Manufacturing and supply chain leaders face a pivotal year in 2026 as regulatory change, AI adoption, and rising customer expectations reshape how organisations operate. Regulatory changes such as tariffs and sanctions were manufacturers’ biggest supply chain challenge last year.
In this webinar, we explore the essential role of high quality, harmonised data in enabling smarter decision-making, stronger compliance, and successful AI deployment. With many manufacturers still held back by data siloes, duplication, and low confidence in their analytics, we’ll highlight how trusted data and new technologies can support faster AI adoption and workflows such as risk monitoring, while still relying on human expertise for final judgement.
This is particularly critical given that 44% of manufacturers have already seen AI projects fail due to poor data quality.
The session also highlights the regulatory shifts redefining production and procurement, from sustainability reporting to evolving trade and cybersecurity requirements. Finally, we look at changing customer expectations around transparency, speed, and real time visibility, and how businesses can adapt through more agile, localised supply chain models.
Join us to learn the data foundations and strategic actions needed to thrive in 2026.
What You’ll Learn
Meet our Speakers:
Björn Gerster
European Centre of Excellence Lead – Manufacturing, Dun & Bradstreet
With a strong background in national and international service sales, Bjorn has extensive experience in consulting around complex solutions and transformation projects. Now leading manufacturing for Dun & Bradstreet in Europe, he focuses on driving growth, innovation, and data-driven strategies in the industry using his experience with our clients.
Tom StJohn
Multimedia Editor, The Manufacturer (part of Nineteen Group)
Tom is the Multimedia Editor at The Manufacturer (part of Nineteen Group). His professional background is in broadcast journalism; in tv and radio.As well as writing for The Manufacturer Magazine, he leads on all our video content and is a presenter on The Manufacturer Podcast. Tom has thoroughly enjoyed immersing himself in the stories that our manufacturing and vendor communities have to tell, and views sessions like these as a valuable extension of that.
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