Benefits of Attending

Manufacturers today face a daunting world of unpredictable market conditions and ruthless competition.  Evaluating best practices from a variety of industries and adapting the very best to your business drives sustainable competitive advantage.  Join top industry leaders as they share their vision and experiences for transforming today's plants and factories into highly optimized manufacturing facilities of the future.

·         Gather intelligence on strategies that will optimize your plant operations

·         See what others do to create performance-driven, flexible, and higher-margin operations

·         Learn how to motivate your operations and business people to work together

·         Hear how your peers improve their flexibility and profitability with standards-based interoperability

·         Assess which suppliers are best prepared to meet your changing manufacturing needs

·         Network with top industry executives

No other conference or trade show offers you such a high level of interaction in an environment exclusively focused on manufacturing.

Who Should Attend

This Forum is designed specifically for senior executives at manufacturing companies. Over 50% of the attendees at previous Forums have senior executive titles like Chairman, President, CEO, Vice President, Director, Publisher, or Partner.

Topics

Each of these topics will be explored through presentations by industry experts.  They will highlight the strategies, best practices, and lessons learned from their own experiences.  Each session will also have a panel discussion where presenters will answer your specific questions.  At this Forum, you will learn from the strategic thinking of others.

Highly Optimized Plant/Factory of the Future

To improve performance, manufacturers need a way to drive specific process improvements at each plant, while at the same time monitoring activities and facilitating appropriate operating decisions among complex hierarchies, regions, business units, and operating structures.  They need to rationalize spending for maintenance of systems and applications, and at the same time improve information and business process support for their increasingly complex, competitive environment.

Rapid technology development combined with the large installed base of older control systems that are approaching the end of their useful life presents a difficult problem for users wishing to make a transition to the latest automation platforms.  Not only do the technologies deployed need to evolve to be able to work in a synchronized and supportive way, but also people and organizations need to evolve as well to meet the new business-centric objectives of the plant of the future.  Several industry leaders will present their vision of the plant of the future in this session.

Highly Flexible Plant/Factory of the Future

Continuous process improvement has brought some degree of efficiency and quality to produced goods, but these methods are nowhere near their ultimate potential to improve products and processes. 

Manufacturing is moving into an era that will require levels of coordination and collaboration that existing legacy systems will not be able to deliver.  It will be imperative that all of the disparate organizations, business and manufacturing processes, systems and applications that represent the manufacturing enterprise be brought together within the context of an all encompassing interoperable architecture. 

Driving Performance Through Collaborative Operations and IT Management

Business, IT and Operating organizations must work in concert if an organization hopes to achieve operational excellence.  Plans must be realistic and constantly coordinated across the organization to ensure that what is promised is delivered.  All activity must be focused on optimizing overall organization goals.  Shared access to information is vital for effective collaboration and drives the need for interoperability across all of an organization’s systems.

Supplier Management Strategies for Global Manufacturers

Manufacturers need to collaborate with their suppliers to help them achieve superior performance.  The key to success is to have the right relationship with key suppliers.  There are many options that have been tried over the years with varying success.  While there may be no single best practice for all manufacturers, there is a supplier relationship strategy that is best for each manufacturer.  This session will explore strategies and practices that have the highest potential for achieving performance requirements in manufacturing of the future strategies.

Achieving Standards-based Interoperability Across the Enterprise

Manufacturing is clearly moving from connected to integrated enterprises that demand truly unified information systems.  Architecture and interoperability strategies are thus becoming inseparable and together may determine the success of your information system evolution.

Making decisions and taking action today requires visibility into applications across the enterprise.  Two types of interoperability are critical:  financial for those with P&L responsibility and performance for operational personnel.  In this session, you will obtain a clearer understanding of how to achieve standards-based interoperability across the entire enterprise.

Emerging Wireless Technologies

Wireless is rapidly penetrating the manufacturing space.  Mature technologies like 802.11 and Bluetooth are becoming part of enterprise infrastructures.  Newer wireless technologies, some designed specifically for sensor and device applications, are also being developed and introduced (802.15.4, ZigBee, and UWB).

Will industry efforts such as the ISA SP-100 committee activities, ratification of the Zigbee standard, or migration of industry protocols to wireless sufficiently overcome manufacturer concerns over wireless performance and security? How will the prospect of standardization impact this traditionally proprietary realm, and will it ultimately result in more widespread usage? This session will feature a review of current industrial wireless standardization activities as well as real-world applications.

Managing Technology for Plant Safety and Security

Security is a top concern for manufacturing, driven by safety, national security and increased regulations.  The selection and deployment of security technology to protect manufacturing systems is a key tactical initiative.  This session will review security trends and hear the experiences of manufacturers and software suppliers.  

OMAC Initiatives for Enhancing Interoperability in Manufacturing

Guidelines for the appropriate application of advanced automation technology have business value for packaging machinery.  The OMAC (Open Modular Architecture Controls) approach enhances the operations of end users and machine builders.  OMAC standards for control technology and integration provide common solutions for both technical and non-technical issues and lower costs in development, implementation, and commercialization

Key Industry Standards for Enhancing Interoperability in Manufacturing

Several panel discussions focused on key industry standards are planned.