2016 Global Manufacturing and Supply Chain Management Forum was Successfully Held

June 22, 2016 Hangzhou - The 2016 Global Manufacturing and Supply Chain Management Forum – Trend and Challenges on Intelligence, Integration and Globalization for 2025 Manufacturing and Supply Chain Operation Strategy in China, which was hosted by the School of Management of Zhejiang University and the Desautels Faculty of Management of McGill University as well as supported by the Zhejiang University MBA Program Office and the Global Manufacturing and Supply Chain Management (GMSCM) Program, was successfully held at Zhejiang University.

The forum was hosted by Prof. SHOU Yongyi, Director of MBA Program Office of Zhejiang University, Co-director of Global Manufacturing and Supply Chain Management Program, and Mr. MA Shuqun, Director of Admissions in the Region of Greater China for the GMSCM Program. Mr. Jason Walsh, Consul of Canadian General Consulate in Shanghai, Prof. WU Xiaobo, Dean of School of Management of  Zhejiang University, Prof. LI Shanling and Prof. Vincent Thomson from McGill University, Ms. Wang Pei, General Manager of Turbocharger System in BorgWarner Automotive Components (Ningbo) Co., Ltd., Mr. Michel Lacombe, Technical Manager of Pratt & Whitney (China), Mr. Alan Ma, Director of Asia-Pacific Supply Chain for Magna Steyr, Mr. SHAO Yishan, Vice President of Hangzhou New H3C and Mr. Sean Goff, General Manager of Asia Pacific Region of National Railway Corporation of Canada attended the forum.

At the beginning of the forum, Mr. Jason Walsh announced speech on behalf of Canadian Consulate, he highly appreciated the cooperative education of these two top institutes for cultivating global talents together. He was delighted to hear that the first cohort of the program had received master degrees from both Schools this year. With Canada and China's cooperation and contacts continuing to strengthen, Canada and China also made considerable progress in education, trade and etc. He believed that in future, China and Canada would play an increasingly important role.

On behalf of School of Management of Zhejiang University, Dean WU said China was now the most complete manufacturing country in the industrial system, and this achievement was not the result of China's closed-door policy but global cooperation. Universities also played a very important role in this process. The GMSCM Program, co-founded by School of Management of Zhejiang University and the Desautels Faculty of Management of McGill University in Canada, has explored new principles and disciplines in the global manufacturing and supply chain with more new discoveries in the cooperation. The forum brought all parties of industry and academia together, giving feedback of business development results in the class, with science and rationality to promote academic progress, which was very meaningful.

Professor. Shanling Li of McGill University of Canada spoke on behalf of Desautels Faculty of Management of McGill University. She believes that, cooperation between School of Management of Zhejiang University and Desautels Faculty of Management of McGill University in the past four years has made remarkable achievements, having played a significant role in promoting the teaching and academic exchanges of both sides. Prof. Shanling Li also shared with us the development situation advantages, challenges and achievements of China's manufacturing industry.

Six distinguished guests from the academic and business sectors shared their experiences and feelings in their respective fields. Prof. Vincent Thomson of Mechanical Engineering School in McGill University has been involved in related research of manufacturing and information technology for the past 20 years in McGill University and the Canadian National Research Council. His speech is mainly through the application of IT technology in the aviation service industry and telecommunications industry to elaborate IT technology’s importance in improving manufacturing and supply chain management. Prof. Thomson believes that in the context of industrial 4.0, manufacturing computerization is the basis of intelligent manufacturing. In the past 50 years, IT technology has played an important role in improving manufacturing efficiency and quality. So it can be expected that IT technology with the representative of computer integrated manufacturing will play a more important role in the next 50 years in the manufacturing and supply chains. Prof. Thomson made a detailed introduction on "The Application of IT Technology in Aircraft Overhaul" and "The Application of IT Technology in Telecommunication". He believes in the future, the entire supply chain will benefit from the IT technology development and application.

