Manufacturing together: Solving supply chain challenges through collaboration

About this Event

UK manufacturers are navigating a complex landscape shaped by geopolitical uncertainty, rising costs, supply chain disruption, and increasing customer expectations. While these challenges are widely shared, the solutions are often discovered in collaboration.

This in-person workshop brings together a community of UK manufacturers and tech innovators to openly explore what’s working, what isn’t, and what’s next.

Through a highly interactive format of lightning talks, rotating roundtables, and shared problem-solving, participants will:

• Learn directly from peers facing similar operational pressures
• Exchange practical experiences and lessons learned
• Identify digital tools and approaches delivering real value
• Collaboratively explore supply chain visibility challenges
• Surface common barriers and solutions to digital adoption

Designed as a space for honest conversation rather than one-way presentation, this session enables participants to contribute as much as they learn, helping to build a stronger, more connected manufacturing community.

Who should attend

This workshop is designed for professionals across the manufacturing and supply chain ecosystem, including:

• SME manufacturers looking to strengthen operations
• Supply chain, operations, and procurement leaders
• Digital transformation and innovation managers
• Technology providers working with the manufacturing sector

Agenda

09:30 | Arrivals and registration 

10:00 | Welcome to Digital Catapult 

10:10 | Intro to the Digital Supply Chain Hub
Simran Baughen, Programme Manager - Digital Supply Chain Hub, Digital Catapult

10:20 | Opening Session: Operations shared pressures 

• Lightning Talks (2 speakers sharing practical insights)
• Roundtables:

1. Where is your operation under the most pressure?
A peer discussion on shared challenges across cost, sourcing and demand

2. Scaling without breaking 
Learning from each other’s experiences of growth and risk 

• Challenge & Solutions Wall (capture and share ideas across the community)

10:50 | Insights from the Community 

• Lightning Talks (2 speakers highlighting what’s worked in practice) 
• Roundtables:

1. Digital tools that actually deliver value
Peer recommendations on solutions making a real difference 

2. Visibility gaps in supply chains
Identifying common blind spots and how others are addressing them

11:20 | Barriers, Trade-offs & Progress

• Lightning Talks (2 speakers sharing lessons learned)  
• Roundtables:

1. What’s stopping you moving faster?
Open discussion on barriers and how others are overcoming them 

2. The toughest supply chain changes
Sharing experiences, trade-offs and hard-earned lessons 

11:50 | Closing remarks

12:00 | Lunch & networking 

13:00 | Close 

Register now

Secure your place and start building a more resilient supply chain for your business.