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Manufacturing Excellence Forum
Innovation, Workforce & Growth in Action
A day of practical strategies, peer insights and collaborative learning to help manufacturers strengthen their workforce, improve operations, expand into new markets and build long-term resilience.
Agenda
7:30 AM – Registration & Networking Breakfast
Connect with fellow manufacturers, supply chain partners, speakers, and sponsors – full breakfast included.
8:30 AM – Opening Remarks – EMC
Welcome and context-setting from EMC, framing the day around opportunity creation, resilience, and workforce of the future.
8:45 AM – Prepare. Diversify. Compete. – Presented by Jeff Vilar, NAIDA Communications
The Manufacturing Landscape Has Changed.
Tariffs, geopolitical uncertainty, supply-chain disruption and shifting customer demand are changing how manufacturers compete.
What happens if a major customer disappears, a sector slows down, or existing markets become harder to access?
Jeff will explore how manufacturers can build resilience through diversification and what is required to be sales & marketing ready. He will also provide manufacturers clarity on how to move beyond thinking only about what they make and start thinking more deeply about the value they bring.
Attendees will gain practical insight on how manufacturers can reduce concentration risk by thinking more deliberately about their customer base, sectors, new markets and sales channels, while also strengthening the sales foundation required to pursue new opportunities successfully.
9:45 AM – Supply Chain Resilience: Preparing for Canada’s Industrial Future
This interactive session will explore how BC manufacturers can strengthen supply chain resilience as Canada refocuses its industrial strategy around domestic capability, productivity, defence, and greater supply chain visibility. Participants will discuss current supply chain risks, opportunities to build stronger supply chain networks, and practical strategies to improve resilience against increasing supply chain volatility.
10:15 AM – Networking Break
10:45 AM – Concurrent Breakout Sessions
- A) Market Diversification – Exploring Opportunities in Canada’s Defence Sector, presented by Joanna Davies – Managing Director, Polaris Advantage. Canada’s defence sector is undergoing significant transformation, driven by increased investment, major capital acquisition and sustainment programs, a renewed focus on sovereign capability, and the need to build more resilient Canadian supply chains. These changes are creating new opportunities for innovative manufacturers to diversify into a resilient, long-term market. This session will explore Canada’s evolving defence industrial landscape, the market drivers shaping demand, where opportunities exist across the defence ecosystem, and the key considerations for manufacturers evaluating defence as part of their long-term growth and market diversification strategy.
- B) Business Strategies to Navigate Uncertainty, presented by Patrick Cameron, MBA, Strategy Consulting Manager, BDC and Linda Eldabaja, CPA, Business Centre Manager, BDC. Presented by leaders from the Consulting and Financing teams at the Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC), this session will provide practical strategies on navigating economic uncertainty and outline support programs available. The BDC team will discuss actionable steps your company can take to survive, stabilize, and grow in the current environment. As Canada’s development Bank, BDC’s is dedicated to building strong, resilient businesses that drive Canada’s economic growth.
- C) Building Safety Culture to Attract and Retain the Staff You Need, presented by Wayne Arondus – Manufacturing Safety Alliance. People stay where they feel safe, valued, and heard. In a competitive labour market, learn how organizations leverage safety culture to attract and retain skilled and experienced people and become employers of choice. Explore practical strategies to engage your team, build trust, and successfully integrate safety and operational excellence.
12:00 PM – Networking Lunch – Presentation by City of Surrey – Innovation Boulevard
12:30 PM – Lunch Keynote Presentation: See Waste, Presented by Bruce Ennis, Lean Six Sigma
Lean is a business methodology that makes work simpler, less complicated, less confusing… and less frustrating.
The result: higher productivity, greater safety, stronger workplace morale—and a more profitable business. Lean is a practical, people-focused approach. It originated in Japan and has since spread around the world.
Eighty percent of Fortune 500 companies are using Lean to improve their operations. What are you waiting for?
Lean Six Sigma expert Bruce Ennis will explain the essential principles of Lean in practical terms. Attendees will learn how to “see waste”— the hidden inefficiencies that slow work down, frustrate employees and customers, and erode profitability.
1:30 PM – Applied Learning: Facilitated Manufacturer Roundtables
Participants may take part in a facilitated roundtable discussion – and may choose to stay and join one of the following conversations:
- A) Bruce Ennis
- B) Joanna Davies
- C) Manufacturing Safety Alliance
- D) City of Surrey
- E) EMC’s Make it Here Program
2:15 PM – Adjourn
2:25 PM – Tour – SFU Digital Twin + Industrial IoT Lab and Smart Manufacturing Hub
3:oo PM – Networking at Skye Lounge
This event is brought to you in partnership with the following organizations:
