National Manufacturing Week takes a greener approach

When National Manufacturing Week opens Sept. 23, attendees can choose from design engineering to sustainability, interests of all kinds will be covered as the show again joins five other expositions through Sept. 25 at the Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont, IL.

Highlighting the conference sessions is Green Manufacturing: Business Strategies for Sustainability, which will emphasize concepts such as Lean and green, corporate social responsibility, waste to profit, design for environment, zero waste and environmental sustainability.

Attendees will attend workshops to become familiar with new approaches to reducing costs and increasing profits, while conserving energy and resources. Pamela J. Gordon, founder of Technology Forecasters Inc. and lead consultant for TFI Environment, chairs the first two days of the conference.

“The measure of success of any ‘green’ manufacturing conference is the extent to which the participants successfully reduce their products’ and companies’ environmental footprints upon their return to their workplaces,” Gordon said. “The Green Manufacturing: Business Strategies for Sustainability conference makes participants change agents by giving them those tools to substantively reduce impact in financially and competitively advantageous ways.”

Two keynote events are scheduled for Tuesday, Sept. 23. At 9 a.m., a panel discussion titled “So the grass IS greener on the other side: How industry leaders are practicing sustainability and improving tomorrow’s profitability,” features panelists Greg Sebasky of Philips Healthcare; Leslie Collins of Hewlett Packard; and Rick Rommel of Best Buy.

At 1 p.m., Daniel S. Sullivan, assistant secretary for economic, energy and business affairs, U.S. Department of State, presents “Free Trade: Strengthening America and its Partners.”

The 2008 National Manufacturing Week is co-located with Assembly Technology Expo, Electronics Assembly Show, Plastics USA/Plastec Midwest, Medical Design and Manufacturing Midwest, and the Green Manufacturing Expo, NMW will again be comprised of the Design Engineering, Plant Engineering, Industrial Automation and Enterprise IT pavilions.

National Manufacturing Week

Dates : Sept. 23-25

Venue : Donald E. Stephens Convention Center, Rosemont, IL

Hours of operation : 10 a.m to 4 p.m.

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