Nassim Nicholas Taleb, best-selling author of Antifragile and Black Swan, discusses the properties of systems that can handle disorder.

Dr. Nadia Shouraboura talks through Amazon and Ocado's warehouse operations and how technology enables them to run more smoothly.

Former CEO of Autodesk, Carl Bass, talks about his experience with deep tech and hard tech startups. He discusses why some win and some fail, and lays out his observations for the future.

Max Lobovsky, co-founder and CEO of Formlabs, talks about the impact of 3D printing on global manufacturing and shares how Formlabs has built flexibility into their supply chain by 3D printing functional components of their own 3D printers.

Rodney Brooks discusses the evolution from automatic guided vehicles to autonomous mobile robots to collaborative mobile robots, and what it means for the world.

In May 2022, Formlabs hosted The Digital Factory conference in Boston. It brought together global leaders in manufacturing, engineering, product design, and more with the goal of discussing the future of manufacturing. Global manufacturing continues to transform into an increasingly automated and digitized global network, and the last two years have further accelerated that transition.

Conference directors Jeff Immelt and Jon Bruner open with a presentation on the "art of the possible" in advanced manufacturing, including a reflection on Paul David's classic paper, "The Computer and the Dynamo," and what modern manufacturing executives can learn from 19th-century factories.

Align Technology is the world's largest user of 3D printing, manufacturing more than 500,000 Invisalign aligners every day on a sophisticated production line that combines additive manufacturing, advanced automation, and artificial intelligence. Align CEO Joe Hogan explains how the company's investment in digital manufacturing is delivering customized products on a massive scale and driving efficient, highly profitable operations.

Spirit AeroSystems is the largest supplier of aerostructures—its fuselage and wing components are part of every single airliner that Boeing and Airbus manufacture. Spirit CEO Tom Gentile describes how he's investing in digital tools and advanced manufacturing—including additive manufacturing, factory automation, and sophisticated simulation software—to improve productivity and quality, reduce inventory, and create competitive advantage in the aerospace industry.

The Ford Motor Company has been building cars on a massive scale for 116 years. Gary Johnson, Ford's Chief Manufacturing and Labor Affairs Officer, describes how the company evaluates new manufacturing technologies—some of them still in the conceptual stage—and brings them "into the now" so that they can add value on production lines.

Rob Carter has served as FedEx's Chief Information Officer for nearly 20 years, developing the company's information infrastructure and implementing new cutting-edge technologies. In this fireside chat with Jeff Immelt, Carter discusses the role of technology at FedEx, how FedEx learns about and evaluates new technologies, and how it puts innovation at the center of its business.

NEA partner Dayna Grayson describes what it will take for artificial intelligence to reach its inflection point—the moment when it gains traction across a wide range of applications and transforms the businesses that leverage it. In manufacturing, the moment is approaching fast: three converging forces—miniaturization, commoditization, and subscription models—are bringing about an avalanche of data and quickly diffusing new technologies into existing manufacturing processes.

When computing moved from expensive mainframes to inexpensive, accessible PCs, applications for computing exploded. 3D printing stands at a similar moment, says Formlabs co-founder and CEO Max Lobovsky in his Digital Factory keynote. Large industrial 3D printers have been available for decades, but the more recent introduction of low-cost, easy-to-use desktop 3D printers is making the technology accessible, driving an expansion of new applications and supporting innovation in both low-volume prototyping and high-volume production.

Jennifer Hartsock, the CIO of oil and gas services giant Baker Hughes, explains how digitization works in ultra-heavy industry, where most products are engineered-to-order and deployed in exceptionally difficult environments.

Despite recent advances in manufacturing technology, factories remain largely analog and inflexible. Amar Hanspal, CEO of Bright Machines, offers a vision for "software-defined manufacturing" that is driven by intelligence from the ground up.

GE's scale is immense: its jet engines take off around the world every two seconds; its CT scanners produce 16,000 scans every minute. Colin Parris, GE's Vice President for Software Research, explains that data from this massive installed base, combined with intelligent software, is creating "immortal machines" that continually learn and improve.

Metal 3D printing has been prohibitively expensive, with production applications limited to a few high-value cases in the aerospace and medical device industries. Desktop Metal co-founder and CEO Ric Fulop explains that new, radically less expensive metal 3D printing technologies promise to transform the entire product lifecycle in industries ranging from automotive to consumer products.

