An interactive manufacturing learning expedition in Shanghai

Day 1 of Manufacturing in the Age of Experience  is a wrap!  Over 350 executives from the manufacturing sector took part in an exclusive learning expedition centered around a pragmatic look at the challenges faced by modern manufacturers.

Guillaume Vendroux, the CEO of our DELMIA brand, welcomed our attendees and pointed out to the global audience that the host country, China, is helping to invent the future of Manufacturing through innovations such as electric vehicles and clean energy.

Guillaume set up the day by sharing the goals of the learning expedition attendees would embark on: an exploration on how to embrace the new manufacturing paradigm by gathering unique insights from partners, academics and customers and through the live showcase of a 3DEXPERIENCE twin.

He touched on the fact that the 3DEXPERIENCE platform can change the business equation for manufacturers, and previewed that attendees would have a unique opportunity later in the day to experience manufacturing in action through eight interactive workshops set up like a factory.

Bruno Latchague, our senior executive vice president, global brands, indirect channels for value and volume, and global field operations for the Americas, then took the stage to delve more into the concept of Industry Renaissance.  Bruno emphasized how the Industry Renaissance is bringing new ways – real and virtual – of inventing, learning, producing and trading to all sectors of the economy and society.  He explained how it is triggering new categories of industrial firms which in turn creates new categories of solutions for new categories of customers.  He talked about how the Industry Renaissance is driven by online experience platforms, connecting how Dassault Systèmes is the catalyst for the Industry Renaissance and our 3DEXPERIENCE platform is the enabler.

The Industry Renaissance enables manufacturers to empower their workforce with knowledge and know-how, invent new categories of experiences and make their business a platform business.

Bruno explained how in the Industry Renaissance, relationships are key.  This is true both in who organizations network with and their direct staff.  Manufacturers must transform supply chains into value networks by removing barriers between potential business partners and enabling new business models for delivering sustainable innovation to consumers.  They also must focus on the Workforce of the Future, by revealing their workforce’s talents then determining what is needed to train the next generation.

This must all be done within a model of Sustainable Innovation and Excellence, where organizations combine the power of virtual and real worlds to help people and machines come together to transform manufacturing by reducing risk and predicting operational performance.

After sharing these concepts, Bruno turned the stage over to Dr. Karel Eloot, senior partner with McKinsey & Company.  Dr. Eloot shared the results of a recent survey his company conducted on Industrial Internet of Things and digitalization, and the key factors identified through the survey for best practices for successful transformation.  McKinsey & Company’s research confirms the vision of Dassault Systèmes: an Industry Renaissance is upon us.  Dr. Eloot noted that leading companies have understood what lies ahead and are ready to embrace this revolution by building and leveraging new ecosystems of partnerships into value networks that are dynamically managed using data centric platforms – like the 3DEXPERIENCE platform.  This enables agile ways of working and collaborating, empowering people with new roles, new skills and creating new business models for delivering sustainable innovation to consumers.

After Dr. Eloot shared his insights, attendees took part in interactive workshops designed to illustrate the power of the 3DEXPERIENCE platform.  Using this digital tool for collaboration across disciplines on the shop floor helps an organization improve speed and agility, embrace lean principles, anticipate risk, predict maintenance, train the workforce through immersive reality and much more.  Through use cases, virtual reality and strategic content, this immersive journey allowed people to gain insight on major challenges in eight domains:

• Manufacturing Operations Management
• Digital Transformation and Capability Building
• Lean Management
• Value Network Optimization
• Automation Simulation
• Integrated Quality management
• Model-Based Manufacturing
• IIoT & Manufacturing Analytics

The experience concluded with the production line “go live.”  For this, Guillaume returned to stage, bringing with him three Dassault Systèmes colleagues: Thomas Bouffet, DELMIA Center of Excellence Innovation Center Director, Garth Coleman, ENOVIA Vice President Marketing, and Exalead CEO Morgan Zimmerman.

