Trends and Strategies in Logistics – Advantage through Collaboration

Lars started his career in 1980 as an apprentice in the largest Automotive Plant worldwide in Wolfsburg, Germany, where he was also born and raised. Later he studied Technical Engineering there and as well Business Administration in Braunschweig. Finally he postgraduated in 2015 with an International Management Diploma in St. Gallen, Switzerland and Boston, Massachusetts, USA.

After getting working experiences in Manufacturing, Logistics, Technical Development and IT his first foreign Assignment took him to Puebla, Mexico in 1996 where he was responsible for Organization of Business Processes, Structures and the complete IT Contracting of the Company.

In 2000 he moved back to Wolfsburg as Manager for the global Production Control System, from where he was called 2 years later to assume responsibility as Director IT and Processmanagement (CIO) in the huge Volkswagen Plant in Bratislava, Slovakia.

Getting back to Headquarters in 2006 he assumed several responsibilities in corporate Group functions like the Global Director of Packaging- and Containermanagement and later Director of IT Production and Logistics worldwide.

Besides his corporate responsibilities, Lars is a long time member of Bundesvereinigung Logistik (BVL), the German Logistics Association with Chapters worldwide. There he served 10 years as Committee Member for public funded, scientific Logistics Projects and was just recently appointed as the International Representant of BVL for Mexico.

Weihua ZHOU is the Distinguished Qiushi University Professor at the School of Management(SOM), Zhejiang University(ZJU). He is the director of the ZJU International Research Center for Data Analytics and Management and a member of the Department of Data Science and Engineering Management, SOM. 
 
Weihua's current research focuses on analytical, data-driven decision support models and theories that tackle complex business decisions in various domains, including supply chain and inventory management, supply chain finance, and logistics. He has published extensively in top-tier journals and has led numerous national-level research projects, including those funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China and the Ministry of Science and Technology.

Weihua has demonstrated a strong commitment to nurturing talent. His guidance has led students to excel in various innovation competitions, showcasing their remarkable creativity and practical skills. He also holds prominent positions in several academic organizations, facilitating discipline development and scholarly exchange.

Joshua Gelhaar is working as a scientist at the Fraunhofer Institute for Software and Systems Engineering ISST in Dortmund, Germany. His research focuses on data infrastructures, data spaces, and data sharing. Joshua is also the Lead of the Working Group China of the Catena-X Association, a data space in the automotive sector. Additionally, he is the project manager of the IDS China Research Lab, a joint project between the Shanghai Jiao Tong University, the International Data Spaces Association, and Fraunhofer.

Samuel studied Accounting and Finance in Australia before switching career to IT in 2001. Started of as part of the Managed Services business in Hewlett Packard serving MNCs in the ASEAN region and focusing on account recovery, before changing to internal IT leading one of the biggest IT Transformation of its time in China.    
                       
Now he is with Robert Bosch in China since 2013 as the Regional President of IT for China leading the data strategy and operational direction of the organization known as Bosch Digital, with a team of more than 700 associates in the region. 

Business and Client focused IT professional with proven record of improving the bottom line through Operational Excellence, whilst advocating Mindset Change and Digital Transformation to increase the top line. Create new business models, develop KPIs and execute strategies. Understand trends to bridge people and technology so to relieve pain points, increase productivity and business revenue. Understanding different cultures to develop relevant local strategies. Develop, mentor, and coach the next generation of talents with fulfilling careers in highly engaged teams. Also, a professional in AI ethics and governance.