Where should entrepreneurs and technologists apply their efforts? Venture capitalists urge investment in new technologies that serve new markets, but Kipp Bradford, CTO of Treau, argues that some of the richest opportunities, in terms of both commercial and social impact, are in applying new technologies to improve on core products in existing markets.

Just as Uber and Lyft simplified the problem of hiring drivers to go from place to place, manufacturing marketplaces promise to simplify the process of getting things made by standardizing pricing and reducing risk. Brian Garret, the Chief Product Officer of 3D Hubs, explains that the introduction of artificial intelligence will bring about even more efficiency and speed.

Closing Keynote: Jim Heppelmann, CEO of PTC, and Professor Michael Porter of the Harvard Business School, collaborated on a multi-year research project to define the impact of Digital Transformation in the enterprise. Through the waves of digital transformation, manufacturers have gained new capabilities via IIoT, AR, and AI to differentiate their products and services, improve operational effectiveness, and increase workforce productivity. In this presentation Heppelmann defines how manufacturers are capitalizing on the promise of digital transformation today and driving the future of industrial innovation.

MIT professor John Hart offers a comprehensive overview of the present and future 3D printing landscape, covering advances in processes, materials, and, crucially, the distribution of knowledge around 3D printing. Additive manufacturing has a role in every step of the product lifecycle, with broad implications for the design and capabilities of nearly any kind of product.

Product creators need to contend with enormous changes in scale, scope, and the nature of work. Generative design promises a solution, says Autodesk's Vikram Vedantham: it blurs the line between design and manufacturing—"between top floor and shop floor"—and makes the entire product development process more responsive, more efficient, and more flexible.

New manufacturing technologies are creating new financial models for manufacturers. How are these technologies changing margins, capital requirements, product lifecycle expectations, and investor outlooks? NEA's Dayna Grayson moderates a discussion with Byron Knight of Koch Disruptive Technologies; Troy Jensen of Piper Jaffray; Lalit Gurnani of Goldman Sachs; Thomas Cole of Dentsply Sirona; and Robert Bodor of Protolabs.

Digital technologies are transforming supply chains—making them faster, more responsive, and more intelligent. How will these changes affect manufacturers, and how should executives respond? This panel features Dave Evans, CEO of Fictiv; Jeff McAlvay, CEO of Tempo Automation; Brian Ballard, CEO of Upskill; Peter Blair, VP of Marketing at Berkshire Grey; and Ryan Martin, Principal Analyst at ABI Research. The discussion is moderated by Dan Recht, Global Business Development Lead at Formlabs.

3D printing is ubiquitous in prototyping, but it's just beginning to gain traction in production applications. As 3D printing technology advances, how should product developers think about applying it to improve their products, reach new markets, and speed their product cycles? This panel discussion features insights from Katy O'Brien of New Balance, industry-leading analyst Terry Wohlers, and Nate Higgins of Alpha Precision Group.

Digital technologies—in particular sophisticated radiological imaging and 3D printing—are driving rapid advancement in personalized healthcare that promises to improve patient outcomes and reduce costs. This panel provides an overview and discussion of several areas where these technologies are being applied, with insights from Amy Alexander of the Mayo Clinic, Lauralyn McDaniel of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, and Summer Decker of the University of the University of South Florida. Gaurav Manchanda of Formlabs moderates the discussion.

Digital tools are developing fast, challenging the information technology and operations technology organizations that are responsible for implementing complex product-development and manufacturing systems. How should executives structure their technology teams in order to boost competitiveness and operate efficiently? Miriam McLemore, Enterprise Strategist at Amazon Web Services and former CIO of Coca-Cola, opens this session with a presentation on teamwork and leadership inside Amazon, then moderates a discussion with Scott King of Ford Motor Company and Ben Blanchette of Georgia-Pacific.

Industry 4.0 promises to revolutionize manufacturing, but empirical evidence for the movement's effectiveness has been hard to find until recently. Forbes writer Amy Feldman hosts a discussion on Industry 4.0, beginning with a presentation on lighthouses and benchmarks by McKinsey & Co.'s Global Head of Manufacturing Enno de Boer, and continuing with a panel discussion that includes Tulip CEO Natan Linder and Vention CEO Etienne Lacroix.

