Honors, knowledge at 2010 Summit

Three days of knowledge, awards begins March 28 in Chicago

By Bob Vavra March 10, 2010

Combine an international group of manufacturing experts, three major awards presentations and one night of laughter and fun and you have the 2010 Manufacturing/Automation Summit, hosted by Plant Engineering and Control Engineering magazines. The 2010 event returns to its roots in Chicago on March 28 through March 30 at the Hotel Sofitel, 30 E. Chestnut.
IBM is the Platinum sponsor of the 2010 Manufacturing/Automation Summit. INFOR and Siemens Industry Inc. are the Roundtable sponsors. The event is also sponsored by Atlas Copco and Hannover Messe.
"Readers have told us repeatedly that the key issues they face are energy, asset management and maintenance. All three of those topics will be covered on the first full day of this year’s Summit," said Jim Langhenry, publisher of Plant Engineering and Control Engineering. "The Summit will give our attendees not just the knowledge they need to address these key issues, but also will introduce them to the products and services they need to execute on those strategies. It’s really a one-stop event for manufacturing improvement at a time when manufacturing is emerging from the recession."
The Engineers Choice Awards highlight some of the best new control, instrumentation and automation products introduced in 2009 as chosen by Control Engineering’s print and online subscribers. Survey respondents were asked to select products based on technological advancement, service to the industry, and market impact.
Engineers Choice Awards, presented in the categories of process control, discrete control, motion control, software, hardware and network integration, will be handed out on Sunday, March 28 at 5 p.m. Immediately following the awards, attendees will have the opportunity to attend the latest comedy review, "The Taming of the Flu" at the world-famous Second City theater in Chicago.
The Summit’s sessions begin in earnest on Monday, March 29. After introductory remarks, the event opens at 9:15 a.m. with Mary Bunzel of IBM speaking on enterprise asset management. At 10:30 a.m., Kevin Hartler of Grainger and Dr. Thomas Dietz of Mobil Industrial Lubricants will discuss maintenance as a profit center for plant floors.
After lunch, the afternoon will conclude with a series of presentations on energy and sustainability hosted by Control Engineering editorial director David Greenfield. Scheduled to appear on the panel are Rene Wolf of Siemens, Marc Leroux of ABB, Carl Castellow of Schneider Electric and Rod Ellsworth of INFOR.
The events on Monday will conclude with a cocktail reception, dinner and the presentation of the 2009 Plant Engineering Product of the Year awards. Gold, silver and bronze winners in 17 categories will be announced, as will the winner of the 2009 Product of the Year Grand Award, voted on my the readers of Plant Engineering.
Delivering the keynote at this year’s Summit is Edward W. Bryan, director of the SWG Industrial Sector Solutions for IBM.
The Summit concludes Tuesday with a full day of events. The 2009 Top Plant Award will be presented to Siemens Industry Inc. of Norwood OH at an 8 a.m. breakfast meeting. At the breakfast, there also will be a discussion of Plant Engineering’s Future 30 program. Mobil Industrial Lubricants, the sponsor of the Future 30 program, will discuss the importance of workforce development and the engagement of young people in the manufacturing process.
Following the Top Plant award breakfast, there will be a Global Manufacturing Forum beginning at 10 a.m. Plant Engineering editor Bob Vavra will lead a discussion on some of the key international manufacturing issue facing plants today. As part of that presentation, Plant Engineering will present results of its global study, The Changing World of the Plant Engineer, which is sponsored by IBM and Hannover Messe.
The panelists for the discussion include Raj Batra of Siemens Industry Inc., Eric Luyer of IBM, Rob Hanes of Harting and Marco Siebert of Hannover Messe. Attendees also will be able to obtain free passes to the 2010 Hannover Messe, the world’s largest industrial manufacturing trade event, in Hannover, Germany on April 19-23.
The 2010 Summit will conclude with a box lunch and transportation to S&C Electric, a worldwide leader in electrical distribution manufacturing located just 15 minutes from downtown Chicago. S&C Electric has a 1 million sq. ft. manufacturing facility and is a past Top Plant Award winner.
‘We think these are important times for manufacturers around the world," said Langhenry. "We also believe the plant managers, systems engineers, OEMs and suppliers who will be in the best position to accelerate growth at the end of this recession will be those armed with thebest information and the best products. We believe the Manufacturing/Automation Summit provides all of those benefits in a convenient, fun and cost-effective way."
Registration for the three day event is still open. The $395 entry fee covers all meals and gatherings except the Second City event. Hotel reservations and event registration can be made by contacting event coordinator Susan Beck at (630) 288-8494 or by email at sbeck@reedbusiness.com. Registration also is being taken at www.plantengineering.com


Author Bio: Bob is the Content Manager for Plant Engineering.