Manufacturing Excellence Forum

Agenda

8:00 AM – Registration & Networking Breakfast
Connect with fellow manufacturers, supply chain partners, speakers, and sponsors – full breakfast included.

8:45 AM – Opening Remarks: by EMC

Welcome and context-setting from EMC, framing the day around opportunity creation, resilience, and workforce of the future.

9:00 AM – 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.

10:00 AM – Networking Break

10:30 AM – Panel Discussion: How Manufacturers Are Successfully Managing Workforce and Management Capabilities Building

11:15 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) Funding Growth & Expansion – BDC
• C) Building Safety Culture to Attract and Retain the Staff You Need, Wayne Arondus – Manufacturing Safety Alliance

12:30 PM – Networking Lunch – Presentation by City of Surrey – Innovation Boulevard

1:15 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

This event is brought to you in partnership with the following organizations: