Agenda

Welcome & Check-In

Safety & Cyber Moment

Scott Christensen, GrayMatter Cyber Practice Lead

Overview of the day and why embedding security into operations matters.

State of the Industry: Built to Last

Alan Hinchman, CRO; Larry Ray, COO; and John Baier, Sr. VP Digital Transformation, GrayMatter

We kick things off with a look at where manufacturing stands today — the labor pressures reshaping the workforce, the cybersecurity threats operations can't ignore, the data overload slowing teams down and where AI is starting to make a real difference.

Voices of Vision: What's Your Top Challenge?

What challenges are keeping you up at night right now?

How has your role changed as operational technology has become more of a priority at the organization?

What is a long-term goal your team has identified to improve operations, security, production, etc.?

How Lubrizol Built a Global OT Strategy for Sustainable Operations

Dan Floyd, Vice President, Manufacturing Technology, Lubrizol

This session explores how to leverage AI and machine learning to enhance process simulations, pressure-test business cases and more accurately predict outcomes before new product commercialization.

• - Implementing a data infrastructure that streamlines new product development and optimizes commercialization timelines
• - Finding opportunities for utilizing real-time data from labs and pilot & commercial plants in AI/ML environments to understand and drive continuous process improvements
• - Developing techno-economic modeling capabilities that focus a team on new process and product risks and achieve business cases
• - Employing in-line analytics, using batch-specific data, to provide continuous performance insights and feeding new product/process opportunities into the innovation pipeline

Systems that Can't Connect Can't Compete

Justin Robinson, VP, Industrial Automation Services & Tod Virden, VP Brilliant Operations, GrayMatter

Automation is the foundation everything else depends on — MES, ERP, batching — so getting it wrong undermines any dashboard or analytics layer built on top.

Most plant downtime traces back to disconnected systems, and the highest-value work is making automation, MES and analytics talk to each other so the plant runs better than the day before. Real connection between systems, not just automation that runs well on its own, is what actually keeps a plant safe, reliable and competitive.

We will also discuss a real-world use case highlighting the essential connections between the control layer at data layer at Papa Johns Foods, which worked with GrayMatter to modernize its fresh dough production system.

Peer Perspectives: A Council Conversation

Moderated by John Baier, GrayMatter, with Dan Floyd, Lubrizol, Bill Kempert, Zekelman Industries and Larry Saidman, Nordson Corp.

Partner Spotlight: Velotic Software

Kerry Grimes, Chief Partner Officer, Velotic Software

Combining GE Vernova’s former Proficy business and PTC’s former Kepware and ThingWorx businesses, Velotic provides new levels of AI-driven manufacturing efficiency, productivity, and data visibility.

Partner Spotlight: AMDT Octoplant - Asset Management: Getting Full Visibility Into Your Automation Assets

Zach Vera, Strategic Alliances; Scott Christensen, GrayMatter

Manufacturers run on PLCs, HMIs, robots, CNCs and SCADA systems from dozens of vendors, often with no single view of what's out there, what's changed or what's at risk. This session covers how AMDT's Octoplant gives plants a complete, real-time inventory of every automation asset and device, automatically tracking configuration changes and documenting who changed what, when and why. We'll look at how that visibility becomes the foundation for reducing unplanned downtime, protecting against costly configuration errors and strengthening OT security.

CIO Q&A: Connecting Industrial Systems from Automation to Analytics

Bill Kempert, CIO, Zekelman Industries; Jeremy Boren, GrayMatter

You've Got the Roadmap: Now Let's Deploy It

Panel: Tod Virden, GrayMatter; Justin Robinson, GrayMatter; John Baier, GrayMatter and Nathan Barker, Factory Advisors

Factory Transformation Workshops

Moderator: John Baier, GrayMatter — Peer Group Working Session

Topics:

• - MES scale and speed — greenfield startups, multi-site rollouts, aggressive timelines and the shift from long deployment cycles into sustain-and-optimize mode
• - Data integration and governance — MES-ERP alignment, historian modernization, quality and process data living in different places and the difficulty of turning data into actionable insights
• - Legacy systems and technical debt — ERP and MES platforms that are decades old, large install bases and the resulting friction when introducing analytics or AI
• - Resource and capacity constraints — teams stretched thin while demand accelerates
• - OT, automation and cyber readiness — standing up automated facilities, evolving SCADA environments and ensuring resiliency as operations scale
• - From deployment to value — moving beyond "go-live" toward meaningful use of data by operators, engineers and leaders

From Tribal Knowledge to Institutional Intelligence: Future-Proofing Your Plant with Approachable AI

John Lucci & Nathan Barker, GrayMatter's Factory Advisors

With 2 million skilled workers set to retire by 2028, the hardest-won knowledge in your plant — the instincts, judgment calls and pattern recognition your veterans carry in their heads — is quietly walking out the door. Join Factory Advisors to see how Approachable AI™ captures that tribal wisdom and turns it into a secure, on-premise AI Factory Advisor your whole team can tap 24/7. You'll leave with a practical, pebble-in-the-pond playbook for starting small, protecting your IP and scaling institutional intelligence across your operation — no massive IoT overhaul required.

Voices of Vision: Live Survey

Rapid-Fire Leadership Conversations

Bring your hardest questions. Our SMEs rotate table to table, and you've got their full attention for as long as they're with you — no slides, no pitches, just direct answers from people who've seen it work (and fail) in plants like yours.

Dinner & Networking

A relaxed setting to continue the conversation and build connections.