Better operational decisions,
powered by data, systems and algorithms
Our mission is to help companies make better operational decisions with data, systems and algorithms — and to be their most trusted partner in AI-driven planning.
Who we are
An AI and operations research team from Silicon Valley
Convect AI was founded by AI and decision-optimization scientists from Silicon Valley. Our team studied at Tsinghua, Zhejiang University, Stanford and UC Berkeley — many hold PhDs in operations research — and has built supply chain optimization systems at Apple, JD.com, Facebook and LinkedIn.
We believe planning can’t be made intelligent by algorithms alone: the system first has to understand the business. That’s why we built Convect in three layers — AI planning agents, grounded in the Contour ontology, powered by an optimization engine.
Today we serve industry leaders including Unilever, Decathlon, Yili, Geely and Dreame, with teams in Silicon Valley, Suzhou and Chengdu.
Leadership
Operations research, machine learning and real supply chain experience
Ethan Zhang
Co-founder & CEO
Silicon Valley veteran with 20+ years building enterprise software and AI applications. A founding member of LinkedIn’s data science team, he later led supply chain optimization algorithms at JD.com, and has led planning transformations at Yili, Unilever and Dongfang Boiler.
Max Shen
Strategic Advisor
Professor of Industrial Engineering and Operations Research at UC Berkeley and Vice-President of the University of Hong Kong. An INFORMS Fellow and two-time winner of the Franz Edelman Award, operations research’s highest honor for practice.
Zhuofei Li
Chief Scientist
Holds a PhD in operations research and has been a key contributor to supply chain and logistics transformation at Walmart and Alibaba.
The team: AI and operations research scientists from Silicon Valley — many with PhDs in operations research — with supply chain optimization experience at Apple, JD.com, LinkedIn and Walmart. R&D teams in Silicon Valley, Suzhou and Chengdu.
Our values
The principles behind everything we do
Innovation
We push what’s possible in supply chain planning by combining AI agents, ontology modeling and operations research.
Excellence
Our team brings decades of experience from Apple, JD.com, LinkedIn, Walmart and Alibaba to build world-class planning software.
Partnership
We start from the business problem, work side by side with our customers and measure ourselves by quantifiable results.
Recognition
Industry recognition
- Yili × Convect named a national Digital Supply Chain case by China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology
- Selected for the Yangtze River Delta manufacturing digital transformation pilot program
- Award winner, “Resilient Supply Chain Solutions” track, China Industrial Internet Competition
- Invited to contribute to supply chain standards work at the Alliance of Industrial Internet
Ready to rethink how you plan?
Book a demo and tell us about your planning challenges.