Are UK manufacturing supply chains fit for the 21st century?

The tenth National Manufacturing Debate, hosted by Cranfield University, brought together industry and academia to discuss one of the biggest challenges facing businesses – the digitalisation of supply chains. Manufacturers take elements out of the ground, refine them and transform them into something useful, something with value. In that sense, humans have been doing it for thousands of years. We’ve got far better and more efficient at doing it in only the past 250 years or so. But manufacturing means more than just transforming materials, the sector carries significant social, economic and environmental benefits that impact individuals, organisations, communities and nations. Now more than ever, manufacturing relies on ever more sophisticated and complex global networks of suppliers, partners and customers.