Change is slow and hard; until it isn’t. True compelling events are few and far between and 2020 will be remembered for having the most consequential in a generation.

At last year’s IX event, we were discussing how leaders can start showing real business value from IX initiatives: going beyond pilots and proofs of concept. The industry has quickly moved past this stage to ask, “How can I do in one year what I thought would take three?” The COVID-19 pandemic has forced companies to re-evaluate IX initiatives, and the large majority have decided to go further and faster than what were already ambitious goals.

In this keynote session, you will learn how IX Leaders are building strategies, organizational structures, cultures, and skillsets to embrace rapid change with an eye toward agility and resilience.

For many organizations, the challenge of transformation is really a challenge of leadership. A successful IX Program takes more than just an industrial technology strategy. It takes alignment with corporate objectives, a holistic vison, strategy across people-process-technology for the entire value chain, and an agile approach to change management. Moreover, it takes the right leaders in the right roles. In this roundtable you will learn:

• The critical elements of all successful IX strategies.
• How to identify and inspire high potential IX leaders.
• How to build an effective IX culture.

Predictive Maintenance is often chosen as a first use case for Digital tools or AI/ML initiatives. For many reasons, this has proven to be a fraught strategy. Challenges proving benefits beyond traditional periodic maintenance and CbM, the long time to value, trust in AI/ML, and a lack of a solid data management foundation have all contributed to stalled projects and unscalable solutions. To drive true transformation with APM, in this roundtable you will learn:

• How APM 4.0 is much more than predictive maintenance and reliability engineering; it is an all-encompassing strategy and business approach.
• How to decide if your organization should prioritize APM 4.0 as a tier 1 or tier 2 strategic initiative.
• How the benefits and business case of APM 4.0 goes well beyond downtime and reliability to include productivity, safety, environmental, and quality.
• How the asset digital twin can align with other digital twins to support a holistic APM 4.0 strategy.
• How a harmonized asset hierarchy can form the foundation of your organization’s operational architecture.

Industry 3.0 manufacturing frameworks had a wealth of established case studies, architectures, business activity models, governance models, and technology implementation best practices. Industry 4.0 manufacturing frameworks have mainly provided leaders only theory and conjecture, but the LNS FoF Maturity Model is beginning to provide real world clarity and best practices. Based on benchmark data from more than 250 manufacturers across 56 best practice capabilities, in this roundtable you will learn:

• How to effectively use maturity assessments as a tool for identifying weaknesses and strengths and charting a path to improvement.
• How to align your FoF maturity and strategy frameworks for better and faster decision making.
• Anticipated performance improvements associated with improving FoF maturity and how to plan for crossing the FoF profitability chasm.
• How FoF maturity impacts MES, IIoT, and IX Platform technology decisions.

COVID-19 has moved the health and safety of workers to the top of the strategic priority list for almost every industrial company, providing new opportunities for EHS business leaders. In this environment, many companies are being forced to simultaneously make tactical decisions on how to keep plants running and employees safe, along with strategic decisions to ensure the organization is well-positioned for long-term success. In this roundtable you will learn about:

• The impact of the COVID-19 crisis on EHS transformation initiatives and technology deployment to meet new requirements
• How EHS 4.0 digital technologies automate workplace safety and compliance, and enable predictive risk management with advanced analytics
• How EHS leaders can participate in, gain benefit from, and deliver value to broader Industrial Transformation initiatives.

The IIoT Platform never lived up to its original hype, but vendor innovation and entrepreneurship has only continued to accelerate. It has become clear the IIoT is now only one of multiple platform technologies needed to transform industrial operations, along with Cloud, Edge, Advanced Analytics, No-Code/Low-Code, AR/VR, Connected Worker, and many more. LNS Research has created a new IX Reference Architecture and identified three potential architectural paths for building on top of existing Automation and Software systems and transforming operations. In this keynote session, you will learn which path your organization should choose, along with the implications this choice will have on the ecosystem of vendors you should bring together in support of your organization’s IX Reference Architecture.

When it comes to analytics, industrial organizations have a long way to go...are you a leader or a follower? There has been a promising 52% increase in industrial companies with a formal analytics program in the past two years. But are we getting the best from the data? The COVID pandemic has demonstrated that we need to be much more able to handle drastic change and also that data scientists are vital. Analytics leaders, like IX leaders, drive change to deliver more value.

LNS Research will help you get your analytics on track. In this Roundtable, you'll discover:

• How the best companies measure and analyze the most, even during COVID-19.
• How to create a successful data model and why that’s key to your Industrial Transformation (IX).
• What analytics leaders care about and how you can be an IX leader, too.
• How to transform your organization, and drive enterprise-wide (and beyond) value from analytics.

In 2016, LNS Research first defined and established the Quality 4.0 framework. Today, Quality 4.0 is broadly adopted and recognized as the best-in-class framework for transforming and aligning quality with the company’s broader IX initiative. Four years in, we can now show new research highlighting how mature the industry has become, steps companies can take to achieve a competitive advantage through Quality 4.0, and the ROI that can be expected along the Quality 4.0 Journey.

The subject of ongoing controversy, this roundtable will explore the issues in aligning two parts of the organization critical to support ongoing operations and value creation. We will discuss the goals and objectives, how to achieve consensus and alignment, the various IT/OT organizational models, and the barriers and challenges in getting there.

The automation and digitalization that comes with Industrial Transformation won’t eliminate the frontline workforce. Rather, in an increasingly complex and dynamic operating environment, an engaged and well-informed workforce is more critical than ever in achieving operational excellence. Connected Worker initiatives play an increasingly key role in addressing a new set of workforce-related challenges, risks, and opportunities as part of an overall IX program. The COVID-19 pandemic has only accelerated this trend, as new requirements emerge in areas such as virtual collaboration, remote work, and physical distancing. This roundtable will explore Connected Worker trends, best practices, and technologies, including:

• New challenges in managing the industrial frontline workforce, and barriers in meeting them.
• Trends and best practices in adoption of Connected Worker technologies, such as mobile devices, smart wearables, proximity beacons, Augmented Realty (AR) and industrial application platforms to meet collaboration, learning and competency management challenges.
• Real-world Connected Worker use cases showing the value of digital technologies in improving operational performance across safety, quality, and productivity.
• How to overcome the barriers to successful transformation enabled by scaling deployment of Connected Worker digital technologies across operations.

Industrial Transformation (IX) as a proactive approach to achieving step-change improvement in manufacturing and other industrial operations through investments in people, process, and technology capabilities. With the continuous need for organizations to be innovators in their respective markets, IX is key to ensuring success. In this keynote, you’ll discover how to integrate Industrial Transformation (IX) within your business model and strategic objectives.