Digital Supply Chain – Why and how the UK food and drink industry should lead the way

Join Digital Catapult and leaders from across the food system for our online event: Digital Supply Chain – Why and how the UK food and drink industry should lead the way on Thursday 16 September.

The stakes have never been so high for increasing the interoperability, resilience and intelligence of supply chains. And, thanks to Covid-19, Brexit and the importance of NetZero, never before have supply chain capabilities been so prominently in the spotlight of consumers, legislators, service providers and investors.

We are faced with an unprecedented opportunity to build a world class, digitalised, sustainable and resilient food system capable of responding to external shocks. The UK is currently falling behind other countries in the digitalisation of our food system, but we have the capability to lead the world if industry and the innovation community can work better together.

While technological innovation is driving data flow and sensor deployments much deeper into operations in recent years, the combined demands of quantifying reduced environmental impact, controlling supply risk and cost, and rooting out weaknesses has upped the ante. This has given rise to the need for holistic digitalisation of supply chains to deliver more secure, efficient, resilient and sustainable systems for the benefit of all actors in the system.

The degree of challenge calls for a step-change in productivity, safety assurance, financial models and shared trust across and beyond supply chains. The food and drink industry may be the most prominent area that springs to mind, but the need for holistic digitalisation – and system resiliency – is one common to all supply chains.

Attendees will have the opportunity to:

• Hear from industry experts about the need for the UK to act now to digitalise supply chains
• Learn from our expert team about UK projects delivering value and transforming supply chains using advanced digital technologies that apply creative solutions
• Meet peers and pioneers from around the UK’s food and drink industry and embrace collaborative digitalisation
• Discuss how to finance such a transformation
• Find ways to better connect the innovation community with the industry

The event will be of interest to CEOs, CTOs, Procurement Directors and Heads of Innovation within the food and drink industry looking to receive an extensive exploration into advanced supply chain digitisation projects.

10:00 – Welcome and purpose of the event

• Ben Ramsden, Partnership Manager – Food & Drink, Digital Catapult

10:05 – Why does the UK need to act now to digitalise supply chains?

• Ian Noble, Head of Research and Productivity – RDQ, Mondelez International

10:20 – Panel discussion: At what cost, who is going to pay and how?

• Chair: Chris Tyas, Chair – GS1 UK
• Ian Wright, CEO – Food and Drink Federation
• Jan Godsell, Dean of the School of Business and Economics, Professor of Operations and Supply Chain Strategy – Loughborough University

10:45 – Q&A

10:50 – Panel discussion: How can the UK food and drink industry lead the way?

• Chair: Ruediger Hagedorn, Director – Consumer Goods Forum
• Tom Hollands, Innovation & Technical Director – Raynors Foods
• Wendy Herrick, Vice President Digital Supply Chain – Unilever
• Tom Rose, Global Operations Director – Spar International

11:15 – Q&A

11:20 – Final thoughts and closing notes

• Ben Ramsden, Partnership Manager – Food & Drink, Digital Catapult

11:30 – Webinar ends