I closely followed our Manufacturing in the Age of Experience event in Shanghai. Congratulations to Guillaume Vendroux, CEO of Dassault Systemes’ DELMIA brand and the entire event team for an outstanding conference.

Over 200 industry leaders explored the theme Sustainable Manufacturing. It’s a critical topic for the industrial world. The impacts of climate change are being experienced more globally every day, and the world is taking action. Programs like the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, the European Commission’s Circular Economy Action Plan, and Asia-Pacific Partnership for Clean Development and Climate have already achieved successes and continue to strive for more.

The world is experiencing a global transformation in how we invent, make and trade. We call it Industry Renaissance and sustainability is a central concern. It’s a new generation of business leaders looking to create a desirable planet that is environmentally and socially responsible, while achieving success in a vibrant economy.

Three pillars of manufacturing

Guillaume opened the manufacturing event presenting the three pillars of sustainable manufacturing

• Creating the workforce of the future—working safely, collaborating, extending and improving knowledge and know-how, showing workers’ full potential and becoming more autonomous
• Optimizing global operations—eliminating wastes from manufacturing—like over production, overstock, process waste, errors and scrap, and delay
• Orchestrating the value network—modelling collaboration, transparency and efficiency to serve a fast changing, ever more complex market

As Guillaume said, “There is no planet B, sustainable manufacturing is not an option.”

Company insights

Companies gave insights and proof points about sustainable manufacturing becoming reality.

Ke Wang, managing director of Accenture China, confirmed that sustainable manufacturing is crucial for both manufacturers and governments, and that they care about environmental and social impacts. “Efficiency is a way to protect the environment. Sustainable manufacturing can create and support new business models,” says Ke Wang. He pointed out that to be really sustainable, human-friendly, planet-friendly, trustworthy and efficient, digital transformation is a prerequisite and the enabler of smart manufacturing.

Michael Larsson, group vice president and head of robot systems at ABB Robotics, shared the future of automation in the age of experience. Digitalization is key with virtual technology simulating the factory floor to plan, visualize and optimize offline before implementation. Customized dashboards will provide constant information across the organization to help make the best decisions. “If you look at companies like ABB Robotics, we would like to work in an ecosystem with partners that make a difference. That’s why we want to work with Dassault Systèmes.”

Albert Pozo is Chief Digital Officer at SATS, Asia’s leading ground handling and food services company for airline gateway services. SATS wanted to transform how its kitchens were run, but also wanted to ensure that it captured and retained the know-how, the savoir faire, of the company. “There are three main aspects to what we are trying to achieve: treasuring resources, connecting people and nourishing commitments,” said Pozo. With the DELMIA and the 3DEXPERIENCE platform, SATS digitalized its processes for more complex data analytics, and used Dassault Systèmes’ technologies to create new jobs, optimize their value network and avoid a negative footprint on the planet and the people at its facilities.

Sustainable manufacturing in action

Putting sustainable manufacturing into action, attendees were immersed in the everyday activities and successes of CarCo, a fictional Shanghai-based automotive company with a target of becoming the number one sustainable car company. In the virtual demonstration, the company faced classical problems that regular companies have to address.

Using the 3DEXPERIENCE platform to connect the dots, attendees instantly linked directly into the process, from design to execution to maintenance so that all decisions were seen in context.

The demonstration showed the core of what the 3DEXPERIENCE platform enables—to collaborate, share and make; to optimize carbon footprint; to produce efficiently and be profitable.

The Hackathon for the Workforce of the Future

Starting with 20 students from 5 countries, 4 teams answered the challenge to develop in just 48 hours their solutions for a sustainable manufacturing factory of the future. You can read all about the adventure and meet the winning team. Students like these are the driving force behind achieving our sustainable future.

Focusing on China

Day 2 of the event put the focus on manufacturing in China, where innovations come at impressive speed and scale. According to the Global Innovation Index, which reviews the innovation performance of nearly 130 economies around the world every year, China is number 14, leading the world with over US$2.01 trillion of manufacturing output.

The Made in China 2025 initiative is highly ambitious, looking for Chinese companies to become global leaders in 10 core industries by 2025, and for China to be a global technological superpower by 2050. Maintaining this leadership means transforming at multiple levels—for the country, industries and companies. Sustainable manufacturing has become a national priority and China is accelerating efforts in intelligent manufacturing and to strengthen its innovation and competitiveness.

Enabling the sustainable economy

The sustainable economy is happening now, all around us. New technologies and innovations make it possible. Dassault Systèmes has been fostering sustainable innovation since its founding. Our purpose is to provide business and people with 3DEXPERIENCE universes to imagine sustainable innovations capable of harmonizing product, nature and life. Now in the midst of a modern Industrial Renaissance, we offer a new approach to innovation and doing business for a sustainable economy as global manufacturers use the virtual world to reinvent their business and foster a sustainable planet.