By 2025, Industrial Manufacturers must be able to capture customer requirements effectively and drive mass customization to give every customer what they want. The ability to manage the specifics of each order in every aspect of the value chain consistently lies in the intelligent enterprise.

Suzanne Richer, director of trade advisory practice with Amber Road, sketches out the major trends that are disrupting global supply chains today.

In Silicon Valley, a roomful of prognosticators gather once more to divine the future of global supply chains.

The supply chain continues to substantially transform as businesses become increasingly digitized, global, and networked. Organizations are leveraging a range of systems and partnerships to effectively fulfill orders under tighter timelines and the pressures of greater customer and consumer demands.

In recent years, the supply chain industry has undergone significant changes. With the advent of e-commerce, businesses are under increasing pressure to keep pace with growing customer demands, shorter product lifecycles, and global competition. Multi-enterprise business networks have been an effective first step to meeting these challenges and leveraging the vast potential of this new landscape.

Political turmoil in the United Kingdom over the terms of the country’s withdrawal from the European Union — Brexit — has injected great uncertainty into the plans of companies doing business there. U.S. retailers distributing throughout the EU from the U.K. are especially affected.