Digitalization is creating a new industrial revolution. Yet advancing this revolution remains a daunting task for business leaders. Whether it’s rethinking how products are mass produced, disrupting operational processes, or investing significantly to update infrastructure and transition to smart factories, c-suite leaders face greater challenges than ever before.

This panel will look at how businesses are already utilizing innovations like automation, AI, data analytics to improve operations and streamline processes. And we’ll hear from thought leaders on the cost pressures they face with upgrading their environment, how they are thinking about mergers and acquisitions and where we go from here to keep up with digitization of manufacturing in America.

In the past few years we have seen a dramatic shift in the workplace. Today robots, not humans are leading this emerging Fourth Industrial Revolution. But new technology doesn't have to mean the loss of jobs because companies need as much human intelligence as artificial. Over the next decade, the US will need to fill 3.5 million manufacturing jobs however; as many as 2 million of these could remain empty because of a skill gap in the sector. America doesn’t have job shortages, we have skill shortages. We’ll take a look at how manufacturing jobs are being redefined, what human skills will be required to manage emerging technology jobs, why it’s important to educate our children and existing employees to tackle the jobs of the future. We’ll talk to business leaders about how labor demographics will have an important impact on a company’s ability to survive and their strategies to compete for talent.

Augmented reality is allowing us to interact with complex data in more natural and understandable ways than ever before. To begin to understand the future value Augmented Reality can truly create, we’ll look at the types of data companies are capturing, how they will apply this to AR technology to transform the manufacturing industries and what happens when you introduce IOT technology and AR products at scale. We'll feature a leader who can give us a look at the landscape in which this industry is putting this technology to work to shape the next decade.

As automation and machine learning remake industry, what does the future of manufacturing look like? What technological advancements do we expect to become mainstream in the next year, and as technology transforms the very nature of the industrial industry, how can executives embrace the opportunities that emerge? This panel will look at how businesses are already utilizing innovations like robotics, 3D printing, AI and data analytics to improve operations, streamline processes, develop new products, and overhaul daily business functions to create more effective, efficient and sustainable companies.