Modern software, prototyping, and manufacturing tools are changing the way that individuals and teams work as they create the next generation of physical products. Jon Hirschtick, CEO of Onshape, hosts a panel discussion on the future of product development with leaders from Glowforge, MIT, HP, and Silverside Detectors.

The medical device industry has been quick to adopt digital manufacturing strategies for products as varied as dentures and hip implants. Thomas Cole is Vice President of DIS Operations and Global Expansion at Dentsply Sirona, the world's largest manufacturer of professional dental products. In this presentation he offers an overview of Dentsply's journey in implementing cutting-edge digital manufacturing technologies including additive manufacturing, factory intelligence systems, and advanced automation.

BMW has begun to use 3D printing in several production applications, including both cosmetic and functional parts. BMW Project Leader Christian Gröschel describes the company's process for developing and implementing its additive program.

Assembly is the final essential step in manufacturing. Sophisticated adhesives and automated applicators promise to streamline the process and make it fully digital.

The head of Deutsche Bahn's 3D printing program describes the progress that the railroad operator has made—and the operational efficiencies it has gained—by fabricating replacement parts additively.

HP's Chief Strategy Officer describes the process of building out additive capabilities.

In 1965, Gordon Moore extrapolated five data points to make the most famous graph in history, forecasting a decade of exponential growth in digital computing and communications. He was slightly off; the trend actually continued for fifty years, and came to define that era. We now have more data than Gordon originally did to see that the same thing is happening in digital fabrication. This talk will examine the research roadmap for the next fifty years of digital fabrication's scaling, and explore the implications for how we will live, learn, work, and play.

Engineering simulation technology today is reserved for a small number of specialists in large corporations, typically working in silos, and within the confines of their respective disciplines. This session introduces how simulation methodologies, leveraging the cloud, can significantly expand the usage of simulation in the development and operation of technical systems. See how this helps to streamline engineering and manufacturing work, foster exchange of ideas and improve cross-discipline collaboration. Look at different application fields of more accessible simulation technology such as simulation-driven design, training hardware in the virtual world, and digital twins of physical products in the field.

Catherine Clifford, CNBC (Moderator); Karen Kerr, Ge Ventures; Brad Feld, Foundry Group; Eric Paley, Founder Collective Get a bird’s-eye view of the community of researchers, institutions, startups, and entrepreneurs who are paving the way in the new era of manufacturing. The possibilities are endless, and the creation of value is massive. The panel will explore how VCs find needles in haystacks, successfully vet industries that seem to shift daily, and help support emerging technology to enable mainstream success.

Optimization isn’t putting computers in the driver’s seat of engineering and design--instead, innovations in computer-aided design (CAD) are shifting the focus from design driven by the limitations and features of CAD software to generative design driven from the start by human intent. In this session, we’ll compare traditional CAD methods with more innovative ways to think about the design space and see how designers and engineers can use additive manufacturing as a testing ground to produce highly variable structures quickly.

As 3D printing matures, technology providers in this space, including Stratasys, are moving from providing broad platforms to real, customer-specific solutions. Increasingly, we see deep applications, specific specializations, and full automation as part of additive manufacturing workflows. This session illustrates the spread of additive manufacturing at companies like Airbus, Etihad Airways, Dassault, and the United Launch Alliance.

For current or aspiring CAD users, this session illustrates the future of precision design and engineering. See a demo of how OnShape’s browser-based professional 3D CAD system enables you to work almost anywhere or on any device and brings everyone on a design team together using any web browser, phone, or tablet. Examine this production-ready technology and understand how it is changing product design workflows across industry sectors.

It took more than technological advancement to place a computer on home desktops in the 1980s, and in pockets and purses in the 2000s. In each case, a fundamentally new mode of interaction was invented to bend technology to its user. Learn how Shaper is making computer-enhanced fabrication widely accessible by creating new paradigms for how humans interact with robotic systems. Ilan Moyer will discuss how computer vision, augmented reality, and hybrid positioning enable Shaper to build fabrication tools that dramatically enhance the abilities of professional craftspeople and hobbyists alike, while feeling intuitively at home in their hands.

This session highlights use case scenarios that illustrate how Jabil Inc., an $18-billion-dollar electronics manufacturer, is leveraging 3D printing technology as a high-scale, functional part application alternative to traditional manufacturing practices. Examine break-even points, such as time-to-market, quality assurance and process rigor, that compare 3D printed parts to injection molding and other established tooling techniques. Look at the internal challenges Jabil faced to bring new technologies to solve manufacturing challenges.

