The pace of change in manufacturing is accelerating and that means the way industry buys its IT systems is having to change too. This puts tremendous pressure on manufacturers seeking to buy the IT systems that will help them ride the wave of change.

As the UK’s leading champion of growth-focused SME manufacturers, The Manufacturer has always been at the forefront of providing the forum where companies can meet the vendors with the right product for them. The Manufacturer calls it Connect – the most efficient way for time-hungry companies to meet the vendor with the correct solution for them.

It is time for that model to change too. Instead of a discrete series of events covering individual IT offerings, The Manufacturer is amalgamating them into one event that provides the A to Z of IT offerings for the manufacturer who is seeking to make the right decisions in this fast-changing IT environment.

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And The Manufacturer is particularly delighted to announce we are partnering in this project with Optimum PPS the independent and impartial business system experts who are the acknowledged leaders in providing specialist advice in the Manufacturing, Distribution and Supply Chain sectors.

 How it works:

 Connect is part-conference, part-showcase. Manufacturers can learn from expert speakers where to start your digital transformation, how to grow your business faster, how to get in the cloud, how to keep your customers away from your competitors and what do you need to do to get simple solutions for complex problems.

Most importantly, it allows manufacturers to have one-on-one meetings with IT solutions providers. Essentially, it compresses all the research and all the sourcing that might take several months into a single day.

Lee Ann Healy, Managing Partner at Optimum PPS said: “We are delighted to be the official partner of the event and helping The Manufacturer bring a fresh approach to the Connect series this year.  It’s exciting times in manufacturing and there are huge opportunities for those that can leverage the full potential of the business systems and technology on offer. Time is precious and the new event format maximises the value in attending – meet with vendors and see their solution offerings, learn through workshops with industry experts and hear from peers on their project successes and failures. The Connect series not only focuses on the system solutions, but provides insight in to the essential people and processes side of projects. This is a perfect fit to our methodology and we look forward to being able to help Manufacturers deliver business system projects successfully.”

The renowned speaker line-up includes Graham Herries, Director of Digital Technologies & EU Project Coordinator – Laing O’Rourke, Steve Whittle, Director of Business Intelligence – Rolls Royce, Claudio Bellanga, Head of Global Innovation Delivery, Unilever and Alan Griffiths, IIoT and Cloud Computing Industry Expert, Cambashi Ltd.

The first in the series of events takes place at The National Motorcycle Museum, Birmingham on 21 June. More information can be found at themanufacturerconnect.com