Operational Excellence

Wisconsin manufacturers are navigating a moment of real pressure. Automation and AI are reshaping what's possible on the plant floor, customers are demanding more variety and faster response, and the workforce that built the last generation of operations is changing. In the rush to digitize, it can be tempting to treat Operational Excellence, Quality, and Continuous Improvement as legacy disciplines. They aren't.

Automating a flawed process simply produces defects faster. Training an AI model on poor quality data accelerates poor decisions at scale. The principles behind OpEx, Quality, and CI, understanding the work, eliminating waste, building in quality at the source, and engaging the people closest to the process, are precisely what make automation investments actually pay off. Manufacturers who treat AI as a substitute for operational discipline tend to digitize their dysfunction. Those who treat OpEx, Quality, and CI as the foundation use AI and automation to extend human judgment, accelerate learning cycles, and tackle problems that resist earlier improvement methods.

This UWEBC event convenes leaders from across Wisconsin and beyond to wrestle honestly with that tension. Speakers will share how their organizations are building durable OpEx and quality capability while integrating new technology, growing the workforce of the future, and sustaining improvement through volatility. A cross-pollinated panel of academic and practitioner voices will explore what's working across the state (from the Fox Valley to Central Wisconsin to Milwaukee) and even globally. Peer-facilitated breakout sessions will give participants direct space to compare notes with counterparts wrestling with the same questions.

Participants will leave with:

Whether your organization is early in its OpEx journey or extending mature capability into new territory, this workshop offers a focused day of substantive content and collaborative peer learning.