By Monica Menghini, Executive Vice President – Chief Strategy Officer, Dassault Systèmes

Every personality is customized—through our dreams, our clothes, our food, our entertainment. Everything we do or buy, we want to make special. We want individualized experiences we can call our “own.” But businesses have to create them, on demand, anytime. How can they do that and make a profit and grow?

Manufacturers face increasingly dynamic market ecosystems and value networks, with new trends acting together to create a world in which the rules of buying, selling, marketing and competition will change markedly. To survive and compete, manufacturers will need to increase the breadth, scope and character of their external collaborations. In some situations, they will need to take the lead—dynamically orchestrating distributed network agreements, execution and transactions to ensure that orders are fulfilled as promised. In other situations, they will need to let others take the lead, while they participate strategically and profitably.

As is always the case when significant shifts occur, it is difficult to see exactly what the landscape will look like on the other side. But it is possible to discern some important dimensions of the change already underway. For example, companies will benefit from using new technologies to collaborate more extensively with value network ecosystems in all phases of value creation, including product conceptualization and design, development of production assets, supplier acquisition and management, sales, distribution and logistics, and support.

A traditional “value chain” describes a series of value-adding activities from the supply side (raw materials, inbound logistics, production processes) to the demand side (outbound logistics, marketing, sales). But it’s this new concept of “value network” that directly connects production, distribution, marketing, customer service, etc., where not only engineering disciplines, but the entire extended enterprise contributes to creating value for topline results.

The value network is at the heart of the age of experience. Industries are no longer confined to a “between four walls” supply chain system, but now can dynamically manage the production chain. First, the physical value chain gets modeled virtually; then, the processes are operated and optimized using the parallel virtual chain. This is value creation as-you-go.

At Dassault Systemes’ next Megatrends event—Manufacturing in the Age of Experience, November 7-8 in Shanghai, China—we’ll examine the four trends that are ushering in innovation and transforming mass production to mass customization. Today’s manufacturing is –

• Creative, enabling new business models with cost-effective mass customization
• Smart, improving speed and agility with real-time learning
• Value, connecting value streams end-to-end from ideation through manufacturing to consumers
• Human, empowering collaboration and augmenting human creativity

We invite you to join over 400 manufacturing professionals and hear from leading manufacturers that have successfully transformed and are creating experiences delighting their customers. You’ll network with top influencers in global manufacturing, sharpen your knowledge in robotics, cobots, digital continuity and artificial intelligence, and connect with representatives from Dassault Systemes’ brands to explore how you can accelerate innovation and improve agility for your operation.

I’ll see you in Shanghai!