Smart Manufacturing Mindset™:

CESMII Year-End Reflections & Milestones

Before the holidays the CESMII team gathered to reflect on the milestones, achievements, and shared learnings that defined 2023. Listen through the journey of the accomplishments and breakthroughs of the past year. From innovative projects to collaborative endeavors, we shared the highlights that shaped our collective

Smart Manufacturing successes in 2023.

Manufacturing Happy Hour Podcast

There’s no doubt that Smart Manufacturing has a plethora of benefits for manufacturing organizations. It can help speed up your processes, improve your product quality and reduce your costs.

But effective Smart Manufacturing adoption lies with the leader. That’s why host Chris Luecke asked seven industry leaders for their Smart Manufacturing tips and tricks on our latest bonus episode of Manufacturing Happy Hour, recorded at the Smart Manufacturing Experience at SOUTHTEC.

They discuss how leaders can cultivate a Smart Manufacturing mindset through their organization, why it’s OK to start with small changes and why factory floor teams should be involved in discussions before leaders make Smart Manufacturing decisions.

Plus, discover how you can leverage the benefits of Smart Manufacturing in four actionable steps.

Head to the previous episode for Part 1.

Guests in this episode include:

Jeff Winter – Sr. Director of Industry Strategy, Manufacturing, Hitachi Solutions America

Habib Quazi – Director of Innovation & Business Transformation, ExxonMobil

Rick Van Dyke – Sr. Director of Supply Chain Engineering, PepsiCo

Rick Bullotta – Founder of ThingWorx

Sanjeev Heda – Principal Industry Consultant, IoT Division, SAS

Sudarsan Rachuri – Federal Program Manager, U.S. Department of Energy

Olivia Morales – Solutions Architect, CESMII

You can also check out the full interviews on the

CESMII YouTube channel or click on the thumbnails below.

All interviews will be available by next month’s December Issue.

Presenting the 28th Annual ARC Industry Leadership Forum

Accelerate Transformation in the Age of AI, Cybersecurity, and Sustainability

For industrial sectors, it is a time of uncertainty. Market disruption abounds and change is inevitable. Industrial leaders deal with this by leveraging transformational technologies such as generative Al to evolve business models, focusing on competitive and operating excellence, anticipating changes to the workforce and work itself, establishing cyber-resilient operations, and driving energy transition and sustainability into core business strategies. Join us to discover what your peers and industry leaders are doing today and what steps they are taking to prepare for the future.

CESMII is proud to participate in this years event and look forward to seeing you there.

Save the Date: March 9, 2024

Manufacturing USA Institutes take on SXSW

👏👏 Thanks to the support received through community voting several months ago, we’re thrilled to announce SXSW has chosen Manufacturing USA’s panel “Reimagining Energy Use with Digital Technologies” for their Energy track! 👏👏

Olivia Morales, Solution Architect at CESMII will be representing our institute this March in Austin, TX!

The selection process for this event is quite rigorous and we’re thrilled that the community, SXSW Advisory Board and SXSW staff chose to feature this important topic!

The panel features speakers from NextFlex, REMADE Institute, and IACMI – The Composites Institute.

Check out SME‘s December issue of Smart Manufacturing magazine,

featuring CESMII CEO John Dyck.

The issue highlights SOUTHTEC, which took the Southeast by storm for three days of immersive experiences focused on technology and talent. SOUTHTEC drove home the message that, to democratize smart manufacturing, the industry must work together to enable the small- and medium-sized shops that comprise more than 95% of the ecosystem.

Manufacturing USA Education and Workforce Development Roadmap

The United States has committed unprecedented investments to expanding the U.S. manufacturing sector. While promising, this success cannot be achieved without first addressing key barriers. The Manufacturing USA institutes have crafted a national education and workforce development roadmap to help the sector respond to these challenges and maximize the U.S. manufacturing resurgence. 

