Speakers

Carl Haycock

Carl has over 35 years’ experience in Manufacturing and has been with Domino Printing Sciences plc for 17 years. In that time Carl has led the Domino Operations team to win multiple Operational Excellence, Supply Chain Excellence and People Skills accolades at the Manufacturer MX Awards as well as Best Electronics Factory at the Cranfield Factory Awards. Carl is responsible for Domino UK printer manufacturing operations as well as leading the Group health and safety team and leading the Group initiatives towards achieving carbon neutrality in our direct Operations. His experience includes a background in new product introduction and lean manufacturing derived from his previous experience in automotive OEMs and he is a Fellow of the IET as well as a National Membership Board member of Make UK.

Natalie Watson

Natalie Watson is the Vita Group’s Head of Sustainability. She is responsible for driving through advocacy and partnerships and leading the transformational change to deliver against each of the Vita Group’s four principle areas of the ‘Enhancing everyday life’ sustainability plan; Driving Circularity, Optimising Resources, Empowering People and Acting Ethically. Prior to this role, Natalie was Responsible Business Lead for the Property Services company the Extentia Group – leading the responsible business and sustainable development strategy across 11 legal entities.

Rashitha Jayasekara

Rash is a senior leader with extensive experience in digital transformation and Industry 4.0 (Digital Manufacturing/Smart Manufacturing). He works with all levels of the organisation on digital strategy and business transformation. His goal is to inspire and lead high performing teams for a better future. Throughout his career, he has had the opportunity to lead diverse global teams to create value and competitive advantage. He is passionate about community investment, STEM and diversity and inclusion. Over the last decade, Rash has held several leadership positions at Rolls-Royce, leading technology strategy, development and implementation. Currently, he leads Manufacturing Intelligence (AI), Data Analytics, Smart Factory, Business Intelligence and Lo-Code/ No-Code platforms. He believes the democratisation of emerging digital capabilities will define the next generation of business transformation.

Philip McNaughton

A Chartered chemical engineer, Phil has covered a variety of engineering, operational, project and leadership roles in his 25 years with British Sugar. Having been the company’s Environment Manger for 5 years, he recently moved into his current role at the end of last year. He has responsibility for leading British Sugar’s activity on Environmental and Sustainability strategy, environmental policy and legislation; and specifically reducing carbon emissions, water usage, water and eliminating plastic packaging.

Suranjan Ghosh

Claire Aitchison

I love the energy and vitality of manufacturing operations. Every day there are very real challenges to face, very dynamic solutions to deliver and the outcomes truly matter to our customers and the industries we support. After graduating with an engineering degree, I commissioned into the Royal Engineers serving as an Army Officer for 6 years. I joined the business world in GE Lighting on a Six Sigma program. I thought I’d give it a go for 6 months and see how it went and now I’m approaching 25 years in Supply Chain Operations including roles in Materials, Business Development, Operations and Senior Leadership.

Paul Knight

Paul is an operational executive leader and change agent with a deep technical understanding and background.  He has extensive experience leading and managing diverse technology teams globally and regionally for over 20 years across several continents and spanning the defence aerospace, aviation, manufacturing, publishing and education sectors.

Clare Sibley

Roy Pearson

I have enjoyed a long and rewarding career within Automotive engineering. I have always had a natural curiosity for how things work and a passion for learning and challenge.

My career has taken me through various roles in engineering from

Telemetry, Maintenance, Product Design, Process Design, Launch and Digitalisation. I have recently joined Gestamp as an Engineering Manager, a cutting-edge business built on innovation and technology.

Today’s world offers so many unique challenges, but also incredible possibility gifted to us by technology and innovation. The role of an engineer is ever more integral to the success of our businesses, the industry and the wider world. I am a firm advocate of diversification of skills to match the demands of tomorrows world.

Steve Penver

A data and digital leader focussed on customer value creation with 20+ years experience in Aerospace and Defence.

Prasad Manorathna

Prasad is the Global Program Manager for Dover Corporation and leads Automaton, I4.0 and Manufacturing Technology for more than 10 global sites. He is an experienced leader and has a strong track record in delivering high-value automation and digital transformation programs at global level. Prasad is a PhD graduate from the Loughborough University, EMBA graduate from the Universality of Sheffield and BSc Engineering graduate from the University of Peradeniya. He is a Chartered Engineer of the Engineering Council UK, member of the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) and member of the Chartered Management Institute (CMI). Prasad has a growing interest in smart manufacturing, automation, digital transformation, innovation, digital talent development, sustainability, new ways of working and leadership.

Simon Martin

Kallum Welch

Alastair Henniker-Heaton

Specialising in the Manufacturing and Operational Technology domains Alastair works closely with global project teams and widely across JM IT to translate business requirements into implementable solution designs. Experienced in defining and implementing both on-premise and cloud-driven architectures to support JM’s manufacturing capabilities including Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES), Laboratory Information Management Systems (LIMS), Planning & Scheduling tools, Predictive Maintenance / Plant Maintenance Management Solutions and Rapid Process Automation along with strategic and tactical integration designs to systems in the wider IT environment such as Product Lifecycle Management and ERP Systems.

