NMW 2006 preview: manufacturing leadership, cost reductions

By Control Engineering Staff January 24, 2006

Rosemont, IL —Scores of hot topics are among those to be covered at National Manufacturing Week conference sessions, March 20-23, including those on compliance issues, industrial Ethernet protocols, machine vision tips, safety, and wireless technologies. More than 250 sessions and workshops are presented that week, part of the National Industrial Automation Show, National Design Engineering Show, National Plant Engineering & Maintenance Show, and the National Enterprise IT Show, at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center, Rosemont (Chicago), IL. Keynote companies include Caterpillar, Hewlett Packard, National Instruments, and Schneider Electric.

Session topics include: Business tools for small/mid-sized enterprises, new manufacturing technologies, enterprise resilience, new sensor technologies, new control technologies regulatory compliance, global competitiveness, power and energy management, industrial Ethernet protocols, product lifecycle management, intellectual property management, quality, international business opportunities, lean manufacturing, manufacturing enterprise management, machine vision, robotics, wireless, and RFID (radio frequency identification) technologies. Click here to see the conference program.

Jim Owens, chairman and CEO of Peoria, IL-based Caterpillar Inc., will be a keynote speaker, with remarks on “Manufacturing Leadership in the Global Marketplace,” focusing on building business in a world market. Another keynote speaker, Schneider Electric’s Palatine, IL-based senior vice president of operations, North American operating division, Mary Frances Cox, will discuss achieving significant reductions in manufacturing cost base. Others keynote presenters are Colin Wu, president, China Business Sources; Tommy Thompson, former Health and Human Services Secretary and four-term Wisconsin governor, now chairman of the Deloitte Center for Health Solutions; Doug Engel, vice chairman and U.S. manufacturing industry leader, Deloitte and Touche USA; Mike Santori, fellow, National Instruments; Gilles Bouchard, executive vice president of global operations, Hewlett Packard; and Jack Perkowski, chairman and CEO, ASIMCO Technologies. Click here for more on the keynotes.

Click here

to read more on Perkowski from Control Engineering : “Manufacturing exec: Don’t be afraid of China.”

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for more details on the conference sessions from Control Engineering .

2006 National Manufacturing Week at a glance:

—Control Engineering Daily News DeskMark T. Hoske, editor-in-chief, MHoske@cfemedia.com