The Industry 4.0 Accelerator is hosting a session to share practical utilization of Industry 4.0 technologies to improve manufacturing operational efficiencies. The session will share presentations from unique 4.0 tech companies with solutions that are easy to implement for any manufacturer to improve throughout, quality and operational efficiency. The session will share details on the Industry 4.0 Accelerator and also feature a few of our 4.0 Accelerator tech clients.

This Panduit seminar, Powering the Factory of the Future: Delivering High-Power DC to the Industrial Edge, will explore how the Panduit Class 4 Fault Managed Power System enables safer, scalable, and resilient power distribution for smart manufacturing infrastructure. Attendees will learn how the system brings power and data together at the industrial edge, delivers significant power safely and efficiently over longer distances, improves uptime through centralized power, simplifies installation and future expansion, and incorporates safety by design. The session will also reference the Pella installation and case study to illustrate practical application, followed by time for questions and answers.

This workshop presents an overview of the 8US2 Crossboard System and focuses on Hands-On mounting and unmounting of Crossboard components. Students will gain an appreciation of the value the Crossboard solution offers which eliminates almost all feeder wiring for 3VA Circuit Breakers, Sirius Motor Starters, 3RM1 Motor Starters, and 5S Mini-Breakers. The completely modular system snaps together in seconds and reduces engineering, building labor, commissioning, copper conductors, and terminals.

Hear customer perspectives and defense-sector insights at The Summit. This exclusive session features a Customer Panel followed by a Defense Panel focused on the future of defense manufacturing, modernization, and supply chain readiness.

Why Attend?

Gain direct insight from defense, manufacturing, and industry leaders on modernization trends, supply chain resilience, collaboration opportunities, and future readiness requirements.

Defense Panel

Defense modernization is reshaping what manufacturers and suppliers must deliver. The panel will explore evolving requirements for agility, efficiency, mission readiness, and innovation. (Led by Chris Stevens, Siemens SVG GM)

• Emerging defense modernization priorities
• Technology’s role in manufacturing transformation
• Strengthening defense supply chains
• Public-private collaboration and innovation
• Preparing manufacturers for future defense requirements

Featured Speakers

David Foreman
President, Munro Defense
David Foreman leads Munro Defense, supporting government, defense, aerospace and commercial organizations through product development, manufacturing operations, lean manufacturing, Design for Assembly, and Design for Manufacturability initiatives.

Maj. Gen. (Ret.) Michael A. Stone
Partner, Warner Norcross + Judd
Retired U.S. Army Major General and government contracts attorney with more than 30 years of military and legal leadership experience spanning cybersecurity, contracting, operations, and strategic planning.

Maj. Gen. (Ret.) Darren Werner
President, SAPA Transmission
Retired U.S. Army Major General and President of SAPA Transmission, focused on strengthening the defense industrial base through innovation, manufacturing capability, collaboration, and workforce development.

Many manufacturers rely on aging automation systems that create challenges around maintainability, cybersecurity, workforce readiness, and scalability. In this interactive workshop, participants will explore practical modernization and migration strategies that reduce risk while preserving existing investments. Learn how Siemens’ hardware-agnostic approach, open architectures, and interoperable control solutions enable phased modernization, helping manufacturers integrate new technologies and migrate at a pace that fits their business goals.

Every asset decision gets made three times: on the plant floor, in maintenance, and in the boardroom. This session unpacks the hidden costs that live in the gaps between those conversations, from poor repair-vs-replace data to capital plans built without the right information. Walk away with a practical way to connect automation, maintenance, and capital planning so your next asset decision is made with the whole picture.

Modern automation applications demand faster development, greater consistency, and seamless collaboration between control and visualization engineering. Discover how SIMATIC AX and WinCC Unified Elements enable a modern, software-driven approach to automation through reusable components, standardized engineering practices, and web technologies. Learn how to accelerate project delivery, improve maintainability, and scale applications across machines and production systems.

TIA Portal V21 introduces powerful new capabilities that bring modern software development practices into automation engineering. Explore enhancements including SIMATIC Source Documents, Git-ready workflows, improved search and diagnostics, and expanded support across the SIMATIC S7 controller portfolio. Learn how the latest advances in TIA Portal and S7-1500 technology help engineering teams improve collaboration, accelerate project execution, and simplify lifecycle management.

