In the wake of the post-Covid era, the automotive industry faced a generational reckoning. For Ford, the impact was visceral:  billions in losses because of supply chain challenges and an additional loss in lost revenue from product unavailability. However, these ‘throes of shortage’ served as a catalyst for one of the most ambitious business modernisation journeys in the company’s history.

This session explores Ford’s three-year transformation from a reactive, crisis-managed supply chain to a proactive, technology-powered ecosystem. The journey began with a rigorous ‘future-back’ assessment – taking stock of end-to-end processes to identify critical gaps and hidden strengths. By establishing a clear vision of the future state first, Ford was able to build a disciplined roadmap that modernised the backbone of its industrial operations.

The results speak for themselves. Through targeted value realisation and ecosystem modernisation, Ford achieved significant industrial systems efficiency savings, with large portion those gains directly attributed to supply chain improvements.

While the ‘pervasive’ disruptions of the past have stabilised, the journey is far from over. This talk will conclude with a look at the current landscape, addressing how Ford is navigating remaining disruptions and how the integrated application of artificial intelligence is unlocking the next frontier of supply chain resilience. Attendees will leave with a framework for auditing their own end-to-end processes and a blueprint for building a roadmap that survives the next global shift.

Within comprehensive supply chain transformation programmes, pioneering stakeholders are achieving improved visibility, effectively navigating disruptions and maintaining competitiveness on a global scale by integrating new logistics technology, process re-design and end-to-end collaboration. Advanced tools like IoT, real-time visibility, machine learning and AI are enabling companies to undertake significant digital transformation of operations too, by integrating ERP, TMS, WMS and YMS across multiple sites in different countries.  

Join this session to learn how automotive manufacturers and suppliers are achieving a significant shift in digitising their supply chains by:

• Adopting a comprehensive technology-based approach that integrates with strategic business planning models
• Mapping supply chains and logistics across different delivery points and stakeholders to enhance scenario planning and operational efficiency
• Developing the single source of truth for supply chain data and reducing errors to improve operational efficiencies
• Improving stakeholder engagement to ensure the strategic shift is permanent   

As Nissan’s supply chain management and manufacturing teams pivot operations, products and logistics to maintain the pace of its recovery plan, a strong partnership between operations and IT has become more essential than ever. In this session, learn more about the digital teams across the Americas working hand-in-glove with manufacturing and logistics, supporting the system infrastructure and capabilities which underpin operations, and implementing new tools that provide better visibility, data-driven insights and automation.

Steve Smith will discuss the important balance of maintaining core systems and security whilst integrating cutting-edge tools like AI and advanced analytics. By fostering a secure and standardised infrastructure, Nissan has been able to achieve a rapid network reordering – such as recent shifts of production and exports across the Americas in record time – without destabilising ongoing operations. 

As well as showing practical examples of the digital capabilities that support manufacturing and logistics, Steve Smith will share his vision for the IT architecture and services that enable digital transformation of Nissan’s operations. Learn more about enhancing data and system standards, developing next-level sales and operations planning (S&OP) architecture and integrating analytics and AI-driven automation across the Americas region.  

Join this session for critical insights into:

• Strategies for maintaining core reliable IT systems for operations whilst introducing innovations like AI and data analytics.
• How robust IT infrastructure empowers supply chain teams to execute rapid network and capacity changes, including recent examples in Mexico.
• Navigating make-vs-buy trade-offs to build flexible systems and integrate best-of-breed platforms.
• Next-level digital strategies and vision for Nissan’s manufacturing operations, including developing S&OP, integrating AI and enhanced automation to support associates and partners across the supply chain.

Mapping the movement of materials from source to production plant to final customers is an essential building block for increasing visibility, traceability and compliance across a complex ecosystem. However, getting a fuller picture end to end is a complicated process which relies on shared data, mutual trust and overcoming fragmentation and limited visibility beyond direct suppliers or providers.  

Attend this session to discover how to map your supply chain, gain better understanding of key pre-requisites and benefit from having a visual representation of your network:

• Setting the mapping strategy in collaboration with partners, opening dialogue around trust and transparency
• Leveraging digital mapping tools designed to create visual representations of supply chain networks
• Assessing the methods to monitor only critical supply chain paths to identify inefficiencies and unlocking opportunities  

In the current automotive context, supply chains face increased volatility and growing pressure to meet both efficiency and sustainability goals. This keynote takes a technological perspective to explore how digital transformation can address these challenges for Gestamp's supply chain in North America – enabling organisations to anticipate disruptions, improve decision-making, and enhance end-to-end visibility through real-time data and advanced analytics. 

Digitalisation expert Muhammad Anas outlines the “digitalisation journey,” from connected systems to AI-driven operations, supported by standardised data architectures, clear KPIs, and strong cross-functional collaboration.

Gestamp’s experience illustrates how this transformation materialises in practice, particularly through traceability initiatives across the value chain. By leveraging blockchain, artificial intelligence, and machine learning, the company provides detailed insights into components and raw materials, supporting both efficiency and decarbonisation objectives. These technologies, while not an end in themselves, are key enablers in building a smarter, more resilient, and sustainable supply chain.

Supply chain leaders play a crucial role in helping to ensure that critical data and information flow to the right point and decision makers across the organisation, from setting production and supply schedules, to strategic decisions around volume, launches and forecasts. Increasingly, this information needs to be shared and positioned across functions and teams to ensure the most holistic and agile decision making, from shortening logistics lead times, to aligning capacity and planning product strategy. 

Learn more about the data, tools and mindsets driving this collaboration across supply chain organisations and ecosystems.

• Developing harmonised data and visibility to drive earlier discovery and resolution in supply chain planning
• Enriching planning information and detail to make proactive changes across supply chain, logistics and enterprise decisions
• Leveraging analytics and AI to ensure faster, smarter and more agile supply chains

Using next-gen tools, carmakers and suppliers are laying an analytics and AI layer across the supply chain, from tracking supply chain flows to purchasing, documentation and logistics planning. However, while advanced systems and autonomous agents can optimise processes and accelerate or even automate decision-making, they also bring risks, from a potential lack of control, cyber security to a misalignment in goals and objectives.

This session will explore the creativity, strategic thinking, and collaborative problem-solving that need to accompany advances in digitalisation, analytics and AI. Leaders will discuss how to strike the right balance between automation and human oversight to ensure resilience, adaptability, security and innovation in supply chain operations.

Join this session to understand how to get the best out of supply chain experts alongside cutting-edge tools, systems, and autonomous agents.

• Establishing transparent processes for sharing data and information flow for enhanced visibility and autonomous agents
• Understanding why human oversight is essential for trust and resilience in AI-driven supply chains
• Ensuring systems and processes to maintain security and integrity in digital and agentic logistics flows
• Learning practical frameworks for integrating human intervention into automated workflow