Manufacturing Exchange:
Build Better with the Connected Factory
Join us for a Minitab Exchange
as we come together to help you unlock the value of your data to achieve your desired outcomes.
The Manufacturing Exchange is a focused, half-day forum designed for manufacturing professionals who want to improve throughput and quality through data. From practical discussions on AI in manufacturing, to how leading organizations define and use performance metrics like OEE, you will learn how to translate that insight into real improvements.
Over the course of this fast-paced session, you’ll work through real-world manufacturing scenarios and walk away with practical methods you can apply immediately. Just as valuable, you’ll have the opportunity to connect with peers who are dealing with the same operational challenges, whether that’s downtime, variation, or scaling improvement efforts across plants.
8:30AM - 2:00PM
1170 Peachtree Street,Atlanta, GA 30309
8:30 AM - 2:00 PM
201 Washington Street, Boston, MA 02108
8:30 AM - 2:00 PM
300 Lakeside Ave,
Cleveland, OH 44114
8:30 AM - 2:00 PM
27000 Evergreen Road,
Lathrup Village, MI 48076
MINITAB EXCHANGE
TBA | SEPTEMBER 2026
8:30 AM - 2:00 PM
CHECK BACK FOR DETAILS AS AVAILABLE
MINITAB EXCHANGE
CHICAGO | OCTOBER 2026
8:30 AM - 2:00 PM
CHECK BACK FOR DETAILS AS AVAILABLE
AGENDA
8:30am - 8:45am
Welcome & Opening Remarks
8:45am - 9:15am
OEE: Insights, Blind Spots and Better Decisions
OEE is one of the most widely used metrics in manufacturing, but it often oversimplifies complex production realities. In this session, you will learn how to interpret OEE correctly, recognize its blind spots, and use it alongside other data to drive better, more informed decisions.
9:15am - 10:00am
Unplanned Downtime & Capacity Loss
Unplanned downtime and small disruptions quietly drain capacity and inflate costs, yet most plants underestimate how much output they’re already losing. In this session, you’ll learn how to make downtime visible, structure it in a way that drives action, and recover hidden capacity—often without investing in new equipment.
10:00am - 10:30am
Interactive Networking Break
10:30am - 11:15am
Process Variation – The Silent Profit Killer
Process variation doesn’t just create scrap, it leads to rework, delays, and warranty risk long before defects are detected. This session shows how real-time monitoring, product and process verification allows teams to catch issues early and take action immediately instead of reacting after the fact.
11:15am - 11:45am
Root Cause & Process Optimization
More data doesn’t automatically lead to better decisions. Without a structured approach, teams stay stuck in firefighting mode. You’ll learn how to identify the true drivers of process performance, validate improvements with statistical confidence, and turn one-off fixes into repeatable, sustainable solutions.
12:00pm - 1:00pm
Networking Lunch
1:00pm - 2:00pm
(Optional) Designing Better Processes:
Proactive Quality and Process Flow
This session is designed for those who are responsible for designing better. Learn how organizations model their processes, experiment with unlimited scenarios, and make smarter decisions with simulation software. For researchers, we will also discuss efficient experimentation. If you’re optimizing one variable at a time, you’re likely leaving performance on the table. We will explore how design of experiments, predictive modeling, and simulation help you find optimal settings faster, reduce trial-and-error, and build quality into the process from the start.