Connected Manufacturing Forum 2025
June 23 - 24, 2025
Ritz Carlton St. Louis, MO
Agenda Day 1 -- What the Future Holds for Manufacturing:Recovery & Growth and Continuing on an Innovation and Agility Path
7:15 am - 8:15 am
Continental Breakfast & Registration
8:15 am - 8:30 am
Welcome Remarks & Ice Breaker
8:30 am - 8:50 am
OPENING KEYNOTE - A Modular More Circular Vision of the Future: What Advanced Manufacturing Will Look Like Using Equipment as a Service Enabled by an IoT Infrastructure
Ken Creasy -
Worldwide Director, Innovation Technology Capability Centers,
Johnson & Johnson
This new plug-and-play “servitization” model allows manufacturers with strong digital stacks incredible flexibility to change its factory floor footprints quickly and easily and move it anywhere in the world with the same agility. This new approach is enabling companies to get out of expensive fixed-cost manufacturing by leasing and/or recycling equipment and paying equipment and solutions partners based on production goal attainment.
8:50 am - 9:30 am
PANEL - Outlook 2022-2025: Manufacturing Resiliency and Agility in a Recovering Economy With an Ever-Changing Business Landscape
Larry Blue -
CEO,
Bell and Howell
Steve Chadwick -
Senior Principal Engineer,
Intel Corporation
Barbara Roth -
COO & VP of Manufacturing,
Immune IQ
Artem Kroupenev -
VP Strategy,
Augury
For those who used to scratch their heads at the mention of buzzwords like agility and resiliency, the pandemic changed all of that. Manufacturers have been agility and resiliency in motion for the past two years, and now are fully entrenched in the next chapter of recovery and growth. Manufacturing executives will walk us through their vision for what the future looks like in the new economy for 2022 and beyond as new disruptions rear their ugly heads, including war in Europe and impacts from sanctions and additional supply chain complications and constraints, and an extremely tight labor market.
9:30 am - 9:50 am
FIRESIDE CHAT: How Disruption is Accelerating Digital Transformation for Manufacturers
Clara Hustad -
Assistant VP, Industry Solutions Channel Marketing,
AT&T Business
Tevon Taylor -
Managing Director, Technology Sales,
FedEx Supply Chain
Manufacturers are facing disruption and challenges in all forms – from the pandemic and remote work to global supply chain bottlenecks, labor challenges and an uncertain economic environment. But savvy and resilient operators are seizing the opportunity to innovate aggressively so that external impacts in the future will not be as devastating as in the past.
In this fireside chat, Clara Hustad from AT&T Business, and Tevon Taylor from FedEx Supply Chain, will discuss how digital transformation is:
- Dramatically changing operating strategies and execution
- Helping to solve some of the most challenging manufacturing problems and to what extent they can be solved with technology
- Ensuring manufacturers meet and exceed customer demand and need, on time
9:50 am - 10:30 am
Refreshment & Networking Break -- In the Solutions & Networking Zone
10:30 am - 10:50 am
KEYNOTE: How AB InBev is Digitally Transforming its Operations to Create the Brewery of the Future
Graeme Cochrane -
Global Director of Supply Transformation,
AB InBev
AB InBev continues to digitally transform its business to lead and grow the category. The company is combining the strength of its manufacturing operations with the power and potential of fast moving Industry 4.0 technologies to create the Brewery of the Future, one that is productive, flexible and sustainable, and brews superior products that delight around the world.
Hear from AB InBev how the company is empowering its front-line operations by:
- Using data to drive real insights and empower teams with knowledge
- Focusing on actual pain points to deliver business capabilities and value first
- Designing for scale with modular and co-developed systems.
10:50 am - 11:30 am
PANEL - Supply Chain Disruptions: What the Past Two Years Have Taught Manufacturers and Solutions on the Horizon to Fix the Problems
Siva Narayanan -
Global Logistics Director,
Solvay
David Schultz -
VP, Chief Supply Chain Officer,
Westfall-Technik
Eddie Smith -
Director Operations/Site Leader,
Wabtec Passenger Transit
Supply chain disruptions stimulated by the pandemic have been further compounded by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and economic and trade sanctions imposed. China’s support of Russia further complicates impacts on global supply chains. How are manufacturers coping with these disruptions? What types of contingencies are being put in place? What solutions are assisting with supply chain transparency enabling end-to-end visibility?
