Great Lakes Manufacturing Forum
Manufacturing Forum to Emphasize Changing Role of Suppliers
Manufacturing supply chain partners are going to be significant contributors to their customers’ innovations or end up on the sidelines. That’s the proposition of an expert panel assembled by the Great Lakes Manufacturing Council at its sixth Great Lakes Manufacturing Forum. The panel will explore the importance of technology, research and development, and product and process innovation by suppliers throughout the rapidly changing supply chains of the manufacturing sector. It will also provide coaching on how suppliers can be critical value-added partners to their customers.
Panel participants will include:
- A. Sandy Munro, Design Prophet & CEO, Munro & Associates, Inc.
- Sridhar Kota, Herrick Professor of Engineering, University of Michigan
- Gary Lownsdale, Chief Technology Officer, Plasan Carbon Composites
- Matt Roush, Director of Communications and Public Relations, The Engineering Society of Detroit
- Christopher P. Thomas, Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, BorgWarner Inc.
The session will run at noon on June 12.
The Forum is co-located with The Big M, a major national event focused on shaping the future of manufacturing, June 9 – 12 at the new Cobo Center in Detroit. Registration for the Forum and The Big M is available at this link at a compelling value at $450.
Your Great Lakes Manufacturing Council / BIG M Corporate Guest Package includes:
- All Access Pass to all general sessions, breakouts and exhibits of The Big M from June 9 – 12, with as many as 5,000 expected to attend
- June 11, evening – Opening network reception and dinner for the Great Lakes Manufacturing Forum
- June 12, morning to mid-afternoon –
- Workforce panel and Talented Workforce Initiative awards at The Big M
- Reception for Talented Workforce nominees and award recipients
- Panel discussion on the future of US – Canada trade
- Luncheon
- Panel discussion on innovation and the changing role of suppliers
Great Lakes Manufacturing Forum to Focus on Best Practices in Building Skilled Workforce for Advanced Manufacturing
Participants in the Great Lakes Manufacturing Forum on June 11 and 12 will also have the opportunity at the opening afternoon of The Big M event on June 9 to attend the Advanced Manufacturing Partnership 2.0 (AMP 2.0) meeting headlined by U.S. Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker. AMP 2.0 is a White House initiative to secure U.S. leadership in emerging technologies that will create high-quality manufacturing jobs and enhance manufacturers’ competitiveness.
The Great Lakes Region is central to the AMP 2.0 initiative and already features recently announced advanced manufacturing hubs – the American Lightweight Materials Manufacturing Innovation Institute in Detroit, and the Digital Lab in Chicago. Participants in AMP 2.0 will help assess the nation’s and region’s strengths and the challenges in bringing advanced manufacturing innovation to small and mid-sized businesses. Many of those businesses are also engaged with Canadian suppliers and customers.
Registration for the Great Lakes Manufacturing Forum is available at this registration link, which will also enable Forum attendees to participate in AMP 2.0 and many events important to both U.S. and Canadian manufacturers.
Two of those events are the Great Lakes Manufacturing Council’s Talented Workforce Presentation and Reception on June 12, which will feature organizations with leading approaches to recruiting and developing the talent essential to success in advanced manufacturing. The sessions will:
- Anchor The Big M’s workforce and talent panel
- Recognize 30 outstanding programs throughout the region
- Identify four exemplary programs that embody the attributes of all the programs
- Focus on how the programs are interfacing with the critical needs of employers and workers in their markets
- Identify best practices and contributions of all the programs
- Provide opportunities for all participants to learn from one another in an informal, quick-moving dialogue
For additional information, contact Rebecca Schneider, 517-449-0960 or rschneider@detroitchamber.com.