Generative AI is transforming industrial automation, helping manufacturers address engineering complexity, workforce challenges, and rising performance expectations. Explore how Siemens Industrial Copilot solutions accelerate design, engineering, operations, and maintenance through natural language interactions. Learn how organizations are improving productivity, reducing downtime, and empowering teams to achieve faster, smarter outcomes across the plant lifecycle.

Learn how leading machine builders are reducing engineering effort, improving collaboration and delivering machines faster through a connected engineering approach powered by digital twins, simulation and automation.

Industrial automation continues to evolve toward more connected, data-centric, and secure production systems. This presentation outlines current developments and future directions in open standard industrial networking technologies. The end goal is to enable easy integration, seamless interoperability, and secure communication across the industry.

Discover how Siemens Inspekto simplifies visual quality inspection through ready-to-use industrial AI that can be configured in hours, not weeks. In this interactive workshop, explore how manufacturers are using Inspekto to detect defects, improve quality consistency, reduce manual inspection efforts, and accelerate implementation of AI-driven quality control across production environments.

As manufacturers generate increasing volumes of operational and production data, edge computing plays a critical role in turning that data into actionable insight. Discover how Siemens Industrial Edge enables organizations to deploy, manage, and scale edge solutions across multiple sites with centralized orchestration, security, observability, and data connectivity. Learn how to simplify data collection, contextualization, and application management for reliable, enterprise-wide operations.

This year, learn how the 3VA6 Plus Circuit Breaker with integrated advanced personnel protection plus state-of-the-art communication interfaces are opening up new possibilities in circuit protection and monitoring. We will explore the modular Siemens Crossboard power distribution system to reduce wiring and labor costs. Last, but not least, we are introducing an all new low cost 10-100A, 1, 2, and 3-pole Mini-Breaker, the QQLD.

Software-defined automation is reshaping manufacturing by enabling greater flexibility, scalability, and innovation across the enterprise. Discover how technologies such as digital twins, virtual commissioning, industrial edge, open automation, MTP, and AI-powered copilots are helping manufacturers streamline engineering, reduce project risk, accelerate time to market, and support a more agile workforce through the convergence of software and automation. 

Join Rittal subject-matter experts to explore how converging industrial and IT environments are reshaping modern manufacturing. Learn how Rittal solutions, delivered through a strategic partnership with Electro-Matic, help manufacturers address power distribution, cooling, and infrastructure challenges across both operational and IT environments while supporting scalability, reliability, and smart factory performance.

The SINAMICS Next Generation family is growing and will continue to expand over the coming years, delivering a common user experience, advanced safety, connectivity, cybersecurity, and modern technology, providing a digital path forward across an increasingly wide range of target markets and applications. Join this seminar and learn about the SINAMICS Next Generation of VFDs and servo drives that are now launching and what the future holds.

Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) are rapidly becoming critical infrastructure, but long-term success depends on much more than selecting battery cells. This session explores how manufacturers, developers, integrators, and operators can leverage digital engineering, industrial automation, smart manufacturing, IT/OT integration, commissioning strategies, and lifecycle intelligence to reduce risk and improve performance. Learn how a connected digital thread supports BESS from design and production through deployment, operation, maintenance, and optimization.

Many manufacturers have digital twins for products, production systems, operations, and performance data, but realizing their full value requires connecting them into a unified ecosystem. Learn how Digital Twin Composer helps synthesize and contextualize digital twins across the lifecycle, creating a comprehensive digital thread. Discover how connected digital twins improve collaboration, accelerate decision-making, and enable more efficient and resilient manufacturing operations.

Aging controls systems present a growing risk across manufacturing: discontinued hardware, limited spare parts, rising downtime, and escalating maintenance costs. Yet replacing entire lines is often financially and operationally unrealistic. This session shares how Caterpillar modernized a production critical Short Block Assembly line using Tecnomatix-driven digital validation and a phased execution strategy, delivering major business results without stopping production.

In the race to automate, custom engineering is often the biggest barrier to scale. The next evolution of industrial collaborative automation is standardized, modular cobot solutions that deliver faster deployment, lower risk, and greater ROI. This session explores how manufacturers, integrators, and OEMs can move beyond one-off projects to repeatable automation platforms. Learn a practical framework for identifying ideal applications, simplifying integration, and scaling successful cobot deployments across multiple sites in months, not years.