Learn about Plethora’s big vision for the future of manufacturing and engineering and examine the tools, interfaces, and flexible production technologies that help them turn ideas into reality. See how this on-demand CNC factory enables reduced cycle time through the design-manufacture-test-production loop. Find out how they build smarter design tools and streamline production and development processes. Understand the Plethora commitment to transform production into an on-demand system of creation, from analysis and pricing to finishing options, with a “full-stack” approach designed to free manufacturers from the tedium of supplier management toward innovation.

This session will examine the emerging technologies that are enabling, for the first time ever, a collaboration of humans working alongside robots. Look at the way smart safety sensors, machine vision, and vision processing technologies are impacting new markets and influencing the proliferation of new applications. See examples of the improved robotic designs that are helping to ensure smooth and safe human-machine interaction and collaboration.

New technologies in metal 3D printing will mark a fundamental shift in how products are developed and brought to market. Learn how Desktop Metal’s ambitious mission to reinvent the way engineers design and manufacture with metal 3D printing will profoundly impact customers’ plans to overcome the barriers that have kept this technology from the masses, and push the boundaries of what’s possible with metal.

3D printing has crossed a threshold. Machines are reliable, materials are advanced, and the technology is widely adopted by CAD users across industries. Formlabs carved a space for powerful, affordable 3D printing in prototyping. As we enter a new chapter in 3D printing history, moving rapidly towards a digital, highly-customized manufacturing landscape, what's next?

This session draws a distinction between "enabling technologies", which increase worker productivity in existing tasks or enable them to perform new tasks, and "replacing technologies", which take over tasks previously performed by workers. While the first increases wages and employment, the latter could have the opposite effect. Newer technologies, in particular robotics and AI, are of the replacing kind. Evidence shows that the spread of robotics so far has indeed had a negative impact on employment and wages in the United States. Examine the important policy steps that can be taken to increase the productivity gains from these new technologies and turn their impact on employment and wages from negative to positive.

Join Autodesk board member and former Autodesk CEO Carl Bass as he shares how new technologies, tools, and techniques are changing the future of making things. With computers designing for us and robots making and building for us, what will products and buildings be like? How will designers, engineers, and their companies succeed in this new environment?

There’s been a transition in the way we think about hardware, where close ties with the digital world are both the norm and the foundation for innovation. As host for the day, Jon will kick off conference sessions exploring the shift in the very core of manufacturing, including human-machine collaboration, advanced robotics, generative design, software security, and mass customization.

The distance between design and manufacturing is shrinking, putting the power to innovate in the hands of more and more people. This session highlights four enabling technologies that are rapidly reducing the gap. 3D printing and Plastronics are relatively new technologies that allow greater design freedom, faster iteration, and a rapid transition from concept to manufacture. Manufacturing services and the democratization of making are “uberizing” the ability to manufacture, enabling more and more people to bring their visions to life.

In an industry where order customization is one of the keys to achieving a competitive advantage, New Balance is changing the game. Find out how the one of the world's major sports footwear manufacturers is overhauling its production process, using new technology and materials to redefine the footwear design and manufacturing, binding the latest innovation in CAD, technology, and materials with customized applications.

Just like we all use tools like computers and mobile phones to augment our everyday lives, we need technology that gives power to the people on shop floors. Manufacturing technologies like automation, robotics, injection molding, machining, and 3D printing may produce parts, but it’s people who ensure efficient operations and put those parts together to form cohesive, useful products. This session explores the implications of the Internet of Things for digital manufacturing by introducing an intelligent operating system for the digital shop floor, enabling real-time collaboration, integration, and analytics that bring people and machines together to ensure products move on time and on budget.

Explore the evolution of products toward intelligent, connected devices, and the rethinking of design as product development shifts from largely mechanical engineering to truly interdisciplinary systems engineering. Jim Heppelmann collaborated on a multi-year research project on the Internet of Things (IoT) with Professor Michael Porter of Harvard Business School on the impact of IoT and the emerging trend of Augmented Reality (AR). Find out how companies continue to push technological boundaries and capitalize on physical-digital convergence to help manufacturers build better products, optimize processes, and outperform their competitors.