Alexandre Goubin was born in 1982 in the South of France. He joined LEGO in April 2016 as LEGO Continuous Improvement Director in the Centre of Excellence. His specific responsibilities are for the Marketing Value Chain and he is actively involved in the creation of a strategic dashboard intended to steer demand creation. Earlier on in his career he led Lean transformations all over Europe and the Middle East in the Financial and Information Technology sectors. Through his experiences Alexandre has developed a strong understanding of how to create business outcomes optimizing value chains. Alexandre lives in Billund Denmark with his wife Anne and two daughters.

Bart started his career in 2000 in the chemical industry in which he is still active today. At present he is site director at Prayon. Bart is experienced in the re-organization of production facilities while focusing on continuous improvement. Born in Hasselt (Belgium) in June 1972, married and father of 3 daughters. Degrees in Bio-Engineering and PhD in Applied Biological Sciences from the university of Leuven. An executive MBA and master in corporate finance from the Vlerick, Leuven-Gent management School.

I was born in 1980 and graduated from Department of Food Engineering at Ege University and took master degree in Yeditepe University at Executive MBA program. I am currently studying in the Department of Philosophy within the scope of my second university. I worked as Production Supervisor at Bahçıvan Gıda, a Dairy Company, between 2004-2009 and as Production Manager at Perfetti Van Melle Company between 2009-2016. Since 2016 I have been working as Continuous Improvement and Development Manager at Perfetti Van Melle. I am certified Lean Six Sigma Black Belt and I have involved in various projects in terms of Lean Production and Six Sigma. I am also a member of Food Waste Reduction Committee within the body of Turkish Food Safety Association.

Christian is a highly experienced Lean Manufacturing Professional who has spent the greater part of his career in the Automotive Industry. Currently he is working in the consumer goods industry, being accountable for implementing Lean as well as Industry 4.0 roadmap across the company. Prior to joining STAEDTLER, Christian held several leadership roles in Production Control & Logistics as well as Lean Manufacturing for ITW, TRW, Faurecia and Federal Mogul in Europe, Asia and the US. During his last assignments he was responsible for Lean Transformation on global scale. Christian earned a diploma in Supply Chain Engineering from the University of Applied Science, Erfurt, in 2002 and an MBA in General Management from the University of Wales in 2012.

• Prof. Dr. Dimitris Kyritsis is Faculty Member at the Institute of Mechanical Engineering of the School of Engineering of EPFL, Switzerland, where he is leading a research group on ICT for Sustainable Manufacturing. His research interests are Closed Loop Lifecycle Management, IoT, Semantic Technologies and Data Analytics for Engineering Applications. He served also as Guest Professor at the IMS Center of the University of Cincinnati, and Invited Professor at the University of Technology of Compiègne, the University of Technology of Belfort-Montbéliard and at ParisTech ENSAM Paris. Prof. Kiritsis is actively involved in EU research programs in the area of Factories of the Future and Enabling ICT for Sustainable Manufacturing. He has more than 200 publications. Since September 2013 Dimitris is Chair of IFIP WG5.7 – Advanced Production Management Systems and from 2013 to 2017 member of the Advisory Group of the European Council on Leadership on Enabling Industrial Technologies – AG LEIT-NMBP. He is also founding fellow member of the International Society for Engineering Asset Management (ISEAM) and of various international scientific communities in his area of interests including EFFRA.

