Summit Media Group, publisher of Automation World, Packaging World and Healthcare Packaging, has confirmed the agenda for The Automation Conference, a new event for engineering and industrial management professionals within the discrete, continuous process, and packaging industries. It is being held May 22-23, 2012 at the Hilton Rosemont hotel, in suburban Chicago,
Important topics to be covered include cyber security, mobile operator technology, alarm management, operator training, remote diagnostics and more. A first-of-its-kind panel discussion on industrial Ethernet protocol options will compare and contrast Profinet, EtherNet/IP, Ethernet PowerLink, CC-Link IE Field, EtherCAT and SERCOS protocols. Overall, the Automation Conference will feature more than 30 sessions and three content tracks, and include presentations from manufacturing and automation experts from Boeing, ExxonMobil, PepsiCo, Volkswagen and others.
Program, registration and exhibiting information can be found at:
www.theautomationconference.com. An early bird discounted registration rate is available through April 22, 2012.
Event Director David Greenfield comments, “The Automation Conference is the only conference of its kind where you can access so much first-hand automation expertise delivered by end-users, OEMs, system integrators, technology developers, and academics. Given the importance of automation to the competitiveness of the manufacturing, processing and packaging industries, the education offered at The Automation Conference offers a career growth opportunity not to be missed.”
End User Presenters
Conference topics are divided into three tracks and include presentations by automation professionals from a range of discrete manufacturing, process automation and packaging companies. These include:
• Boeing’s Sid Venkatesh on supply chain standardization
• ExxonMobil’s Chris Wells on PLC lifecycle management
• Pepsi Bottling’s Chris Bacon on combining Lean and automation for improved OEE
• Volkswagen’s Jürgen Jaskolla on modular production strategies and automation
• Bayer CropScience’s Joe Staples on using automated workflow strategy for operational excellence
• Gilchrest & Soames’ Christina Mavity on using automated asset management to streamline procurement
Other topics to be addressed include:
• Establishing remote diagnostics with Kai Mariappan of Coca-Cola
• Operator training for automated environments with Simon Nance from Stihl
• Process safety with Kevin Connelly and Ken Modeste from UL
• Industrial controls security with Joel Langill of SCADAHacker
• Alarm management best practices with Steve Elwart of Ergon Refining
• Implementing wireless projects with Steven Toteda, chairman of the Wireless Industrial Network Alliance
• SCADA strategies for water/wastewater from Kenn Bengtsson of DC Water
Automation World Co-founder and Editor in Chief Gary Mintchell said, "The event builds on six years of success with Summit's Packaging Automation Forum and now includes tracks for factory automation and process automation as well. And the speaker line-up is stronger than ever. The packaging track, for example, features both Nestle’s Bryan Griffen speaking on OMAC’s PackML, and the always popular Dave Chappell workshop on make2pack. In addition, the after-conference chats are something else that should not be missed."
Vendor sponsors of the event are Lenze Americas, at the platinum level, as well as Beckhoff. Bosch Rexroth, Eaton, Festo, MOXA, Pro-face, Plex Systems, Underwriters Labs, and ZPI.
