Connected Manufacturing Forum 2025
June 23 - 24, 2025
Ritz Carlton St. Louis, MO
Agenda Day 2 -- Paradigm Shift: Optimizing Digital Manufacturing from the Factory Floor to the C-Suite, and the Operational Changes Digital Enablement Demands
7:15 am - 8:15 am
Continental Breakfast & Registration
7:15 am - 8:15 am
EXECUTIVE BOARDROOM MEET-UP: Discussion Topic -- Industry 4.0 Acceleration: How Advanced Players Can Work More Collectively to Enable U.S. Manufacturers Digitalization
Come meet and network with other executives and hear about their Industry 4.0 wins and lessons learned.
*By invitation only; VP level and higher
DISCUSSION TOPIC Industry 4.0 Acceleration—How Advanced Players Can Work More Collectively to Enable U.S. Manufacturers Digitalization
As the adage goes – a rising tide lifts all boats. With that in mind, how can manufacturers more advanced in their digital maturity “commoditize” their knowledge of advanced manufacturing and engineering and share it more readily with small manufacturers and those at early stages of digitalization to accelerate Industry 4.0 adoption and success in the United States?
8:15 am - 8:25 am
Welcome Remarks & Ice Breaker
8:25 am - 8:45 am
OPENING KEYNOTE - The Critical Importance of Forecasting Accuracy in an Inflationary Market With Rising Inventory Carrying Costs
Ashish Rastogi -
Senior Director – Supply Chain Strategy, Optimization and Advanced Analytics,
Western Digital
Companies with weak data governance and disparate technology tools run the risk of missing forecasts by a long shot, a costly miscalculation in this competitive and uncertain market. Ashish Rastogi will discuss how “predictive everything” will be the driver of efficiencies in the future. Learn why a digital culture and mindset is at the corner stone of building better forecasts.
Ashish Rastogi
Senior Director – Supply Chain Strategy, Optimization and Advanced AnalyticsWestern Digital
8:45 am - 9:05 am
FIRESIDE CHAT - Laying a Strong Foundation: The Vital Pre-Work Necessary to Increase Pilot Project Success to Full-Scale Implementation
Terry LeDoux -
Former VP Digital Manufacturing,
Nestlé Purina Pet Care Company
Manufacturing executives will bring their collective experience to bear on why so many companies get stuck in “pilot purgatory,” in some cases for years, and how to avoid it. Discover what these pilot bottlenecks are that cause companies to get stuck in pilot purgatory, and the elements and benefits of proper pilot planning.
Executives will discuss how:
- These bottlenecks can prevent manufacturers from realizing any real digitalization benefits and lead to stagnation
- Proper goal setting can improve stakeholder accountability and accelerate success
- You can gain a competitive edge by identifying the positive markers that your product is ready to scale up to full implementation
9:05 am - 9:25 am
KEYNOTE: Optimizing Manufacturing Data & Analytics: Cloud vs. Edge Computing and the Best Use Cases for Each
Kaytlin Henderson -
Digital Technology Lead, Digital Operations Center,
Dow Chemical
Dow Inc. has prioritized digital transformation over the past several years, with digital technologies driving innovation, value creation and productivity. A large component of the digital transformation for Dow is moving to cloud-native application development. With manufacturing data "on the shop floor," a transition to cloud requires new understanding of security and data governance, but the benefits are many. Utilizing cloud services, Dow plans to enhance data exchange, operations monitoring, and AI use cases now and in the future. Kaytlin will explore:
- How best to handle, manage and interpret data for accurate analytics
- Ensuring the highest security standards for data management
- Preparing for and executing AI model development
9:25 am - 10:10 am
Refreshment & Networking Break -- In the Solutions & Networking Zone
10:10 am - 10:30 am
CASE STUDY - Democratizing Data: Making Data Accessible and Visual to Shop Floor Teams Across Factories to Advance Learning, Speed and Continuous Improvement
Steve Chadwick -
Senior Principal Engineer,
Intel Corporation
End-to-end organizational visibility is one huge benefit of digitalization, yet data and analytics are often not shared regularly with all levels of the organization, including factory floor teams. While visibility and transparency are noble organizational goals, some companies fear this new openness and their culture is limiting future success. Come hear how one company is navigating data sharing, making it more accessible, visual and understandable, and using it to improve manufacturing at all critical touch points.
10:30 am - 10:50 am
KEYNOTE - How to Make Digital Manufacturing Appealing to Millennials, Gen Z and Gen Alpha to Come
Hao Dinh -
VP Technology,
Enpro
Companies are spending millions of dollars to digitalize manufacturing and are not getting the full return on investment (ROI). The root cause is not the technology it’s the human side of digital. Specifically, educating and exciting employees to embrace and utilize digital capabilities. One solution is to hire the next generation of digital manufacturing employees.