Dirk Borghs graduated as an engineer in Materials Sciences from Leuven University, Belgium. After finishing his Master degree, he worked in the automotive industry for 6 years. In 1993, after finishing his degree in Finance and Marketing in Gent (Belgium), he joined Helvoet Pharma (now integrated in Datwyler Sealing Solutions) in Belgium, as technical manager. After 5 years, Dirk became Head of Global Quality and Engineering, and 3 years later, he moved to the USA (2001-2006) to run the US Operations. As of 2006, Dirk became VP Strategic Projects and Global Procurement. His main successes were the planning and building of the company’s facility with First Line standard in Belgium and the greenfield facility in India. Since 2014, Dirk has been in charge of the main Health Care plant in Belgium and as per September 2015, he moved into the role of Senior Vice President Operations Europe for the Datwyler Sealing Solutions division. Since April 2017, he has been in charge of Global Operations and Supply Chain, covering 18 plants worldwide. The Datwyler Group is a focused industrial supplier with leading positions in global and regional market segments. With its technological leadership and customised solutions, the Group delivers added value to customers in the markets served. The Sealing Solutions division is a leading supplier of custom sealing solutions to global market segments, such as the health care, automotive, civil engineering and consumer goods industries. The Technical Components division is one of Europe’s foremost high-service distributors of maintenance, automation, electronic and ICT components and accessories. With a total of some 50 operating companies, sales in over 100 countries and more than 7’500 employees, the Datwyler Group generates annual revenue of some CHF 1’300 million (www.datwyler.com).

Frédéric Moret is currently worldwide industrial director of Faurecia Interiors, one of the 3 business groups of Faurecia automotive tier-1, billing 6 B€ per year, and managing 85 plants around the world. Digital Transformation of Faurecia Interior is in his scope. Before, Frédéric occupied a similar position in Valeo Lighting, after having been in charge of the management of production and engineering departments in Valeo, CEA (energy engineering) and SNECMA (aerospace). Frédéric has an engineering degree from Ecole des Mines, a PhD in physics from INPG, and a business grade from INSEAD.

Herbert Klein has been in charge of the European Service HealthCare Imaging since 2018 January 1st. He joined after passing the final secondary-school examinations the German Armed Forces fotr 4 years. Afterwards he studied “Precise Mechanics” at the Fachhochschule Munich. He startet his career at Agfa in Peissenberg in Industrial Engineering as a Production planner and moved in 1993 to Munich plant for supporting RDE. In parallel he studied “Economics” at the Fachhochschule Munich and finalized the “REFA Industrial Engineer” courses. He switched in 1995 to an automotive supplier in the function of Head of Industrial Engineering. Back at Agfa he took over several management responsibilities in equipment assembling in Peissenberg and optical manufacturing in Altenstadt. In 2001 he was appointed as Head of Controlling for Global Operations Equipment-activities for both business divisions (Medical & Graphics) worldwide based in Munich. 2005 he returned to Peissenberg as the Site- and Production Manager for medical Equipment manufacturing. Additionally he was responsible from begin 2016 on for the Optical Production site in Peiting He was leading various projects like SAP-implementation, optimisation of the worldwide Supply Chain for equipment, enhancement of the Team Work concept and integration of support functions. He was the initiator for the Site Peissenberg to receive several awards like category winner at the Germans hardest industry benchmark „Factory of the Year“ in 2009, 2012 und 2016 and the Bavarian Quality Award in 2011. On top of his profeessional activities he acts also in honorary functions for the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Munich.

Born in Madrid (Spain) in April 1973, married and father of two children (8&6). With a degree in Agriculture Technical Engineering in Polytechnic University in Madrid, I joined the Group PSA Peugeot-Citröen in 1999, always based in the Production Plant located in Madrid. For more than 16 years in the car Industry, I was always directly linked to Operations, focused on Manufacturing (as Production Manager) and Continuous Improvement (as Lean Manager). During all this years, I firstly had the opportunity to work with some Lean tools (productivity and quality focused) but afterwards to know Lean in a much deeper way and spread the culture all over the Plan and within its human teams. Since July 2016, I work as Manufacturing Manager for MAXAM, a Spanish Multinational chemical Company, founded in 1872 by Alfred Nobel, and dedicated to the energetic materials. Here I am in charge of working with all our Packaged Explosives Plants in the World (14), focusing on Manufacturing footprint projects, Roll Out of our Excellence System (IES) and the standardization and the technological improvement research regarding the packaged explosives.

