Technology Providers Powering Manufacturing’s Future – the Journey to Openness and Interoperability
Join us for a powerful LinkedIn Live conversation exploring how today’s leading technology providers are shaping the future of Smart Manufacturing. This episode will bring together a diverse panel of innovators aligned around one critical goal: driving openness, interoperability, and U.S. manufacturing competitiveness.
🎙️ What to Expect: We’ll hear from three distinct categories of technology leaders, all of whom are active CESMII members:
🔹 Established Market Leaders in control and information systems, with decades of experience in industrial automation.
🔹 Born-in-Industry 4.0 Innovators – companies built from the ground up around digital transformation, smart manufacturing, and AI-native architectures.
Whether you're a manufacturer, integrator, or technology provider, this is your chance to see how collaboration across these domains is accelerating Smart Manufacturing adoption—and how your organization can play a part.
Register Today: U.S. Smart Manufacturing Interoperability Summit
Join us for this important forum to determine how we move beyond the historic data fundamentals and architectures of the past 30 years – to a future marked by enormous innovation and productivity growth. This will be a practical deep dive on the future of OT/IT interoperability for Smart Manufacturing Operations and Supply Chains.
This Summit is a collaborative, international initiative to shine the spotlight on the necessary building blocks, competencies, and capabilities related to modernizing our approach to OT/IT data engineering. We will explore the value, the challenges/risks, and the best practices on the journey to interoperability. We will showcase the capabilities, explore the relevant standards, and unveil how open APIs can unlock the full potential of industrial data and AI at scale!
Join us in Detroit, Cleveland or Chicago as we bring industry leaders together to understand just how important interoperability is on our journey to productivity and competitiveness!
The Manufacturing Leadership Council (MLC) is pleased to extend an exclusive invitation to CESMII members who are manufacturers to join a special site visit at United Scrap Metal’s Recycling Headquarters in Cicero, IL. This is a unique opportunity to explore how one of the nation’s leading recycling operations is leveraging technology to advance sustainability, transparency, and operational excellence across the manufacturing value chain. As leaders committed to Smart Manufacturing, CESMII members will gain valuable insights into real-world strategies for implementing recycling programs, tracking environmental impact, and aligning digital tools with sustainability goals.
CESMII manufacturing members interested in attending this tour can contact DVanEngel@nam.org to receive a special discount code. This opportunity is open exclusively to manufacturers.
Lessons Learned Through the CESMII Smart Manufacturing Roadmap Process
This month, our friends at Visual Decisions and the Industry 4.0 Club hosted a LinkedIn Live session, diving into Lessons Learned Through the CESMII Smart Manufacturing Roadmap Process.
We’re proud to see CESMII-certified Roadmap Professional Tim Stuart, Founder & President of Visual Decisions, share firsthand insights into what small and mid-size manufacturers need to know before making critical technology and investment decisions.
With thoughtful commentary from Mike Yost, Chairman of the Industry 4.0 Club, and Mike Ungar, CEO, offer a candid, practical take on how to build a solid foundation for transformation, aligned with CESMII’s national strategy for Smart Manufacturing.
👏 Thank you to our partners for continuing to advance the mission of making Smart Manufacturing accessible, scalable, and successful for every manufacturer.
CESMII’s international collaborations, with organizations like Manufacturing-X and the IDTA, continue to drive improved standardization and greater reuse of the interoperability technologies we’ve invested in.
One of our key initiatives is the Cloud Library (CloudLib), developed through a joint working group with the OPC Foundation and three hyperscale cloud providers. CloudLib serves as a global repository for Smart Manufacturing Profiles, enabling publishers to share common data models worldwide. Two public instances of CloudLib are currently in regular use:
A canonical repository of OPC Technical Steering Committee–approved Companion Specifications.
A CESMII super-set, which adds member-contributed content.
Recently, the OPC Foundation and Microsoft have advocated for using CloudLib as a repository for Asset Administration Shell (AAS) templates—part of a European standard we’ve supported. This standard is increasingly used to distribute standardized information about manufactured goods (e.g., the EU Battery Passport).
