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The manufacturing conference of the year is off to a phenomenal start! Over 1,600 attendees from around the world enjoyed impactful sessions and were inspired by dynamic speakers during the first full day of PowerPlex. We miss seeing your faces in person, but it was incredible how engaging this year’s virtual setting turned out to be.

There’s a lot of information to unpack, so let’s get right into the highlights from the first half of PowerPlex.

Smart Manufacturing Is for Everyone

It’s clear that the effects of the pandemic accelerated the adoption of technology, making smart manufacturing essential to success. But what does that really mean? Our Plex leaders had the answers in clear and easy terms.

CEO Bill Berutti didn’t mince words when he described how smart manufacturing is for everyone. Not only is technology essential to compete, but it’s never been more accessible to implement and achieve ROI. It’s no longer only for huge companies with enormous budgets. And as we heard from both Cadillac Products Automotive Company and Drinkworks, investing in a smart manufacturing platform carved their paths to capitalizing on market opportunities. Bill also talked about how manufacturers are the ones leading the economic recovery and closed by describing how Plex customers achieve 80% more inventory turns and 18% higher production compared to industry averages.

A few hours later, GVP of Product Management and Strategy Nathan Pieri took the stage emphasizing how Industry 4.0 has hit a tipping point. Digitizing the manufacturing environment is no longer optional and failing to adapt will put companies behind. The team from Hatch Stamping illustrated Nathan’s points, taking attendees on a journey through their own digital transformation. Nathan also broke down the six tenets of the Plex Product Vision and described in detail how manufacturers can configure their own path to industry success with different technological entry points.

The night before these sessions, CMO Robin Saitz warmed up the main stage with a kick-off networking event that was a blast. People came together to talk shop, share personal stories, and show off some virtual dance moves. Seeing so many different people uniting for all these sessions reminded us how inclusive smart manufacturing is.

Recapping Your Favorite Tracks

PowerPlex has so many great tracks and exciting sessions that it can be easy to miss a key piece of information. With more highlights from other tracks to come in Part 2, here are some of the standout insights PowerPlex attendees discovered.

Track: Industry

• Manufacturers use technology to achieve greater supply chain agility, increase operational efficiency, and enable data-driven decisions
• Defining value cases and understanding the true cost/risk of relying on outdated technology are essential to overcoming barriers to adoption, driving innovation, and achieving future success
• Cultivating internal champions who understand the business benefits of technology and optimizing solutions to best serve a business will maximize the value of the investment

Track: Business Management

• Dynamic market conditions are driving manufacturers to rethink the management of their business operations
• To effectively compete and grow on a global stage, leading manufacturers are turning to digital solutions to manage core issues such as compliance intensity, workforce fluidity, and supply chain agility
• Top manufacturers are leveraging digital solutions to fully integrate their supply chain and financial processes in order to reduce risk and cost

Track: Smart Factory Floor

• Manufacturing evolution and industry headwinds have made plant floor automation and data tools a necessity to compete
• Plex’s recent Kors Engineering acquisition rounds out a complete manufacturing automation suite, consistently delivering groundbreaking ROI
• Manufacturing automation can be low in cost and quick to implement with the tools Plex and partners provide, using existing infrastructure, equipment, and networks
• Plex Industrial IoT and Mach2 offer low-cost, fast implementations that offer a long and wide path for continuous improvement and change management