The Global Manufacturing and Supply Chain Management Forum 2014- Challenges and Best Practices of Supply Chain Management in the Internet Era Held

June 12, 2014 Hangzhou-2014 Global Manufacturing and Supply Chain Management Forum- Challenges and Best Practices of Supply Chain Management in the Internet Era, 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 in the Qizhen Hotel of Zijingang Campus, Zhejiang University. The forum was attended by the experts from the manufacturing and supply chain industries, high-level managers in the industry, various associations, media and honored guests. Every participant exchanged views upon how to cope with the supply chain management in the current internet era, and also presented such a feast of knowledge to the audience. 

Prof. Ling CHEN and Prof. Weihua ZHOU also attended this forum, both are the associate dean of the School of Management of Zhejiang University. Associate professor Yongyi SHOU, the director of Zhejiang University MBA Program Office and the co-director of GMSCM program, Ms. Chao CHEN, the deputy director of MBA Program Office, Mr. Shuqun MA, the director of GMSCM Recruitment in Greater China and Prof. Shanling LI, the supply chain professor from the Desautels Faculty of Management of McGill University were all present as hosts. Besides that, Dr. Archer FU, the vice president of DHL Business Development and Supply Chain Consultancy, Prof. Vincent THOMSON, the Werner Graupe Professor of Manufacturing Automation of McGill University, Ms. Susanna CHIU, the board member of Li& Fung, Mr. Hao DUAN, a senior director in Alibaba and investment manager in Cainiao Network, Mr. Haoming LIN, the vice president in U-link Supply Chain Management, Mr. Pingyi LI, the general manager in FineEx, Mr. Qian ZHENG, the president of Minjie Logistics Group and Mr. Xiaoming HUANG, the president of KCM Technology Group also gave their speeches in the forum.

First of all, Prof. Ling CHEN represented the School of Management of Zhejiang University to give an opening speech. Prof. CHEN congratulated upon the opening of the forum and extended a warm welcome to all guests. He added that the traditional manufacturing industry has faced such a huge challenge in the internet era while the E-commerce has embraced an unprecedented opportunity, which will also become a great topic for the School of Management to better serve the manufacturing sector and E-commerce group in China. When introducing Zhejiang University and McGill University, Prof. Chen said that the two universities had co-founded the GMSCM program, it is also an innovative effort to the international and professional development of MBA Programs. He hopes that this program will help cultivate more excellent graduates who are good at leadership and managing the supply chain and other relevant business comprehensively and able to adapt to the changing market need and global economy.

Prof. Ling CHEN, Associate Dean of Zhejiang University School of Management

Prof. Yongyi SHOU, Director of Zhejiang University MBA Program Office and the co-director of GMSCM program

At the beginning of the forum, Prof. Shanling LI gave a speech titled the Management of Supply Chain and Design of Allocation Network. Prof. LI noted that the greatest difficulty in the internet era is the inability to predict the need, it has been the ultimate pursuit for the enterprise to satisfy the client need and achieve the maximal profit. Hence in this era, to design a supply chain fitting the need and also work out an allocation network properly has become a critical topic. By presenting the real cases of Toyota, SEVEN-ELEVEN, Dell, ZARA, GE and United Airlines, Prof. LI elaborated on how the information flow, material flow and fund flow interact with each other so as to achieve the maximal profit. What is more, Prof. LI introduced a series of concepts to these students, such as the best supply chain as well. To be more specific, for the product with the same requirement, the optimization of supply chain can be achieved by minimizing the time required to respond. Prof. LI also cited the risk control of Toyota to further explain it to the students. In the end, Prof. LI explained how to operate the internet to make up in the case of uncertain need.

