Meet Dr. Yi Liang, The Visionary Founder and CEO Behind Shangjian Intelligence

“There will be a way even if it cannot be seen.” Dr. Yi Liang, founder and CEO of Shangjian Intelligence, cites this saying as his personal motto.

A visionary in artificial intelligence (AI) and deep-learning algorithms, Dr. Yi has dedicated his efforts to improving the efficiency of manufacturing processes. “Promoting the industrialization of artificial intelligence and operations research — that’s my focus,” he explains.

Due to his insights and revolutionary products, companies have disrupted whole industries and surged to the forefront of their markets.

The Making of an AI Genius

Dr. Yi got his start with a master’s degree in theoretical physics, followed by a Ph.D. in computational physics. While physics might seem far from the realm of artificial intelligence, the two fields are actually closely linked.

“A lot of researchers use artificial intelligence in general and machine learning in particular in physics,” he explains. “Over the past few years, machine learning has even been applied to high-energy physics, also called particle physics.”

After that, he turned his attention to decision-optimization technology in industrial manufacturing. “Based on my academic background and industry work experience, I realized traditional Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and Advanced Planning and Scheduling (APS) systems had lots of deficiencies and shortcomings,” he says.

Spotting opportunity in the Industrialization of Operations Research

Dr. Yi’s accomplishments sprung from his realization that conventional manufacturing operations had problems AI could solve. “Traditionally, humans have managed supply chains, which translated into low efficiency and high costs,” he says. “This wasn’t ideal for profitability.”

Yet previous attempts to automate these processes also resulted in suboptimal outcomes. “The traditional ERP system just matches materials and demand based on simple rules that fail to capture the complexity of manufacturing realities,” he explains. “The conventional approach made it difficult to adapt processes to external changes and produce precise planning results. Optimizing for specific objectives also wasn’t possible. Indeed, these systems offered such low visibility, it was difficult even to assess where inefficiencies might lie.”

Early Advanced Planning and Scheduling (APS) systems attempted to address these issues, but these systems suffered from slow speed and low-quality decisions. “But continuous maintenance cost and long-landing cycle also created obstacles for its large-scale application,” he says.

Dr. Yi’s background in AI enabled him to build a solution. “The rapid development of machine learning, deep learning, big data, and other technologies empowers APS to break through, learn, and summarize knowledge from a large amount of data,” he explains. “AI-driven APS can extrapolate what it learned in the past to new scenarios.”

Thus, a new generation of APS based on AI was born.

Dr. Yi’s Background

Before founding Shangjian Intelligence, Dr. Yi spent years helping China’s most prestigious and innovative companies adopt next-generation AI-based manufacturing systems. These include Jingdong Digits Technology, a global digital technology leader; Antwork, a top urban aerial drone company; and Lenovo, a worldwide leader in Information and Communication Technology (ICT).

The innovative systems and products he has developed for these corporations have revolutionized whole industries. For instance, he played a key role in developing Lenovo Connected Factory Corporation’s (LCFC) intelligent production-scheduling system.

“We created an urban-delivery dispatch system that optimizes transportation resources in real time,” he explains. “This makes logistics more efficient and less expensive. At the same time, our system predicts and optimizes warehouse space and product turnover, which also increases profitability.”

In 2020, this project won second place overall in the Franz Edelman Awards, the highest laurels in operations research worldwide. Dr. Yi was also the lead author of an article about this revolutionary approach in the INFORMS Journal on Applied Analytics (IJAA), the field’s top academic journal.

In 2021, he his own venture: Shangjian Intelligence, a groundbreaking enterprise integrating AI technology into industrial manufacturing.

What Is Shangjian Intelligence?

Using data, artificial intelligence, and operations-research algorithms, Shangjian Intelligence’s Smart Planning and Scheduling (SPS) System maximizes decision-making solutions for industrial and manufacturing companies. It not only allows fine-grained planning and scheduling but also autonomously optimizes processes in real time.

Organizations that adopt Shangjian Intelligence systems significantly improve performance on multiple metrics across their operations. “Our software boosts production capacity and shortens the production cycle by a substantial amount — more than 15 percent on average,” Dr. Yi says. “At the same time, inventory turnover days drop by more than 20 percent. As a result, clients see expenses drop by more than 15 percent, and profits rise by more than 25 percent.”

Shangjian Intelligence’s revolutionary AI-driven manufacturing systems

Dr. Yi faced numerous obstacles in creating his company, from unexpected policy changes to consumers’ attachment to traditional approaches. However, through constant adjustment and adaptation, he was able to overcome these.

“There will be a way even if it cannot be seen.”

Shangjian Intelligence’s next-generation AI-driven solutions help manufacturers find that way. With Dr. Yi’s innovative systems, businesses can spot weaknesses they may not have been aware of before and eliminate them in one fell swoop. In the process, they can streamline operations, meet demand better than ever, and dominate their entire market.

About the Author: As featured on the Price of Business radio show, PR News, Communications Intelligence Magazine, and SheVentures, Elizabeth Galewski is a professional writer and media relations expert. In her previous career, she taught English composition at the college level for more than twelve years. She earned her B.A. from Wellesley and her M.A. from the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania, as well as completed doctoral coursework in Rhetoric at the University of Wisconsin – Madison.

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