Professor Steve Evans

Professor Steve Evans leads research at the Institute for Manufacturing, University of Cambridge that seeks to deliver sustainable change at scale. This includes programmes in sustainable business model innovation, system transformation, the limits of efficiency and sustainable policy making in developing countries. He spent 15 years in industry and has over 30 years of academic experience which includes working collaboratively around the globe. In 2019, Steve was recognised by his peers for academic excellence by his election as Member of Academia Europaea. He has been Specialist Adviser to the House of Lords and is also a serial clean-tech start-up founder. 

Katherine Dixon

Kat is an Analytics Business Partner at Babcock International, responsible for the day-to-day delivery of analytics and driving a data driven culture within the organisation. Having left university with a History degree, Kat started her career in Sales and Marketing before moving into Event Management and Business Transformation until she found her way into Data Analytics. Kat is passionate about bringing data to life to drive improvements not just in business but also society as a whole. 

Temitope Adenigba

Accomplished manufacturing and supply chain professional with a track record of transformational and strategic leadership, delivering superior performance step change at shop floor, site, region and global levels. A performance improvement catalyst and lean methodology subject matter expert, leveraging rare tactical insight and flawless execution to deliver world-class performance in areas of supply network and unit cost optimization, asset and manpower productivity while establishing robust management systems to sustainably drive performance improvement in quality, safety, health, environment, and sustainability. Manufacturing leadership experience spans Savoury, Dressings, Tea, Ice-cream, Oral care, Margarine, Soaps, Detergent powder, Creams & lotion, Roll-on and Aerosol factories across Africa, South-East Asia, Australia, New Zealand and The United Kingdom with proven appreciation of cultural influences and adaptability

Eric Helmer

Eric Helmer serves as SVP & Chief Technology Officer. In this role, he is responsible for advising clients on strategic innovation initiatives that align with financial, technical, and functional long-term corporate goals across applications that include Oracle, SAP, IBM, and Microsoft. These initiatives are designed to maximize the effectiveness of mission-critical enterprise software systems.

Mr. Helmer is skilled executive leader with 25 years of IT experience and proven leadership delivering strategic corporate IT transformational projects. He has a strong track record in designing and implementing technical, complex enterprise technology initiatives that provide real return on investment, competitive advantage, and growth for companies.
Prior to joining Rimini Street, Mr. Helmer was a vice president at Velocity Technology Solutions, where he led the application services team in delivering transformational cloud and IT solutions for Oracle enterprises.

Mr. Helmer has a broad consulting background with firms such as Linium, ADI Strategies, and The Hackett Group, where he delivered successful IT projects throughout the U.S., the U.K., India, the UAE, Singapore, and Thailand.

Mr. Helmer holds a Master’s degree in business administration and a Bachelor of Science degree in computer science. He is a published author; Oracle ACE alumni; and a sought-after, award-winning industry speaker in Oracle conferences. He also has served on many boards of directors, including the Oracle Developer Tools User Group (ODTUG).

Richard Jeffers

Richard Jeffers trained as a Mechanical Engineer at the Victoria University of Manchester and has been a Fellow of the IMechE since 2014. He has worked in a range of operational and engineering roles in Cookson Group plc, Lionheart plc and Heineken UK Ltd, where Richard led the Engineering function, ran a network review and was responsible for the execution of a £150m capital programme that saw the regeneration and expansion of 2 of the 3 main UK production sites. After a period in maintenance and operational consultancy, Richard joining RS Group in 2017 developing and supporting a range of solutions for industrial customers and leading the acquisition of Monition Ltd. Since May 2020, Richard has been focused fully on developing digital solutions for RS’s maintenance customers and is now Founder and Managing Director of the RS Industria business unit supporting industrial customers on their digitisation of engineering agenda.

Chandru Shankar

Chandru Shankar is a Digital Strategy and Manufacturing Industry Thought-Leader and is the International MD for Manufacturing at HSO. A leading Global Microsoft Partner, responsible for driving growth and solution adoption in the manufacturing sector.  He has over 30 years’ experience in the industry and is a 15-year Microsoft veteran. His recent Microsoft role was Industry Director and EMEA Business Solutions Lead for Manufacturing. Chandru also worked as Dynamics Solutions Director for Microsoft Services and was the Architect of the Microsoft Dynamics Sure Step methodology. He is also an author, public speaker, and has previously performed as Adjunct Faculty in the MBA program of a major US University.

John Monaghan

John Monaghan is a Technical Solutions Architect in the Cisco EMEA Enterprise Networking team.

His focus areas are AIOps, Sustainability and Smart Buildings.  John works extensively with Customers and Partners to help develop their strategies and implementations in these areas.  He also supports many Cisco Ecosystem Partners, working with a range of third party companies to help them build applications on or within Cisco infrastructure.