To support this broader adoption, a simplification to CloudLib has been proposed. Since this change may affect other users and developers, CESMII is seeking your feedback:
Help Shape the 2026–2030 National Strategic Plan for Advanced Manufacturing
This month’s Virtual CESMII Member Meeting on August 20th will serve as a special town hall event focused on gathering member input for the upcoming 2026–2030 National Strategic Plan for Advanced Manufacturing.
Hosted in collaboration with the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), this session will offer CESMII members a direct opportunity to share insights that could shape future federal priorities in advanced manufacturing R&D. The plan, updated every four years, guides national efforts to create jobs, accelerate economic growth, and strengthen U.S. manufacturing competitiveness and national security.
This town hall complements the official Request for Information (RFI) published by OSTP and enables CESMII members to provide meaningful input across strategic focus areas.
Don’t miss this chance to make your voice heard and help shape the future of Smart Manufacturing in the United States.
Not a CESMII Member? No problem! This meeting is open to all participants. We welcome your insights—just register to join us. We look forward to seeing you there!
CESMII Drives Smart Manufacturing Curriculum Development
Factory 4.0 Educational Toolkit
Project Objective: The goal of this project is to develop an instrumented bench scale extrusion kit and platform that can be integrated into education modules (labs, projects, etc.).
17
Delivered pilot ElectroMechanical Engineering Technology course to 17 Penn State undergraduates.
8 Hours
Developed 8-hour Industry 4.0 industrial training workshop
CESMII member, Accenture, surveyed 552 experienced factory managers and engaged 15 heads of production in detailed qualitative interviews between August and December 2024. Those taking part in the survey and research represented automotive manufacturers, automotive suppliers, industrial machinery manufacturers, industrial equipment manufacturers, electrical equipment manufacturers, heavy equipment manufacturers, commercial aerospace manufacturers and commercial aerospace suppliers.
The research covered factories ranging in scale from 100 workers to more than 5,000, and from locations in the US, Europe, China, India and Japan. They focused our research on factory managers because of their vantage point and because they are the ultimate arbiters of whether their vision of the future will become a reality. These individuals are responsible for informing strategic corporate decisions and for translating those decisions into real-world operations.
Returning to beautiful Cleveland, OH, MX.0 Midwest expands to two full days of conference sessions.
Year after year, MX.0 events attract new and returning manufacturers eager to hear and meet with experts from regional and national plants. Manufacturing leaders share real-world experiences, best practices, and innovative strategies for driving digital transformation and automation.
No matter your stage of digital transformation, MX.0 Midwest has the knowledge and network to help you achieve your goals. Whether you're working for a small manufacturer or a large enterprise, find practical solutions to meet your unique business and career goals.
Don’t miss out! Afterall, you don’t know what you don’t know!
Manufacturers can use the CESMII30 code to receive 30% off the fee (currently $499).
Join over 75+ speakers and over 300 digital and operations leaders this October for the only event in North America to address how to achieve the next frontier of digital manufacturing by empowering workers with new technologies.
As you know, many smart manufacturing events exist, but few recognize the game changing role that connected workers play in shop floor transformation.
Hear from Boeing, Bimbo Bakeries USA, Coca Cola, Kraft Heinz, Mondelez, FUJIFILM, Hershey Company, Pfizer and more, this October, and learn how to leverage intelligent automation to improve supply chain efficiency, enhance customer experience, and increase revenue.
In collaboration with CESMII, make sure to use code CESMII20 to save 20% off your pass! Visit www.connectedworkermanufacturing.com for more information.
This nationwide event series brings CESMII representatives to cities across the country, connecting with small and medium-sized manufacturers (SMMs), Manufacturing Extension Partnerships (MEPs), and the broader manufacturing ecosystem. Our team is excited to share the latest advancements in Smart Manufacturing technologies, explore real-world applications, and discuss how these innovations can drive efficiency, sustainability, and competitiveness.
CESMII – the Smart Manufacturing Institute – has a total current investment commitment of $201M from Department of Energy funding and public/private partnership contributions, with a mandate to create a more competitive manufacturing environment here in the US through advanced sensing, analytics, modeling, control and platforms. CESMII is one of 18 Manufacturing USA institutes on this mission to increase manufacturing productivity, global competitiveness, and reinvestment by increasing energy productivity, improving economic performance and raising workforce capacity. University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) is the program and administrative home of CESMII. For more information about CESMII, its history and Smart Manufacturing, visit cesmii.org.
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