Ms. Wang Bei has been working in BorgWarner Ningbo since 2004 and currently serves as general manager of Turbocharger System in Ningbo Plant of BorgWarner China. She has rich experience in supply chain management for multinational companies. She shared BorgWarner's examples with the audience at the forum, detailing BorgWarner's basic design belief of digitalized factory of turbo charger and how the factory's information integration was achieved. She said the BorgWarner’s project of turbo charger digital plant at this stage has achieved intelligent manufacturing (automated manufacturing, data integration and analysis of manufacturing processes), management informatization (seamless integration of business processes and enterprise resources), operation integration (integration of planning, production and operation).  She expressed in the future BorgWarner would continue to develop sporadic materials, retrospective, lean proposal, audit and other modules.

Mr. Michel Lacombe, a technical manager of Pratt & Whitney Management (Shanghai) Co., Ltd., has 35 years of experience in aviation manufacturing and supply chain management. He first introduced the Pratt & Whitney Canada Company and its development in China, the challenges and the future. He said that Pratt & Whitney's engine models were plenty, but the demand in the Chinese market was less compared to the automotive industry. Small-scale production is difficult to achieve scale of economic interest. Customers’ demand for engine emissions and fuel economy is growing, and Pratt & Whitney is also facing enormous challenges in the use of new materials and new technology.

Mr. Alan Ma, Director of Supply Chain in Asia Pacific of Magna Steyr, introduced his company's three core cultures: world-class manufacturing, innovation and leadership development. And he highlighted Magna Steyr's two global standards, processes and intelligent factories. Finally, he analyzed Magna's present and future opportunities and challenges.

Mr. Yi Shaoshan, Vice President of Hangzhou Xinhua Three Group, shared with students the topic of “The Operation and Management Practice of the Integrated Operation of the Three End - to - End Supply Chain”. First of all, he introduced the company’s mission, business scope, strategic focus and customers. Xinhua Three has now become the No.1 of China’s enterprise IT solutions, and the global No.2. Mr. Yi said that customers’ demand of new products’ quick launch on market, faster product replacement and more high-end applications, price competition, business model have become challenges that Xinhua Three encountered internally. Then, he also made a detailed introduction on external trends of Xinhua Three, the supply chain values, end to end global integrated supply chain management system, the company’s intelligent manufacturing monitoring center, supply chain performance benchmarking management time, and etc. 

Mr. Sean Goff, General Manager in Asia Pacific region of National Railway Corporation of Canada, shared the supply chain integration and global operations of the Canadian National Railway Corporation. Mr. Sean Goff used the example of BlackBerry’s state from industry leaders to near bankruptcy to emphasize the importance of innovation. Over the past 10 years, Canadian National Railway Corporation continued to innovate, challenge itself and adopt new ways and means to sustain success. To improve efficiency, the Canadian National Railway Corporation reached an agreement with the port and truck companies to achieve the best efficiency of supply chain. By entering the market earlier than the American Railway and lower labor costs, it has gained large customers like General Electric and General Motors. At present, the Canadian National Railway Corporation also continues to invest in construction sites. Sean Goff introduced that the company had its own cold chain transport lines to serve the food and high-sensitive electronic products. Its customers cover Disney, General Electric and Toys R Us, of which Disney is using the 100% of company’s services.

2016 Global Manufacturing and Supply Chain Management Forum is the third forum of the brand. The forum is based on the GMSCM program jointly created by the Scholl of Management of Zhejiang University and Desautels Faculty of Management of McGill University. The program is committed to training leaders of the manufacturing industry both proficient in manufacturing characteristics and having profound management skills so as to output innovative, practical talents for domestic and foreign manufacturing enterprises. The program students are mainly from the manufacturing, logistics and supply chain industry, with the average working age of 10 years. Therefore, students can better combine the theoretical study with their own practical work experience, and through internships, visits in the world-renowned manufacturing and supply chain business, practice the advanced concept to help their future industry with upgrading and development.