11:30 am - 11:50 am
PARTNER KEYNOTE: Hosted by Braincube - Leveraging Data and Analytics for Short- and Long-Term Success in Quality Performance Improvement
Chuck Fornicola -
Senior Manager of Quality Excellence,
Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company
Industry is evolving. As digital natives become an important influence on the present and future of industry, how can manufacturers equip their teams with the strategy, tools, and knowledge to ensure long-term success?In this talk, hear from a senior Quality executive who has been deploying a balanced digital data & analytics approach.
Come hear how Chuck Fornicola helped lead Goodyear’s Quality teams to drastically improve their use of data. As early digital innovators, they have learned how to build flexibility and innovation into their strategy, keeping data and teams at the forefront of their approach.
During this session Chuck will cover:
- Tips on how to improve how people use, scale, and report with data
- Digitalized strategies for automating prescriptive quality control
- Ways that Digital Twins and Machine Learning can incorporate advanced process knowledge into predictive models
- Lessons learned on our digital-quality journey
- What’s next for Goodyear in the digital-quality space
11:50 am - 12:50 pm
SPONSORED ROUNDTABLES: Technology Solutions Enabling Digital Transformation
Poonam Gulati -
Sr. Principal Consultant – Data Strategy and Governance Informatica,
Informatica Advisory Services
Dr. Zeeshan Zia -
CEO,
Retrocausal
Michael Stephan -
Head of Growth,
Retrocausal
Mike Waggoner -
Principal Customer Success Executive,
Zendesk
Attendees can select 2 roundtables to participate in for two 30-minute rotations.
Previous attendees rave about our roundtables. We’re confident you will, too.
Table #1 – Industry 4.0: Strategies and Opportunities -- Moderated by Poonam Gulati, Sr. Principal Consultant – Data Strategy and Governance, Informatica
Table #2 -- Digitizing the Human Side of Manufacturing - Harnessing Computer Vision and Analytics to Minimize Mistakes and Maximize Throughput -- Moderated by Dr. Zeeshan Zia, CEO, Retrocausal; Michael Stephan, Head of Growth, Retrocausal
Table #3 -- Can Automation Solve the Workforce Shortage in Manufacturing? -- Moderated by Mike Waggoner, Principal Customer Success Executive, Zendesk
Poonam Gulati
Sr. Principal Consultant – Data Strategy and Governance InformaticaInformatica Advisory Services
12:50 pm - 1:50 pm
Lunch For All Attendees
Track A - Harnessing Big Data: Extracting Advanced Analytics and Insights to Improve Operations and Forecasting
1:50 pm - 2:30 pm PANEL - From Data Deluge to a Data Ecosystem: The Foundational Importance of Data Governance Up, Down and Across an Enterprise Josef Kriegmair - Representative Industrialization Production Systems, MTU Aero Engine Maryann Vasconez - IT Team Leader, Global Manufacturing IT Systems, Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co Allen Turner - Innovative Solutions, SME, International PaperData governance might not be the sexiest part of digital manufacturing, but it is one of the most critical steps to prepare your data so it can yield maximum utility and operational insights in the future. This foundational work will enable manufacturers to unleash the full potential of their data as they transform it to a fully compliant, flexible and usable data ecosystem in order to uncover best practices, streamline and improve performance, and accelerate sound and real-time decision making.
Track A - Harnessing Big Data: Extracting Advanced Analytics and Insights to Improve Operations and Forecasting
2:30 pm - 2:50 pm Partner Presentation -- Accelerating AI Deployment in Manufacturing and Achieving Tangible ROI Within Days Smadar David - CEO and Co-Founder, VantiAI in manufacturing is a hot topic around the industry, with multiple potential use cases, vendors, and methodologies. The challenge that manufacturers are facing is that the path from concept to deployment to ROI is very resource and time consuming, requiring months of work and multiple expertise. And in many cases, the ROI is never actually achieved.
In this session we will explore the regular path from concept to ROI in manufacturing AI projects, and how new technologies can shorten it to days instead of months. We will showcase a real-life case study involving early fault detection model deployment in one week that resulted in substantial savings and efficiencies.
TRACK B - Creating More Agile, Resilient & Sustainable Manufacturing and Supply Chain Practices
1:50 pm - 2:30 pm PEER-TO-PEER DISCUSSION - Bridging the Cultural Divide: The Most Challenging Aspects of Digitalization Remains the Immense Cultural Shift & Change Management Required at All Levels of the Organization Ricardo Estok - Global Operations Optimization - Transformation, Goodyear Tire Pavan Muzumdar - Chief Operating Officer, Automation Alley Paul Ingram - Director Digital Manufacturing, Nestle-PurinaEvery manufacturer likely has a “dead-projects cemetery.” You know, that place where so many good ideas die on the vine because there was too much of a focus on the technical side of digitalization and not enough on the cultural and change management aspects that should take place first. Digital manufacturing executives will share some of the most important foundational building blocks that are helping them successfully execute on their long-term digital strategy by focusing first on people, rather than technologies, in their digital transformations.