Dr Srai is Head of the Centre for International Manufacturing, Institute for Manufacturing, University of Cambridge. He has Director/Investigator roles across several major multi-disciplinary research projects, bringing an engineering and strategic operations management perspective to the design, analysis and operation of international supply chains. Research projects explore the disruptive impacts of new production and digital technologies on supply chains, markets and regulation, involving close collaborations with industry, academia, and public bodies. Jag also advises leading multinationals, governments and international institutions including UNCTAD, UNIDO, WEF. Previous roles were in industry with Unilever working as a Supply Chain Director of a multinational regional business, Technical Director of a national business and other senior management positions. Dr Srai holds a first-class honours degree in Chemical Engineering from Aston University, MPhil and PhD degrees in International Supply Networks from Cambridge University, is a Chartered Engineer and a Fellow of the Institute of Chemical Engineers.

Born in Cartagena (Spain) in 1983, he graduated with a Msc in Telecommunications Engineering. Luis is a digital transformation enabler comfortable with complexity, with passion for practical problem solving and obsessed with company efficiency and automation in all areas. He has held numerous leadership roles in the last 10 years both in international companies, medium companies and start-ups having an excellent balance of technical knowledge and management skills. Currently he is working in the agricultural industry as IT Director of Agroherni, being responsible for implementing Industry 4.0 roadmap across the company. Prior to that he's held managing positions at Gemalto, world leader providing digital security products and services worldwide, where contributed to successful international projects on IoT, QoE, Cybersecurity and Cloud infrastructures.

He has an MSc in Physics & Astronomy at the University of Amsterdam and will defend his PhD in Aerospace Engineering (Delft University of Technology) in November 2018. His research focussed on Process Improvement in Manufacturing of Composite materials. He has experience as an R&D Engineer at the Dutch National Aerospace Laboratory (NLR), Operational Excellence at Deloitte Consulting and he certified as Black Belt in a Leadership program at AkzoNobel Industrial Chemicals. In AkzoNobel he started the digital transformation and led the program "Industrial Chemicals 4.0". In Heineken he was Global Manager Operational Technology, Utilities & Water at Heineken and also supporting the digital transformation in supply chain. In 2016 he founded a startup JUGAAD Analytics, which focusses on Predictive Analytics in the Process and Aerospace Industry. Currently he joined the Transformation Office of GKN Aerospace Fokker.

Dr Ralf Zichner has been Head of the Fraunhofer ENAS department Printed Functionalities since October 2017. He is also Head of the division “Smart Production”. He joined the Fraunhofer Institute for Electronic Nano Systems ENAS in Chemnitz as a researcher in 2009. His main research focus lies on the design, simulation, printing, and experimental analysis of radio frequency components. After completing his postdoc in 2013, he was promoted to Fraunhofer Forschungsmanager.

Head of Airbus manufacturing strategy & Exploration Responsible for the definition and the implementation of the industrial transformation strategy for 11 Airbus manufacturing plants. Through Exploration f..e. on breakthrough technology and disruptive projects based on industrial requirements and needs,.we enable and validate this transformation.

Sezin Taskin is working in area of operational excellence for more than 10 years, executing Lean programs in various cultures leading skilled professionals with multi-cultural backgrounds. Her mechanical engineering career began at automotive division of Bosch Turkey. In 2006 she joined SIEMENS and worked as project manager and head of manufacturing for Medium Voltage Systems Turkey until 2011, was qualified in Siemens Production System as the first 20 alumni among 1000+ senior experts. Sezin experienced Lean governance role in Siemens corporate level and working in headquarter with wide Lean community until joining business unit Transformers as Segment Lean Program Manager. Her current role in China is driving Lean & Digitalization activities among 5 factories of SIEMENS Transformers in a very-fast-changing environment.

Based in the UK, Simon currently leads Lean transformation activities at UTC Aerospace Systems. His approach to operational excellence has been developed predominantly through Tier 1 supply to Toyota on a ‘JIT’ basis and through the Womack influenced Lean turnaround approach at UTC. Simon’s qualifications include a bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering and a Masters in Engineering Business Management. He is a Six Sigma Black Belt, a Chartered Engineer (IMechE), and Project Management Professional (PMP). His industry experience covers Programme Management, General management, Leadership Development, and Quality and Continuous Improvement. Outside work Simon enjoys time with his wife and 2 children and indulging in his passion for sailing, windsurfing, and mountain biking.