In this demonstration, attendees witnessed the benefits of deploying a digital twin approach through a real case: an example of a plant producing gearboxes on various production lines. With the help of the 3DEXPERIENCE Twin, the status of the lines can be monitored in real time. Using this example, the team simulated an incident to demonstrate how manufacturers can adapt and minimize manufacturing assets down times. This live demo showcased how the platform can enable:

• High flexibility and efficiency of manufacturing operations
• Better synchronization between departments
• Shorter issue resolution time
• Strong involvement of teams in continuous improvement initiatives

Next, Dassault Systèmes customers took the stage to share their experiences.

First up was Christian N. Reventlow, Head of Vestas Manufacturing Systems. Vestas is a global wind energy leader providing best-in-class solutions for design, manufacturing, installation, and service of wind turbines. Their major business challenges include fast development of the industry, the growing demand for products and a need for flexibility and agility across 79 countries and 23 sites.

Since 2014, Vestas has been in a business partnership with Dassault Systèmes on a journey towards operational excellence.  They use DELMIA Apriso as a global, flexible solution in 20+ sites as a platform for global development of all factories, supported by strict governance.  Vestas has a three-year roadmap with Dassault Systèmes to support their future growth.

Next, Mingli LV, business vice president of Beijing Shenzhou Aerospace Software Technology Co., Ltd then shared about how his company is focused on implementing an innovation-driven development strategy and promoting business model transformation to build a demonstration base for intelligent manufacturing engineering verification and business experience. This platform for comprehensive application and innovation provides end users and partners with engineering verification, business experience, collaborative working, R&D, cloud delivery and service.

The final session of the day was a panel discussion comprised of Pr. Li Zheng, Professor, PhD Supervisor and Vice President of Tsinghua University, Dr. Michael Grieves, Executive Director of the Center for Advanced Manufacturing and Innovative Design (CAMID), Florida Institute of Technology and Laurent Champaney, President, Ecole Nationale Supérieure d’Arts & Métiers. The group addressed major manufacturing trends such as digitalization, virtual models, additive manufacturing, product lifecycle from design to disposal, digital continuity, data protection and new ways of communication and collaboration.

They looked at the impact of technologies, noting that augmented reality will be a human and social revolution, that manufacturers will have to leverage virtual models to improve real products and that digital technologies will enable lean improvement.  They offered recommendations for companies to stay ahead of the game: choose the right technology at the right moment, break silos, dare to transform at scale to ensure value creation and manage data by ensuring workers are trained to harness it.

They also addressed the trends arising based on the Workforce of the Future: new skillsets requiring new way to learn and train people in both academics and companies.  They identified the fundamental skills for tomorrow: innovation, critical thinking, problem solving, judgment and decision making and smart data intelligence.  To develop these skills will require a new approach to academics – education must be more integrative, engaging, collaborative and open.  Constant retraining will be required, including through collaborative projects between universities and companies.  Integrated and digital tools are necessary to ensure that workers are well-prepared, mindset-ready and trained.  As an example of this, Champaney shared how by 2019, all students and academic staff at Arts & Métiers will have a personal 3DEXPERIENCE license.

Finally, the panel considered how new ecosystems of value have to be compatible across organizations, culture and technology.  They shared how a growing number of companies involve startups and students to foster creativity, unleash innovation, improve efficiency and find new ways of doing business.  They agreed with earlier speakers about how supply chains are evolving to value networks, fueled by real-time information and data shared by all actors.  And they noted the trend in product as a service and service as a product, driven by coopetition and collaboration, flexibility and agility.

Bruno Latchague returned to the stage to thank the audience for coming.  He reminded them that with the 3DEXPERIENCE platform, Dassault Systèmes is a game-changer in added value creation, going beyond digitization.  This is because the platform connects ideas, people and solutions, providing a continuity of knowledge and know-how and empowering everyone using it.  As it is both an operating system and a business model, the 3DEXPERIENCE platform enables businesses to reach excellence and to set up the most innovative value networks to deliver the business value outcome they expect. With the 3DEXPERIENCE platform, every company can become a platform company and can achieve a successful transformation in the era of Industry Renaissance.

This day showcased how Dassault Systèmes is invested in reinventing manufacturing with key players from the sector: experts, global companies, academics and innovators from all over the world.  We see this as a key step towards our purpose to imagine sustainable innovations capable of harmonizing Product, Nature & Life.

Are you in Shanghai at the China International Industry Fair? Come and meet us at booth A131 in Hall 7.2.