Smart Manufacturing —

Why It Matters and How to Achieve It

February 5th | 1:00-5:00PM | Anaheim Convention Center

It is critically important for manufacturers to start their Industry 4.0 journey to stay ahead of the competition. Join CESMII’s Conrad Leiva, Vice President for Ecosystem and Workforce Education for the Smart Manufacturing Workshop at IME West which will be held on February 5th from 1 to 5 pm. Conrad will be helping manufacturers understand why smart manufacturing is important, some of its building blocks, and how to get started. Discover what you will learn in this workshop below and register for this exclusive workshop.

Check out a preview of the workshop below:

Predictive Modeling and Fault Detection Improves Operational Efficiency of Air Separation Unit 

CESMII invests in Smart Manufacturing innovation through projects with funds

awarded by the U.S. Department of Energy (DoE). CESMII manages projects in collaboration with our entire ecosystem. The objective of these projects is to develop emerging technologies, drive research and innovation – delivering on our mission to democratize Smart Manufacturing.

⬆ 10%

Improvement in energy efficiency through surrogate modeling for planning & scheduling 

⬇ 98% 

Reduction in model size & associated computational costs through surrogate modeling  

⬆ 200k/yr

Potential savings for each ASU in operating costs by leveraging surrogate modeling application 

SAS Blogs:

Transforming manufacturing:

The power of smart technologies

Steam engines sparked the first Industrial Revolution, electricity energized the second, and early automation and the assembly line powered the third. Now, the fourth (often called smart manufacturing) is being shaped by artificial intelligence, advanced analytics, the internet and real-time data.

Smart technologies are transforming manufacturing. It starts on the factory floor, optimizing processes through advanced instrumentation, automation, robotics and human-machine decision-making.

The Clean Energy Smart Manufacturing Innovation Institute (CESMII) (pronounced sez-ME) was born about four decades ago, around the same time as the introduction of digital controllers and early AI systems.

CESMII is a US Department of Energy-funded public-private partnership and plays a pivotal role in promoting smart manufacturing and making it accessible to all manufacturers. CESMII’s focus areas include technology development, education, workforce development, and fostering a national ecosystem of leaders and innovation centers.

We recently talked with John Dyck, CEO at CESMII, about the challenges in manufacturing and the roles analytics and artificial intelligence will play in the future of smart manufacturing and the global competitiveness of US manufacturers. You can watch a short clip of Dyck below or read further for our full interview.

SOUTHTEC is Now Available On-Demand!

CESMII is Hitting the Road!

Discover the future of manufacturing at our NEW Smart Manufacturing Showcase Roadshow Event! Witness the latest Industry 4.0 technologies in action, gain profound insights from in-depth presentations, and get hands-on with interactive demonstrations. Join us in 2024 as we continue our journey across the United States, bringing the

Smart Manufacturing revolution to your doorstep.

Planning for early 2024 is in process for events in:

Texas, Tennessee, Washington, Indiana and Missouri

Don’t miss out – stay tuned for roadshow dates near you!

2023/2024 Affinity Group Meeting Schedule

What is an Affinity Group? A group of CESMII members with an interest in a particular manufacturing sector or a technology horizontal. We hold monthly meetings that are intended for members to bring their abilities, capabilities, and interests to engage CESMII resources & strategies as needed to address the sector or problem.

Already a member? Be sure to mark your calendars with the dates above!

Interested in joining one of our Affinity Groups?

We’d like to hear from you, really.

Have an idea, a suggestion, a critique or a compliment?

We value your input and ideas, and we encourage you to share your thoughts

to help us improve. Your feedback is essential to making positive changes and enhancing your experience with CESMII.

Do you know someone interested in becoming a

CESMII Member?

Connect with Us

Do you have information you’d like to share with us or the broader

CESMII ecosystem? If so, please get in touch with us!

About CESMII

Since its creation in 2016, CESMII, through its program home at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), has built a robust public-private partnership with over 181 current member organizations to date across industry and academia. As U.S. Department of Energy’s third established institute, CESMII has developed foundational Smart Manufacturing (SM) solutions, technologies, practices, and educational content to develop the smart manufacturing workforce of the future. 

For more information, please see

www.cesmii.org