TRACK B - Creating More Agile, Resilient & Sustainable Manufacturing and Supply Chain Practices
2:30 pm - 2:50 pm Innovation Spotlight Sergio Aguirre - Account Executive, OutSystemsInnovation Spotlight: Outsystems -- Leverage Digital Technology in Manufacturing
Customer expectations and new technologies are changing in manufacturing and these changes are happening quickly. Learn how building mobile applications quickly can help your business adapt to change, improve customer service and increase technician output. Join this session to learn how companies can:
- Ensure proactive predictive maintenance
- Eliminate unplanned downtime at the machine level
- Maximize service technician efficiency, and more
Come expand your Industry 4.0 network. Join us for this fun, interactive and structured meet-and-greet networking session, where you can connect with multiple industry leaders in quick 2-minute 1:1 meetings. Just enough time to break the ice and continue the conversation during other networking breaks!
*Pre-event sign-up required. 16 participants maximum..
TRACK A - Harnessing Big Data: Extracting Advanced Analytics and Insights to Improve Operations and Forecasting
3:35 pm - 4:15 pm PANEL - How to Build an AI Strategy & Modeling Platform, and What it Takes to Get to Predictive Maintenance Kaytlin Henderson - Digital Technology Lead, Digital Operations Center, Dow Chemical Rakesh Singh - Global Data and Analytics Lead, AB InBev Stephen Mellor - Chief Technical Officer, Industry IoT ConsortiumArtificial intelligence has the potential to transform manufacturing by unlocking powerful insights and predictions. But AI projects and initiatives will not create business value if a strategic approach is not taken from the start. Come learn how some of your manufacturing peers are delivering real business value with AI, as well as the key benefits and the best use cases for the technology. Conversely, you will hear what causes an AI strategy and execution to fail and common pitfalls to avoid.
TRACK A - Harnessing Big Data: Extracting Advanced Analytics and Insights to Improve Operations and Forecasting
4:15 pm - 4:35 pm CASE STUDY: Data Analytics Takes Center Stage: Critical Steps to Prepare and Secure Your Data to Extract Operational Insights and Benchmarks Mike Nitz - Senior Architect, IT, Boston ScientificNo matter the stage of your company's digital journey, one thing is certain – you are collecting more data than would have ever been previously possible. With every sensor on the shop floor throwing off data, it can quickly become overwhelming. But lock in the data are myriad insights to help you improve operations, increase uptime and refine workflows.
TRACK B - Creating More Agile, Resilient & Sustainable Manufacturing and Supply Chain Practices
3:35 pm - 4:15 pm PANEL - Automated Conveyance: AGV Fleet Management to Optimize Factory Floor Movement and Workflows Trever White - Group Manager Digital Platform Engineering, Toyota Motor Corp. Eddie Smith - Director Operations/Site Leader, Wabtec Passenger Transit Siva Narayanan - Global Logistics Director, SolvayAutonomous guided vehicles – also known as self-guided vehicles -- are material handling systems or load carriers that move autonomously throughout a factory warehouse or distribution center without an onboard operator or driver. Manufacturers are increasingly using AGVs to increase capacity, speed and productivity, and reduce labor costs and workplace injuries. Manufacturing executives will share innovative ways in which they are using AGVs in their plants and supply chains to control costs and manage workflows in a tight labor market.
TRACK B - Creating More Agile, Resilient & Sustainable Manufacturing and Supply Chain Practices
4:15 pm - 4:35 pm FIRESIDE CHAT: The Pros and Cons of Building New Brownfield Versus Greenfield Factories Paul Ingram - Director Digital Manufacturing, Nestle-PurinaNumerous manufacturers are focused on increasing capacity by onboarding new facilities, both in the U.S. and abroad. What are the pros and cons of ground-up greenfield constructions versus retrofitting existing manufacturing facilities to meet digitalization goals. Come hear from an executive experienced in both expansion models:
- The best use cases for brownfield vs. greenfield assets
- Tips on how to convert brownfield sites into digitalized factories, and the pitfalls to avoid
- When a greenfield option is the best course of action, and why