Taste of Rosemont Opening Night Reception

Kick off The ASSEMBLY Show at the Taste of Rosemont Opening Night Reception! Enjoy food and drinks from local Rosemont restaurants while connecting with fellow attendees and exhibitors throughout the exhibit hall. This lively reception sets the tone for the week ahead, offering a great opportunity to explore the show, spark new conversations, and experience the energy of the manufacturing community.

Special Thanks for These Participating Restaurants

Networking Reception

Wednesday, October 22 from 5:00 PM - 6:30 PM

No tricks, just treats and great networking! Once the exhibit hall closes, join us in the lobby for Halloween Bash Networking Reception. Enjoy festive snacks, seasonal drinks, and plenty of conversation with fellow attendees and exhibitors from the assembly, quality, and electronics manufacturing industries. It’s the perfect way to celebrate a great day and keep building new connections before things wind down. Everyone registered is welcome to join — costumes encouraged but not required!
Co-hosted with SMTA International

Morning Mingle & Breakfast

Thursday, October 23 from 9:00 AM - 10:00 AM

Fuel up for the day with a complimentary continental breakfast and fresh coffee served right on the show floor. Mingle with fellow attendees, continue conversations from earlier in the week, and head into the final day of the exhibit hall ready to explore the latest technologies, products, and solutions on display.

New Product Awards Presentation

The 8th annual New Product of the Year Awards highlights the newest advances in assembly and quality technology. From robots and conveyors to software, tools, and fasteners, our editors will select nominees representing standout innovations across five categories. Nominees will be announced late summer. Attendees are invited to vote for their favorites during exhibit hall hours on Tuesday and Wednesday.

The Competitive Edge

In this keynote, Joanna Cooper, General Manager at Daimler Truck North America, shares firsthand insights into cultivating a sustainable and agile culture of innovation. Drawing from real-world experience, she unpacks the challenges faced and lessons learned while leading transformation in a complex, technology-driven manufacturing environment. From harnessing AI to stabilizing assembly operations, Joanna demonstrates how digital tools are not only revolutionizing products—but redefining how decisions are made, how teams are engaged, and how operations are run.

From Manual to Machine: How Automation and Services Empower Customer Success

Learn how automation and a wide range of service models are reshaping the way organizations deliver customer success. This session explores the shift from manual tasks to more efficient, scalable approaches that help meet rising expectations and operational demands. Discover how combining automation with the right service strategies can streamline processes and drive better outcomes in today’s fast-paced environment.

The Time Thief in Your Plant: How to Get It Back

“Time is the only thing you can’t manufacture—yet most plants are leaking it daily. Learn how to get it back.”
Scott Janssen, a former Cummins manufacturing engineer, reveals the hidden ways factories lose time— through rework, tool drift, system silos, and “it’s always been this way” inertia. He’ll share real-world examples of how leading manufacturers reclaimed thousands of hours by harmonizing tools, tech, and talent.
Audience Takeaways:

• How to identify “time traps” on your line
• Why bespoke solutions beat cookie-cutter fixes
• A blueprint for buying back peace of mind

Automation 101: The Starting Point for Robot Automation

From assembly and pick-and-place to material handling and packaging, the use of robots is on the rise in factory automation. Extremely customizable in even the most complex applications, automation systems are beneficial for a wide variety of reasons. Taking the plunge into automation, however, can be confusing and daunting. With so many factors to consider, you may be wondering, “Where do I start?”
We will take you, step-by-step, to guide you on your journey touching on the following key areas:

• Why to automate
• Know your process
• Identify your requirements
• Automation components
• Manpower—who will build it?

Smarter Automation Through Traceability and Data

Join Ryan as he explores how traceability is used in automation and how the data it generates can drive intelligent, and potentially AI-powered, decision-making across automated processes.

NCFX PRO – The Next Generation of Servo Presses

Premiere product announcement: Kistler is introducing a new generation of servo presses that set new standards in terms of accuracy, flexibility and user-friendliness. We will demonstrate how commissioning can be carried out more quickly and with fewer errors, how the new piezoelectric measurement technology provides further benefits for users and how costs can be reduced even further . When developing this generation, Kistler paid particular attention to its future viability. This means that the smart joining modules can be easily updated and are therefore equipped for extended functionalities such as the use of additional integrated sensor technology.

Elements of Continuous Improvement:  Clarity, Stability, and Supporting Systems.

Ken Carmichael, a customer of NoMuda, Inc. will discuss the following:

• The continuous improvement cycle
• Stabilizing the shop floor
• The right process produces the right results
• How MES drives operating profit

NAI Vision + Smart Manufacturing: Intelligent Solutions, No Programming.

Intelligent software platforms are accelerating not only the manufacturing capabilities and shop floor processes but also the method of developing and deploying those solutions. Learn how manufacturers are replacing traditional sensors and devices with artificial intelligence and smart manufacturing software coupled with inexpensive hardware to deploy more flexible, lower cost manufacturing processes to drive higher quality and productivity. This session demonstrates how these technologies are permitting companies to leverage their existing human resources to rapidly automate tasks and implement technical mistake-proofing.

Why More Data Won’t Fix Your Shop Floor — But Faster Insights Will

Continuous improvement often stalls when teams spend more time collecting and crunching data than acting on it. In this 30-minute session, we’ll explore how AI can transform everyday video into fast, actionable insights, helping manufacturers eliminate inefficiencies, improve quality, and enhance safety on the shop floor.

You’ll learn how leading companies are using AI to accelerate process optimization and empower frontline teams to execute improvements with greater consistency. The result: operational excellence that’s faster to achieve and easier to sustain.

Best Practices for Performing Gap Analysis Audits

Gap Analysis is a quality planning process that is used to compare a current state to a desired future state. The difference between the two states is called the “gap” which can be described in terms of the improvements that are required or the potential risks that may exist in the present state and which need to be addressed. The Gap Analysis Audit is strategic in nature; it is useful for long term Planning & Vision, and is not for operational planning (i.e. not for day-to-day tasks & activities).

There are different types of Gap Analyses that may be performed and they depend upon the goal and purpose of the analysis. Usually, such analyses identify the gaps in performance, skills, knowledge, or resources of a project or an organization. Other types include the gap analyses performed to determine the gaps in product marketing (demand versus supply), regulatory gaps (also called compliance gaps), or the gaps in the services that are provided to the users.

Lastly, the gap analysis audits can be performed at the high (policy) level or may be performed at more granular level (on procedural issues). The scope of the Gap Analysis is therefore the most significant element that determines the direction and utility of these audits.

In this presentation, we will cover the different types of gap analyses, their scopes, and why using one tool may be preferable for a certain scope of the gap analysis audit versus the other.
Learning Objectives:

• Different Types of Gap Analysis Audits
• Different Scopes & Challenges of Gap Analyses
• Different Tools that can be used for Gap Analysis