Why the Digital Transformation Will be a People Transformation
A lot of the conversation about Industry 4.0 and digitalization focuses on the technology and tools but what’s missing is how our people will need to change with the technology. Joe LaRussa of Brose North America Inc. will get you thinking about how digitalization will impact your people, and compare and contrast different approaches to managing the digital transformation at different points of the economic cycles that manufacturers will continue to experience.
PRIME® Success Story: Shape Corporation and Grand Haven High School
In 2017, Shape Corporation launched a partnership with Grand Haven High School to establish an SME PRIME® manufacturing career tech program. Hear about the success of the collaborative program in delivering on the shared goals of Shape Corp and Grand Haven Public Schools.
Leveraging Technology in Information Systems for Organizational Development
During their maturation, successful companies make the transition from reactive to predictive organizations; from being ruled by their issues to understanding and controlling the critical inputs creating those issues, thus eliminating them. The Center’s George Singos and Chuck Werner will cover the beginning of the business maturation model as companies go from “not knowing what they don’t know” to becoming a data-driven entity where decisions are made in real-time and based on the information necessary to empower team members.
Middle Market Manufacturing: How to Thrive in a Transforming Environment
Manufacturing performance has been very strong — but can it continue? Drawing on data from 400 manufacturers, Tom Stewart of the National Center for the Middle Market will discuss the major challenges mid-sized manufacturers face and document the practices that the most successful businesses use.
Prepare for the Unknown: Structuring Agreements to Survive Market Changes
Volumes fluctuate. Costs change. Opportunities shift. How do you negotiate supply agreements that anticipate market changes and adapt to the moving targets of your industry? Wolfson Bolton’s Adam Kochenderfer will lead a cross-industry panel of manufacturers from Gibbs Die Casting Corp., Varroc Lighting Sytems and NYX Inc. to cover how to build volume protections into your agreements, strategically customer and supplier thinking and limiting your liability.
Empowering Mind & Machine: How Industry 4.0 Is Reinventing Life As We Know It
Join Andy Storm, CEO of Eckhart Inc. and one of America’s Industry 4.0 leaders, to learn how you can embrace technology and innovation to transform life on your line. Attendees will get real-life examples that illustrate how Industry 4.0-based innovation will empower humans and machines to work in data optimized value streams and unlock unimaginable levels of safety, quality, productivity and value-creation across all sectors of society.