Seminars
05 February 2025
Seminar on Made Smarter Innovation | Digital Supply Chain Hub
TWI has been supporting an Innovate UK-funded project to help improve innovation and interaction among manufacturing professionals to support the digital transformation of UK supply chains.
The Made Smarter Innovation | Digital Supply Chain Hub is a digital innovation programme that empowers individuals and organisations to work together to make supply chains smarter. Developed by Digital Catapult and funded by the Made Smarter Innovation challenge, the programme is designed to transform UK manufacturing through digitally empowered supply chains that are more efficient, resilient and sustainable.
The launch of a digital platform will form part of the lasting legacy of the Digital Supply Chain Hub. The platform provides access to personalised content, training courses, a digital readiness tool, and provides all members access to a directory of UK manufacturers, suppliers, technology companies, and industry experts through a customised user experience. Aimed at manufacturing professionals as well as those interested or involved in supply chain innovation, this free-to-join hub also enables users connect and message with other members on the site.
About the Hub
This online resource can connect individuals with relevant businesses, people, content and training based upon your interests and needs. You can update these preferences at any time to improve your tailored matches. You can also create a business profile at no cost to showcase your products and services to the community and connect with buyers. As well as providing a forum for networking and interacting with others on the site, the Hub has been created to help answer your questions, expand your knowledge and find experts in the field of digital supply chains. The platform includes a range of tools and resources, from strategic and resilience tools to best-practice case studies, and more, with access to free content for all members.
TWI and the Digital Supply Chain Hub
TWI experts have been supporting the growth of the Digital Supply Chain Hub programme by presenting at workshops, attending break-out discussion groups, as well as networking and engaging with our Industrial Members to assist their introduction to the Hub.
The network already includes manufacturing professionals, tech experts, suppliers, buyers, entrepreneurs, and influencers, this free to attend Seminar will outline how the hub provides an additional resource for companies to connect with others in industry.
A full programme of the day will be released shortly.
You can find out more by visiting the Digital Supply Chain Hub website, or emailing us at contactus@twi.co.uk.
Speakers
Tim Lawrence
Director of Digital Supply Chain, Digital Catapult
Digital Catapult
Tim is Director of Digital Supply Chain at Digital Catapult leading a £30m programme to build a Digital Supply Chain Hub to accelerating digital innovation in UK Supply Chains funded through Made Smarter Innovation and Industry.
Tim has extensive experience in improving global supply chains working within the Automotive, Consumer Goods, Aerospace, Defence, Construction, Life Science and Industrial Sectors. His experience includes 25 years in supply chain consultancy, leading companies to deliver transformation in their business and operations focused on strategy, operating model and organisational design, digital supply chain, restructuring and performance improvement. He has extensive global experience having worked across 16 different countries in Europe, US and Middle East advising over 50 different companies in that time.
An inspirational thought leader, Tim develops leading insights into global supply chain management, digital and manufacturing and is regularly quoted in the press and speaks on these topics at conference platforms across Europe.
Esther Lau
Product Owner
Digital Catapult
Esther is a Product Owner at Digital Catapult, with experience in AI startups and supply chain innovation ecosystems.At Digital Catapult, she works on impactful projects, including CM-NICE (Critical Minerals - Network Insight Collaboration Environment), which supports collaboration across supply chains by enabling trusted and privacy-preserving data sharing. She also plays a key role in building and delivering features for Veritable, a platform for digitising trust relationships in the supply chain, via facilitating secure, verifiable B2B communication, empowering businesses to manage their digital identities and data sharing with confidence.
Hassan Mahmud
Team Leader, Cutting Edge AI Technologies
Digital Catapult
Hassan is an AI/ML scientist with 15 years of experience across academia and industry, all in AI/ML. At Digital Catapult he leads the Cutting Edge AI Technologies Team. Prior to that, he worked as a data scientist in industry and built and deployed first of its kind machine learning systems in sectors such as anti financial crime and supply chain control and optimisation. He has a PhD in Artificial Intelligence from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and was a research fellow in AI/ML at the Australian National University and the University of Edinburgh. His interests and research covers a broad spectrum of AI/ML, from foundational theory, to practically effective methods and to robotics.
Ben Hopper
Principal Research Engineer – Model-Based Enterprise
National Composites Centre
With over 20 years of experience in digital engineering and advanced manufacturing. Leading projects within the UK’s Digital Supply Chain Hub, Ben focuses on developing and applying Model-Based Enterprise (MBE) practices and Digital Thread strategies that improve data flow, interoperability, and collaboration across complex supply chains.
In Ben's current role, he draws from a strong background in CAD and CAM for (both for composites and beyond), covering areas like advanced fibre placement, design for manufacturing, and automated programming. Ben's work has supported industry leaders like BAE Systems, Rolls-Royce, and Siemens Digital Industries Software, using MBE to solve real challenges in data accuracy and process efficiency. Ben has also led efforts to create MBD standards, conducting nearly 14,000 tests to ensure interoperability and data integrity across different software platforms.
Ben is passionate about driving smoother, more reliable data exchange across the manufacturing lifecycle, helping suppliers of all sizes adopt MBE practices. Through practical, standards-based solutions, Ben is committed to advancing UK industry towards more connected, digitally driven processes.
Tim Stephenson
Digital Supply Chain Business Partner
Digital Catapult
Tim Stephenson has an extensive background in supply chain management and digital innovation in the European steel industry. Having joined Digital Catapult earlier this year, Tim is working in the Digital Supply Chain Hub, leading the development of a portfolio of innovative digital solutions to meet industry challenges. Collaborating with industry, technology developers and academics, Tim is part of a team working to transform manufacturing through digitally empowered supply chains that are more efficient, resilient and sustainable.