New for 2026 — the sixth track of the UWEBC Annual Conference
Wisconsin Drives Manufacturing Comes to You.
WDM×Madison is the first independently organized, regional Wisconsin Drives Manufacturing event — the WDM stage brought to a single day inside the UWEBC Annual Conference, and built for the people who run Wisconsin’s factories and engineering organizations.
Not a recap of Green Bay. Not a generic breakout.
A track within a conference.
Details at a glance:
Date: Tuesday, October 6, 2026
Time: 8:00 AM–4:30 PM
Place: Monona Terrace, Madison, WI
Within UWEBC Annual Conference, in person only
Format: Curated stage + case studies
Seats: Capped at 100 — register now!
Something remarkable happened at Lambeau Field.
This June, the inaugural Wisconsin Drives Manufacturing Showcase and Summit brought the state’s universities, technical colleges, manufacturers, and innovation partners together for two days of frank conversation about the future of making things in Wisconsin. This October, that conversation travels — to Madison, and to the region where so much of the state’s manufacturing base actually operates.
Why now? Why here?
Five tracks have anchored the UWEBC Annual Conference for years — Customer Service, Marketing, People, Supply Chain, and Technology. WDM×Madison is the sixth: a curated room with its own standard, its own audience, and its own reason for being.
The Annual Conference draws some 800 professionals from Wisconsin’s leading companies to Monona Terrace every October — ten minutes from the UW–Madison campus and the research that feeds this work. Placing the WDM stage inside it puts manufacturing leaders, universities, and technical colleges in the same building on the same day, with one badge.
WDM×Madison is the pilot of a new model: independently organized, regional WDM events run under a free license — the way TEDx carries the TED stage into communities. It is the first time the Summit’s conversation has traveled, and the first time this conference has hosted a conference within a conference.
The day is built with the forming alliance partners most local to south and southeast Wisconsin — WMC, UW-Stout, the UW-Milwaukee Connected Systems Institute, Madison College, and UW–Madison. Each appears by invitation to share the possibilities and proof they deem most valuable to this audience — a design choice that keeps the day authentic to what is actually moving in Wisconsin.
Built for the people who run the operation.
If you run operations, lead manufacturing or plant engineering, or own the technology roadmap for a medium-sized or large manufacturer in south or southeast Wisconsin, this day was built for you. It answers a question that rarely gets a full day on any agenda: how do I make my operation future-ready — the workforce, the technology on my lines, and the markets my capabilities can reach — using partners within driving distance of my plant?
This is deliberately not a research showcase for R&D executives. It is a working day for the people who have to make next year’s plan work on this year’s floor.
Attend and you will:
- See it as an operator: AI in production, connected systems, advanced manufacturing in the life sciences — presented as capabilities you can pilot and deploy, not science-fair projects.
- Meet the front doors: Every presenting partner will make plain how companies actually work with them — centers, institutes, MEP engagements, pilots, talent programs, and applied projects — so you leave with named contacts and concrete on-ramps close to home.
- Connect the threads: Each session ties what’s on stage back to the talent strategy and market opportunity it opens for your operation — technology, workforce, and markets in one conversation.
- Join the peer community: Spend the day with fellow operations and engineering leaders from the region’s manufacturers — the beginnings of a standing community of practice, and the seed of future WDM× events across Wisconsin.
One badge. One full day.
The WDM×Madison room runs alongside the full Annual Conference. You open and close the day with all 800 guests, and spend the hours between with your peers in Manufacturing. The full agenda is still in progress, so the outline below may change slightly as speakers are confirmed.
8:00 AM – Registration, breakfast & networking
Doors open with the full Annual Conference — Grand Terrace. Coffee, introductions, exhibition walk.
8:30 AM – All-conference opening keynote
Start the day with the whole conference in the Exhibition Hall before the WDM× room convenes.
9:45 AM – Welcome: The WDM× Frame
Why this room, why this region, and how to get the most from the day — with the state of Wisconsin manufacturing from a WMC voice.
Featuring Oliver Schmitz, Jim Rink, and Chelsy Cegielski
10:20 AM – Madison College: Advanced Manufacturing in the Life Sciences
An industry case study, plus how manufacturers work with Madison College on technical talent.
11:20 AM – UW-Stout: CAM-AI, MOC, and the Future of Manufacturing
An industry case study, plus working with the Manufacturing Outreach Center and the MEP network.
12:15 PM – Lunch in the Exhibition Hall & Community Terrace
Lunch with the full conference. UW–Madison hosts a private luncheon for WDM coalition building — alliance and industry partners, by invitation.
1:30 PM – Exhibition, book pickup & networking
Grand Terrace, with the full conference.
2:00 PM – UWEBC Presents Aurora WDC: Crossroads
Build at the Crossroads: Finding the Strategic Choices Your Competitors Can’t See. The day’s single sponsor case study, clearly marked and held outside WDM× branding.
2:35 PM – UW-Milwaukee Connected Systems Institute
Connected systems on the factory floor — piloting Industry 4.0 in a working testbed before scaling it on your own lines.
3:15 PM – Networking break
Catch your breath. Find the partner you need to talk to.
3:30 PM – UW–Madison: New Markets, In Reach
Short stories from the university’s research frontier — how Wisconsin manufacturers will make, design, and staff what’s next — and the front door to all of it.
4:10 PM – Closing celebration
Grand Terrace, with the full conference. The ideas. The energy. The community.
Register Now.
The room is capped at 100 attendees, so secure your spot now.