John has experience across the range of technologies in the Enterprise Networks area – ranging from infrastructure, through to wifi, security, applications, IoT and Enterprise Mobility Management. Specific areas of interest and expertise are: IoT, sensors, Power over Ethernet and Energy Management

His work involves helping customers and partners understand Cisco technology and solutions and assisting them with pilots, trials and deployments.

Sundeep Samra

Sundeep Samra is a leader with the manufacturing space at Verizon Business. He advises global enterprise clients on innovation initiatives that align with increasing production efficiency through the use of AI and automation leveraging connectivity and cloud services.

With over 20 years of experience within the technology, cloud and IT services sector, he has proven leadership experience in delivering strategic transformational projects. He has a strong track record in designing and implementing complex enterprise technologies that provide real return on investment, and a competitive advantage through efficiency.

Prior to joining Verizon, Sundeep had a number of product leadership roles where he was responsible for delivering cloud and edge computing technologies that enabled businesses to fast-track their plans for digital innovation.

Andrew Kinder

Andrew Kinder leads the Strategy team for Infor Discrete Manufacturing globally. His role involves developing a deep understanding of customer needs, their challenges and ambitions and the technologies that help them achieve their transformations and growth. Based in the UK, Andrew’s background is in manufacturing and supply chain and the enterprise applications that serve these.

Andrew Longyear

Andrew Longyear is an IoT solution architect in Cisco systems with 17 years’ experience of operational networks and over 30 years in the communications industry. Andrew has worked across many large industrial accounts in the UK and EMEA from Rail to Mining, Utilities and Manufacturing, helping to align their business requirements to technical solutions. Recently he has lead the technical architecture and deployment for several Innovation projects that have centred around IoT sensing and smart cameras analytics.

Khalid Khan

Khalid Khan leads Growth at VTEX. A digital commerce expert with over 25 years of experience in the sector, he has a proven track record of delivering digital commerce transformation initiatives for clients across the manufacturing and B2B segments. Khalid regularly provides thought leadership on B2B commerce adoption.

Ali Neil

In a time of unprecedented digital change, my team and I work for the benefit of our clients to provide them the confidence they need to grow and transform their business. We help them understand their risk, protect their critical digital assets and intelligence, monitor their environments for threat, and be prepared to respond to incidents or breaches. In addition our Customer and Employee Experience practices help redefine how our clients leverage technology to transform their employee productivity and satisfaction as well as how they enhance their client engagement and relationships.

As leader of the Cyber Security and Advanced Solutions business in Europe, Asia and Australia, I have the pleasure to learn from the clients and teams I work with and have the opportunity to build our business, relationships and to help our customers with their transformation initiatives across these markets.

I am passionate to see my clients and our teams succeed and move their business and their careers forward. I believe in creating a culture of accountability, integrity, empowerment, shared success, high performance, and focus on delivering client outcomes, we have the path and culture for success.

Arun Achamkulamgara

Arun is an industry leader in IIoT product development and solution architecture. He has led several programs across multiple businesses ranging from Manufacturing, Industrial, Smart City, Healthcare and MedTech. He has over 32 years of industry experience and is hands-on practitioner covering range of cloud technologies, software and hardware systems. He holds a Masters in technology from Indian Institute of Technology, Chennai and MBA from WP Carey Business school at Arizona State University. He has advanced diploma in AI/ML from University of Texas.

Dimitrios Spiliopoulos

Dimitrios Spiliopoulos is the Industrial IoT Lead for Manufacturing in AWS for EMEA region. Prior to AWS, he worked for traditional manufacturers until he started his IoT journey with Vodafone IoT Group and later Telefonica and Sony Semiconductors. IoT and Data are his passion because they transform every industry, especially manufacturing. Sustainability in industrial is another big focus area for him.

Dimitrios is also adjunct professor for Internet of Things at IE Business School (MBA, E-MBA) and a regular speaker in IoT and Smart Factory conferences.

Tom Moran

Tom Moran is the Senior Lead Technology Strategist, EMEA at Lumen. Helping companies drive sustainable change with technology, innovation, and cultural transformation.

Through his 20+ year career Tom has received several patents and industry awards. He is also active in multiple industry organisations including: GeSI, techUK, the SDIA and the iMasons.

Having relocated from the U.S. to Amsterdam in 2018, Tom helps lead the expansion of Lumen’s strategic services portfolio in EMEA.

Nick Davis

Nick Davis leads Deloitte’s Digital Transformation offering for industrial clients, focused on the use of digital in transforming supply chains and manufacturing operations.

He leads the UK firm’s focus on Industry 4.0 and Industrial IOT, and helps global manufacturers to deliver the outcomes from their most challenging Digital-enabled transformation programmes.

Ben Ramsden

Ben has been building communities across value chains and social networks in Europe, the Americas, Africa and Asia for over 20 years. From start-ups to multinationals, industry bodies to social movements, Ben’s specialism in building digitally enabled sustainable & resilient value chains has been developed by working closely with leaders across every part of the food and fashion system furnishing him with an intimate knowledge of the industry and drivers for transformation at all tiers and scales.