Prof. Shanling LI, Professor of McGill University Desautels Faculty of Management

 

Dr. Archer FU, who is also the adjunct professor of the ZJU MBA Program, made a speech named The Challenge and Innovation of Supply Chain Management – Internet Thinking and O2O Case Sharing. He pointed out that many successful companies such as Apple, McDonald, Amazon, PG and Unilever have something in common. More specifically, they have formed a digital and physical supply chain focusing on the client need and also managed to offer the most comprehensive solutions. They have viewed the supply chain as the most trustworthy partner and tried to enhance its value chain. During the speech, he also mentioned many challenges facing the supply chain at the present stage and explained how to confront them by citing some real instances. After taking a traditional household electrical appliance company as an example, Dr. Fu noted that the internet mind is more than creating the value with supply chain, it should be also extended into the organization, process and thinking so as to truly transform the O2O.

Dr. Archer FU, VP of DHL Business Development and Supply Chain Consultancy

Prof. Vincent Thomson launched a speech called The Supply Chain Management in the Aviation Industry. He elaborated on the supply chain structure, feature, quality control system, product development and practical application in the industry. In addition, he made the remark that the management has stood out as the most important link in the structure of supply chain management. Hence, the enterprises should better understand the culture of the supplier and the difference in the logistics and transport. Prof. Thomson pointed out that the transport and terminal user has been central to the country as well.

Prof. Vincent THOMSON, Werner Graupe Professor of Manufacturing Automation of McGill University

In the afternoon, Mr. Hao DUAN took the lead in giving a speech. Regarding to the reason for Alibaba founding Cainiao Company, he also gave his own answer. At the early stage of founding the company, Mr. Yun MA intended to create it as an express and logistics company that will achieve the 24-hour delivery for those online consumers in China. He pointed out that there will be an increasingly higher demand on the express industry. With the growing call for the quicker, newer and better services, the logistics industry should be well prepared for the further competition. Hence, Cainiao has also set up three standards and ultimate goals for the further development.

Mr. Hao DUAN, Senior Director in Alibaba and Investment Manager in Cainiao

Ms. Susanna CHIU from Li& Fung shared the management mode of supply chain of the company. She said that the logistics has only occupied a small portion of the management mode. The most important point about the full channel is the client need, which means that it should be oriented to the client rather than the existing platform. She also added that the supply chain management should be based on the deep understanding of client need. Hence, Li& Fung has provided the clients with the real operation and great value so as to help them solve the problem of integrating the whole management mode. She mentioned that many people have wrongly believed that to reduce the cost and increase the revenue are the only methods available. However, she just believes that to offer a different way of thinking and management mode will be important as well.

Ms. Susanna CHIU, Board Member of Li& Fung

Mr. Haoming LIN from U-link gave a speech entitled The Logistics E-commerce Platform under the Background of Mobile Internet. He introduced two major development directions of supply chain, namely the value-oriented and technology-oriented. In addition, he analyzed the logistics market and the combination of the logistics and E-commerce. After deeply analyzing the practical implementation of E-commerce with charge, he also pointed out that more efforts should be made to enhance the efficiency of information exchange so as to reduce the logistics cost of the supplier and client. To conclude, he shared the difference between logistics E-commerce and E-commerce logistics as well as the charging mode of E-commerce platform.

Mr.Haoming LIN, VP of U-link Supply Chain Management

During the panel discussion which was also the last link of the activity, Mr. Pingyi LI, Mr. Qian ZHENG and Mr. Xiaoming HUANG, as the honored guests, exchanged views with Prof. Yongyi SHOU and Mr. Shuqun MA upon the hot topic of the Undertaking Opportunity and Challenge in the Internet Era. These three top managers in the industry addressed the issues of innovative point and integration of logistics resource in their companies respectively. 

With the driving force of internet economy, the traditional mode of supply chain adopted by Chinese enterprises has been facing with the challenge of rapid transformation and innovation. In which new commercial opportunities are brewing continuously. The forum was aimed to spread out the management mode of supply chain explored and developed by those enterprises with innovative awareness in the form of the speech so as to give practical help to those Chinese companies currently going through the upgrading and transformation.