TUESDAY 1st JULY 2014
WMF 2014 | PROGRAM
08:00 - 09:00
Registrations
09:00 - 09:30
Welcome to the Forum
-
Robert G. Kiggans, IMS International, Chairman of the WMF2014 Executive Board, United States
-
Mauro Piloni, Whirlpool Corporation, Chairman of WMF2014, Italy
-
Marco Taisch, Politecnico di Milano, Scientific Chairman of WMF2014, Italy
Introductory speech
09:30 - 11:20
Session 1: "Industrial Policies for Global Manufacturing”
Manufacturing value chains stretch across boundaries while policies are local. The session will explore manufacturing policies from various regions including support for innovation, sustainability, and the common good in hopes to identify areas for cooperation.
-
Garth Williams, Director Advanced Manufacturing Technologies, Department of Science and Technology, Republic of South Africa – " R&D for Advanced Manufacturing in South Africa: a Tale of Duality"
11:20 - 11:50
Coffee Break and Sponsor Exhibits
11:50 - 13:30
Session 2: “Challenges and Opportunities in Next-Generation of Manufacturing"
The session will explore current manufacturing challenges and how they may shape the direction of production innovation. This may require meeting customers’ varying design and quantity requirements through flexible manufacturing systems; transitioning from large scale production to small runs and back again.
13:30 - 14:30
Networking Lunch and Sponsor Exhibits
14:30 - 15:50
Session 3: “Workforce Education and Human-Centered Manufacturing"
One of the key factors for manufacturers to succeed in the highly competitive global marketplace is the availability of an educated, flexible and knowledge-based workforce. Excellence in education and educational opportunities for manufacturing companies are very important to satisfy the demands of the global economy. The workplaces of the future will therefore have to give more and more importance to the human dimension. The new workplaces should also provide extended services to the workers in terms of safety, accessibility and overall satisfaction.
15:50 - 16:20
Coffee Break and Sponsor Exhibits
16:20 - 18:00
Session 4: “Venture Capital/Ecosystems for Manufacturing Start-ups”
Many small to medium sized enterprises have difficulty finding venture capital for start-ups due to typical long-term return on investment, high risk, and other factors. The session intends to review best practices of established programs and explore how governments might provide additional policy support while funding programs to bridge the gap from R&D to commercialization.
18:00 - 18:05
Wrap-Up Day One
GALA DINNER at PALAZZO BOVARA
WEDNESDAY 2nd JULY 2014
08:00 - 09:00
Registrations
09:00 - 09:05
Welcome to Day Two
09:05 - 10:40
Session 5: “Robotics for SMEs”
SMEs (small to medium enterprises) represent a large, untapped market for the robotics industry worldwide. SMEs represent a different market with respect to large manufacturing companies requiring lighter, lower cost and flexible robots, with easy-to-use human interfaces and programming, in order to strengthen SMEs competitiveness. In the coming years, robotic solution providers are expected to provide cost-effective and flexible automation solutions for SMEs to respond to shorter production runs and enable rapid product changeovers to deliver consistent quality while raising productivity. Robotics for SMEs should be seen as robots working alongside humans as a third-hand in many engineering jobs. This session will explore the challenges for robotics adoption in SMEs and current available solutions.
10:40 - 11:10
Coffee Break and Sponsor Exhibits
11:10 - 12:30
Session 6: “Global Standards for Products and Manufacturing”
The session intends to discuss technical, social and environmental standards for products and manufacturing systems that contribute to fair trade and exchange of products, services, and information in global manufacturing-service networks. Standards will always be a key for industry to guarantee fit-for-purpose and improve a company’s social and environmental credentials, but they are not always adopted universally. As we look to future manufacturing systems in an ever-increasing networked and crowd-sourced world, standards will need to be adopted at a faster pace and used on global interoperable platforms.
12.30- 13:30
Networking Lunch and Sponsor Exhibits
13:30- 14:40
Session 7: “Cyber Security Issues for Manufacturing”
As computing power becomes faster and more sophisticated and software becomes more complex and integrated into the manufacturing process, so does the ability for hackers to penetrate vital manufacturing systems, models, and sensitive intellectual property. This session will explore new ideas and challenges for cyber security in manufacturing.
14:40 - 15:10
Coffee Break and Sponsor Exhibits
15:10 - 16:30
Session 8: “Game Changing Key Technologies for Manufacturing”
Industry is under constant pressure to innovate products and processes to bring desirable goods at a fair price to market. New products, materials, and technologies are vital to manufacturers’ long-term success. The session will explore some of the latest innovations that are changing the manufacturing paradigm.
16:30 - 16:50
Wrap-Up and Close