to Navigate the Changing Tariff Environment Without Getting Burned

Patrick Frith of Avalara provided a timely, specific briefing on the tariff landscape that every manufacturer, whether importing or exporting, needs to understand right now. The 90-day pause on reciprocal tariffs imposed on Liberation Day, April 2nd, is ending. With trade deals not yet finalized for the EU and other major partners, the pause lifting means significant new cost exposure for businesses that haven’t already adapted their sourcing and compliance strategies.

Four compliance fundamentals—what Fritsch called the Four Horsemen—apply to every cross-border transaction:

• De minimis exceptions: The $800 threshold no longer applies to goods originating in China or Hong Kong. The Big Beautiful Bill proposes eliminating de minimis entirely from July 2027.
• Country of origin: This is where the product was substantially manufactured — not where it shipped from. Trans-shipping does not change the country of origin, and CBP is actively enforcing this.
• Tariff code classification: Products must be classified correctly. Misclassification is illegal and carries consequences, including inventory seizure, fines, and loss of import privileges.
• Declared value: The actual cost or sale price of goods being imported. Getting this wrong creates downstream delays and cost exposure that compounds quickly.

The proactive steps manufacturers are taking include diversifying sourcing to countries with more favorable tariff treatment, automating compliance processes to keep pace with the volume and frequency of changes, and building short-term inventory buffers to absorb headwinds while longer-term sourcing strategies are implemented. 55 percent of surveyed companies expect to raise prices to offset tariff costs. The organizations that will navigate this best are those with the data infrastructure and integrated systems to model scenarios, identify alternatives, and execute quickly.

Why People and Safety Cannot Be an Afterthought in Digital Transformation

Jennifer McNally, CEO of the American Society of Safety Professionals, brought a perspective that is often missing from technology-forward manufacturing conversations: none of this works if the workforce isn’t brought along—and safety is non-negotiable throughout.

Her framing was clear. Thousands of workers are injured on manufacturing floors every single day, the vast majority in preventable incidents. The boardroom is where culture is set, and risk is governed. Technology is a tool. Good information enables better decisions. But the connection between workers and systems only functions when people understand the why behind the change, trust that their input shapes the outcome, and feel psychologically safe enough to flag problems before they become incidents.

The implementation approach DeWitt outlined—minimum viable product, phased rollout, executive alignment first, front-line engagement throughout—reflects the same logic. Start with the capabilities that deliver immediate value. Train people on those before adding complexity. Build internal capability rather than a permanent consulting dependency. And treat change management not as a project phase but as the continuous work of helping people do their jobs better with better tools.

The manufacturers that will come out ahead aren’t necessarily the ones with the most sophisticated technology. They’re the ones that combine the right systems with the organizational discipline to implement them deliberately, the leadership to align every level of the organization around a shared direction, and the cultural commitment to treat their people as the most critical component of the whole system.