Simon Jacobson is a Vice President in Gartner's supply chain research organization and covers manufacturing operations. Mr. Jacobson advises clients responsible for manufacturing strategy and performance. His research helps clients develop transformational roadmaps for smart manufacturing and the role production plays in digital supply chains. This spans the foundational competencies of corporate production systems to the impacts of artificial intelligence, IoT, and advanced analytics on how factories can be managed in the future.

Tharsilla Laier is Head of Quality for Rotating Equipment Product Line Global and Head of Quality for Region Europe in GE Steam Power. This function is responsible for Service & New Equipment Project Execution Quality as well as for the strategic planning and operational implementation of Quality Assurance, Continuous Improvement, Quality Management and Customer Satisfaction. Tharsilla has broad experience with the definition and implementation of business processes for complex engineering and manufacturing organizations. She has worked in various Quality roles and as Project Manager for new product and technology developments. As a certified trainer of the GE FastWorks faculty Tharsilla provides companywide workshops on how to faster deliver better outcomes to our customers. Tharsilla holds a master’s degree in business management, economics and engineering from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT).

Top level executive with longstanding global experience leading Medical Device companies to best in class. • Professional with Strategic thinking leadership, decision-making ability; high business acumen, sharp results orientation, flexibility and pragmatism • Solid and successful career in Operations, international experience developed in several business (Medical Devices, Automotive, Furniture, Chemicals) • Ability to build high performance teams by attracting top talent and inspiring them to increase long-term value while delivering outstanding short-term results, built upon integrity and high ethical standards • Open and participative style of leadership; goal oriented with a high level of commitment • Capable to develop and drive Operational excellence with emphasis on cost control. Able to develop and implement industrial plans to become centre of excellence in the industry (automation, Lean-6σ, etc.) • Customer satisfaction improvement through global Supply Chain management, high quality standard and inventory reduction Relevant expertise in Operations Management, with plants' responsibility in Europe, North and South America, Australia

Martyn is a Manufacturing Quality & Metrologist Specialist by trade. Having spent his formative years running his own business in metrology and quality, he worked closely with global companies across the manufacturing verticals, specialising in the promotion of Manufacturing Intelligence Systems within the automotive, aerospace and packaging industries. Having been involved in measuring system development and project management and the promotion thereof, Martyn fully appreciates ‘what it takes’ to make a success without having to unnecessarily expend huge sums of money. Martyn calls himself ‘a disciple of manufacturing’ and is a great believer in the value behind developing new ideas for improving processes and inspection to achieve world-class manufacturing, without having to sacrifice people and company’s principles. Advising and assisting modern-day ambitions by those seeking to achieve Smart Manufacturing and the Digital Factory, now form a major part of Martyn’s activity today.

Steve’s notable career started at Toyota, where he worked extensively in the UK and Japan. Having worked for Toyota in their Derby (UK) production facility as well as one-on-one with the management in a number of Japanese facilities, Steve has gained not only a thorough understanding of TPS, but also the working Toyota thinking principles (Toyota Way) which many talk about through second or third hand information, but very few have experienced. Steve has excellent engagement skills, an in-depth knowledge and the practical experience of implementing Lean and 6-Sigma principles, tools and techniques to improve business performance. Steve has more than 17 years’ experience delivering transformation, improvement and change management and is focused on improving processes across a broad range of sectors including, manufacturing, infrastructure, transportation and healthcare.

Phil’s career spans thirty-two plus years’ of business and manufacturing leadership. Phil’s diverse background ranges from multiple leadership roles in manufacturing to successfully working with and leading several business units within Milliken & Company to profitable growth and financial sustainability. Phil’s background includes leading the implementation of the Milliken Performance System, serving as Director of Cost Improvement and as the corporate Pursuit of Excellence Director. Phil holds a degree in Industrial Engineering from Clemson University and a Master of Business Administration from Wake Forest University.