During this chat, you will gain the following insights:
- What and who are the next generation of manufacturing employees, e.g. Millennials, Gen Z and Gen Alpha
- Why it's critical to recruit the next generation
- Proven ways to engage and successfully hire the next generation
10:50 am - 11:20 am
Refreshment & Networking Break In the Solutions & Networking Zone
11:20 am - 11:40 am
FIRESIDE CHAT - The Great Resignation and the Impact on Culture, Salaries, Benefits and the Employer/Employee Balance of Power
Brian Marsh -
Senior Director, Digital Manufacturing,
Nestle USA
The Great Resignation that came to a head during the pandemic --combined with an overall skilled-worker shortage -- is challenging manufacturers as they also contend with the reliable and loyal Baby Boomers set to exit the workforce by 2030. Meanwhile, the younger generations coming up tend to remain in jobs for 1/3 as long as a Baby Boomers. What is the true impact of the Great Resignation and the tight labor market on overall culture, salaries, benefits and the balance of power between employer and employee, which has shifted significantly in favor of the employee over the past year to 18 months. Manufacturing executives will share their strategies and tactics to fight back against the tides of the Great Resignation and the inflationary impact on labors costs.
11:40 am - 12:10 pm
CASE STUDY - Industrial Mobility Solutions: Achieve Greater Visibility and Capacity With Connected Enterprise Workflows and Processes
Jesper Toubøl -
Vice President, Elements & Moulds,
LEGO Group
Digitalization and industrial mobility are changing how shop floors operate as they move toward more fluid, flexible and agile workflows and systems. What are the advantages – and limitations – of this new model and the most effective ways to enable the solutions and get shop floor teams to easily adapt to this more resilient operating model.
The following are key takeaways attendees can expect to hear about:
- Practitioner examples of operational excellence using IoT
- How to ensure staff involvement, motivation and engagement
- Agile approach is disciplined focus to ensure fast results – but it is not a cure for all problems
All women in the industry -- manufacturers and vendors alike -- are welcome.
Come join the conversation about how manufacturing can expand its workforce of women!
1:10 pm - 2:10 pm
CONCURRENT ROUNTABLES*
Josef Kriegmair -
Representative Industrialization Production Systems,
MTU Aero Engine
Eddie Smith -
Director Operations/Site Leader,
Wabtec Passenger Transit
Allan Freire -
North America Supply Transformation Director,
AB InBev
Declan Byrne -
President,
WiMAX Forum
Alessandra Rocha -
Vice President,
WiMAX Forum
Pavan Muzumdar -
Chief Operating Officer,
Automation Alley
Manufacturing leaders only please -- two 30-minute rotations
- TABLE 1 -- Advanced Analytics Best Practices – Moderated by Josef Kriegmair, Representative, Production Turbine Blade/Structure Casting, MTU Aero Engines
- TABLE 2 -- How to Foster Knowledge Transfer and Information Sharing to Speed Upskilling – Moderated by Eddie Smith, Director Operations/Site Leader, Wabtec Passenger Transit
- TABLE 3 – Data Science & Analytics – How to Extract More Value from Your Data – Moderated by Graeme Cochrane, Global Director of Supply Transformation, AB InBev
- TABLE 4 -- The Future of Connectivity – 5G Broadband and the Advantages it Will Bring to Digital Manufacturing … and When – Moderated by Declan Byrne, President, WiMAX Forum
- TABLE 5 -- Enabling a Digital Mindset and Culture – Moderated by Pavan Muzumdar, COO, Automation Alley
2:10 pm - 2:50 pm
PANEL - Low-Touch Visual Inspections: Using Robotics and AI to Identify Quality, Speed & Product Defects and Productivity Imporvements
Ken Creasy -
Worldwide Director, Innovation Technology Capability Centers,
Johnson & Johnson
Hao Dinh -
VP Technology,
Enpro
Matt Fischer -
Senior Business Development Manager,
Advanced Robotics for Manufacturing (ARM) Institute
Robotics are enabling manufacturers to successfully transition repetitive and dangerous work from human workers to autonomous robots, ensuring accurate and on-time inspections and faster quality gap identification. It’s no secret that robots are better than humans at repetitive work, which enables manufacturers to concentrate human talent on their areas of strength and need, leveraging their professional expertise, intellectual capital, and decision-making capabilities.
Matt Fischer
Senior Business Development ManagerAdvanced Robotics for Manufacturing (ARM) Institute
2:50 pm - 3:30 pm
PANEL - Ask the Experts Anything
Ashish Rastogi -
Senior Director – Supply Chain Strategy, Optimization and Advanced Analytics,
Western Digital
Barbara Roth -
COO & VP of Manufacturing,
Immune IQ
Terry LeDoux -
Former VP Digital Manufacturing,
Nestlé Purina Pet Care Company
Didn’t get all of your questions answered? We are developed a panel of manufacturing executives from companies in the advanced stage of their digitalization Journey. Come get advice in this unique ask-me-anything open forum.
Ashish Rastogi
Senior Director – Supply Chain Strategy, Optimization and Advanced AnalyticsWestern Digital
