Christian studied Materials Handling at the University of Applied Science at Erfurt, graduating with a degree in engineering (2002) and later completed a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree program at the University of Wales, UK (2012). Currently he is enrolled in a Master of Science degree program in Information Technology at the Indiana University Bloomington, USA. From 2003 till 2018 Christian held several leadership roles in Operations, Lean and Supply Chain Management for Grammer, ITW, TRW, Faurecia and Federal Mogul in Europe, Asia and the US. During this time, he was responsible for the setup of two manufacturing plants in Asia as well as more than 15 restructuring projects across the globe. Beside his operational responsibilities Christian was also jointly responsible with the conceptual design and roll out of the Production System for Federal Mogul as well as for TRW. His most challenging project was the setup of a new Just in Time plant in South Korea (2009). “At this time, I was fairly young (29) and put in charge in a culture where it is all about seniority and hierarchical levels. I have done many mistakes, have learned a lot and was successful in the end because of a great team and an inspirational leader”. Christian has a deep technical understanding and a high level of expertise in Production and Supply Chain with modern methods and standards. This expertise he is passing over in form of his lecturing assignments in International Production, Digital Strategies and Lean Management at two technical universities in Germany. Currently, Christian is working for STAEDTLER, a traditional German FMCG manufacturer, where he is responsible for the lean transformation along with the digital agenda for the manufacturing network.

Electronic Engineer graduated from University of Palermo, 39 years old. 13 years of experience in Manufacturing in 3 different multinational companies. Several positions covered (Quality SPC, Lean coordinator, Production manager, Plant Manager, Industrial Director, Lean and Quality Director) and since 2016 partnership with Pavia University in Lean Production training course. Leading change and people common denominator in each role, combined with a profound belief in lean principles and continuous improvement mindset. In 2016 participation to Master Class in Japan opened my eyes and helped me to better understand the deep meaning of lean manufacturing. Challenging targets always achievable if we inspire the team with a common vision and we communicate a clear strategy to them: well defined indicators translated to all levels of the organization and people empowering is a key point for success. “Take care of your people and they’ll take care of your customers and business”: it is a note sentence in which I strongly believe.

Prof. Dr. Dimitris Kiritsis 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. He serves also as Director of the doctoral Program of EPFL on Robotics, Control and Intelligent Systems (EDRS). 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 220 publications. From September 2013 to September 2019 Dimitris was Chair of IFIP WG5.7 – Advanced Production Management Systems. From 2013 to 2017 he was 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), of various international scientific communities in his area of interests including EFFRA and among the initiators of the IOF (Industrial Ontologies Foundry).

Dr. Jens Schulz holds a PhD in industrial mathematics from TU Berlin. After his PhD in 2012 he served in various roles to successfully establish advanced analytics in practice, e.g., for chemical manufacturing at BASF SE as well as aircraft planning at Lufthansa Systems. He is now Technical Product Manager at FICO, delivering advanced analytics and decision technologies across all industries. He is president of the GOR (German Society of Operations Research) working group "Real World Optimization" since 2017 bridging the gap between industry and research.

Jesper has delivered organizational footprint and technology strategies within Element design and Mould Manufacturing - establishing Engineering centers in LEGO manufacturing sites in Mexico and Denmark. Responsibilities include delivering innovation to support product development and leading engineering on manufacturing sites. During his work Jesper has profound focus on how IoT can support his visions and enable the future – a true IOT-technology evangelist. Jesper has worked for LEGO in several roles. 1) Responsibility for R&D in Packaging and Processing (Decorations and Assembly) product line. 2) Responsibilities for product development execution for LEGO DUPLO, LEGO Games, LEGO Technic, LEGO Hero Factory - leading development teams through design, sourcing and marketing process from concept to finished product. 3) establishing logistics strategy, delivered turn around results in increasing differentiated services and reducing costs by e.g. outsourcing, consolidating sites and redefining logistic service offering.

Supply Chain leader with > 20 years of experience in all end-to-end competence fields of Supply Chain Management. Originator of Supply Chain’s Digital Transformation program. Recent recognitions: World Economic Forum’s nomination as “4th Industrial Revolution Lighthouse”. Leading cross-functional interdisciplinary teams on all management levels and geographies. Proven successes in greenfield (new factory construction), brownfield, site master-planning development and implementation, footprint development and restructuring, site divest and production transfers. Management of double-digit MEUR invest projects in key innovation technologies, capacity expansion projects and site development. Successful steering of major acquisitions and post-merger integrations. Profound background process safety, sustainability footprint improvement, HSE and quality management as well as corresponding ISO standards.