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Agenda: Stay competitive during instability.

The people, technologies and ideas helping do more with less.

Featured Speakers 

German Faroini
Maggie Short
Ken Ingham - Kimberley Clark
Armna Iqbal
Adam Goves - IES
Emma Fromberg
Nick Purshouse - IES

Main conference

How manufacturers stay competitive during instability

Full day. Ten table discussions, three keynotes, two panel debates.

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New for 2026 · Construction stream

Taking cost, waste and carbon out of live projects

Morning of three table discussions, then into the main conference.

View the construction stream →
  Main conference Construction
10:00 Welcome Welcome
10:10

Keynote - From Carbon Targets to Competitive Advantage. Rebuilding the Business Case for Sustainability 

Net zero commitments are colliding with tighter capital, volatile costs and changing policy. Explore how manufacturers can reconnect decarbonisation with productivity, resilience and return on investment and build a case that withstands board-level scrutiny. 

Keynote - The Decisions Made Before Anyone Reaches Site

Most of a project's cost, carbon and programme risk is committed by decisions taken long before the first machine arrives, often by people who never see the consequence. A look at where those decisions are actually made, what site teams see that never travels back, and why the same choices keep reappearing on the next project.
10:30 Table rotations 1 and 2 - See explainers below Table rotations 1 and 2 - See explainers below
11:40 Networking break, both rooms together
12:10 Keynote - From AI Pilot to Operational Payback - Where Data and Technology Are Delivering Value 
Cut through the noise around AI and Digitalisation to identify measurable gains in cost, quality, uptime and decision speed. 

 Table rotation 3 - See explainers below
12:30 Table rotation 3 -  See explainers below

The room reports back.

Each host takes a few minutes on what came up at their table.

Where the room agreed, where it did not, and what people said they would do differently.
13:00 Networking lunch, both rooms together
14:00

Keynote - Designing for Disruption: Protecting Output, Margin and Customer Service

Explore practical ways to redesign operations and supply chains to absorb disruption without sacrafising output, margin or customer commitments. 
14:20 Panel debate - The Cost of Fragility - Where  Resilience Breaks Down and What to Fix First 

Senior leaders examine where hidden dependencies, weak visibility and constrained capacity create risk, and which interventions should take priority.
14:50 Afternoon networking break
15:20

Panel debate - The Decisions That Cannot Wait: Balancing Margin, Resilience and Growth

A candid discussion on the trade offs leaders face when capital is limited, conditions are uncertain and every priority appears urgent. 
15:40 Open Q&A
16:00 Close

Main Room - Discussion Tables

(Please click to read the full description)

Round Table 1 - The Productivity Squeeze: Raising Output When Headcount and Capex Are Constrained
 Discussion points:
  • Identify the operational constraints limiting throughput before defaulting to additional headcount or capital investment.
  • Compare practical approaches to improving labour productivity, asset utilisation and production flow using existing resources.
  • Prioritise the interventions most likely to deliver rapid payback without increasing operational risk.
Round Table 2 - The Visibility Gap: Turning Fragmented Factory Data Into Faster Decisions

Discussion points:

  • Identify the data gaps and disconnected systems delaying decisions across production, maintenance, quality and energy.
  • Determine which information leaders genuinely need to manage performance, rather than creating more dashboards and reporting.
  • Establish clearer ownership, governance and routines that turn operational data into timely action.
Beyond Tier One: Finding Supply-Chain Risk Before It Stops Production

Discussion points:

  • Map the suppliers, materials and dependencies that create the greatest exposure beyond the immediate supply base.
  • Identify practical early-warning indicators before disruption affects production, cost or customer delivery.
  • Balance resilience measures with the commercial realities of inventory, working capital and supplier relationships.
Round Table 4 - Energy Volatility: Protecting Margin Without Compromising Output
Discussion points:
  • Quantify where energy price volatility, peak demand and inefficient consumption are eroding manufacturing margin.
  • Identify operational and low-capital actions that can reduce energy cost without constraining production.
  • Build a stronger investment case for efficiency, flexibility and on-site energy infrastructure.
Round Table 5 - AI With a Business Case: Moving From Pilot to Measurable Operational Value
Discussion points:
  • Distinguish credible manufacturing use cases from technology-led pilots with no clear commercial return.
  • Identify the data, process, skills and governance foundations required before AI can scale.
  • Define success measures and decision gates for stopping, improving or expanding an AI initiative.
Round Table 6 - From One Site to Every Site: Why Improvement Programmes Fail to Scale
Discussion points:
  • Diagnose why successful pilots lose momentum when they move across sites, teams or business units.
  • Determine which processes should be standardised and where local adaptation is essential.
  • Create a repeatable rollout model with clear ownership, resource commitments and benefits tracking.
Round Table 7 - Legacy Systems, Modern Demands: Improving Performance Without a Full-System Replacement

Discussion points:

  • Identify where legacy technology is genuinely constraining performance and where the underlying problem lies elsewhere.
  • Explore practical ways to improve connectivity, data access and automation while protecting uptime and security.
  • Build a phased modernisation roadmap tied to operational value rather than a costly rip-and-replace programme.
Round Table 8 -Yield, Scrap and Material Cost: Where Margin Is Being Lost on the Factory Floor
Discussion points:
  • Identify the largest sources of margin leakage across yield loss, rework, scrap and material variance.
  • Connect production, quality and process data to uncover the root causes of recurring waste.
  • Prioritise improvements that raise first-pass yield, reduce material consumption and deliver measurable savings.
Round Table 9 - The Execution Bottleneck: Too Many Priorities, Too Little Management Capacity
Discussion points:
  • Turn competing initiatives into explicit choices based on value, urgency, resource requirements and execution risk.
  • Align leadership attention, ownership and operational capacity behind the priorities that matter most.
  • Decide which projects to accelerate, sequence, pause or stop before resources are spread too thinly.
Round Table 10 - Growth Under Cost Pressure: Protecting Margin While Investing for the Next Cycle
Discussion points:
  • Identify which growth investments remain commercially defensible when demand, input costs and policy are uncertain.
  • Balance short-term margin protection with longer-term investment in capacity, technology, skills and resilience.
  • Use scenarios, milestones and clear investment criteria to sequence strategic bets and limit downside risk.
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Construction Stream Discussion Tables

Please click to read the full description

 

Round Table 1 - The Specification Nobody on Site Would Have Chosen
  • Establish whether anyone present can point to a design decision genuinely altered by what a previous project learned on the ground.
  • Identify where the loop breaks: procurement cycles, contract structure, siloed teams, or nobody owning it.
  • Determine what a practical project wash-up would look like, who convenes it, and what data would make it worth doing.
Round Table 2 - Electric Plant, Diesel Generator
  • Quantify what consumption data shows when temporary power is measured rather than assumed from the last job.
  • Compare battery hybrid, HVO, hydrogen and earlier temporary mains on what has genuinely earned its place on a site.
  • Determine what to put in the tender so the energy allowance and the price risk sit with the right party.
Round Table 3 - Finding the Problem Before the Machine Arrives
  • Compare what 3D and 4D modelling reveals that a drawing set does not, from access and temporary works to sequencing and buildability.
  • Identify the point in the programme where a modelled problem is still cheap to fix, and where it stops being cheap.
  • Determine what it takes to get designers and clients to act on what the model shows rather than note it.