Siemens

The program pairs morning plenary sessions with concurrent Technology and Education & Workforce Development tracks. Topics include AI in manufacturing, manufacturers’ problems and needs, building ARM Institute-funded project teams, funding opportunities, and enrollment in manufacturing training programs. Interactive activities cover moving ARM-funded projects from development to factory-floor deployment; communicating technology needs, risks, and value in proposals; developing education and workforce grant proposals; and creating immersive learning experiences for manufacturing careers. Other program elements include project updates, five-minute member pitches on organizational capabilities, problems seeking collaborators, and products or services, and an introduction to the revamped ARM Member Community. Attendance is limited to ARM Institute members.

The program focuses on weapon-system maintenance and sustainment, readiness, and defense industrial base revitalization. Plenary and breakout sessions examine acquisition authorities and faster capability delivery; domestic manufacturing, industrial-base investment, and workforce capacity; contested logistics and forward maintenance; munitions lifecycle management; resilient supply chains; and the application of AI, advanced manufacturing, software, and digital engineering to sustainment. Specific discussions include the Portfolio Acquisition Executive authorities under the Warfighting Acquisition System; the Major Weapon Systems and Critical Munitions Readiness Campaign Plan; EO 14415 supply-chain mapping and illumination; and public-private co-production, technical data and right to repair, intellectual property, and capital requirements for industrial-base expansion. The Weapon Systems Software Summit covers applied AI and autonomous systems, DevSecOps and software factories, cybersecurity and Zero Trust, digital engineering, data and cloud architecture, acquisition policy, and workforce and talent management. Associated forums address corrosion prevention, provisioning and cataloging, defense working-capital funds, depot capabilities, allied co-sustainment, and supply-chain risk management. The program also includes a Maintenance Innovation Challenge and a co-located Maintenance and Logistics Exhibition with a Maintenance Yard.

The program covers specialty chemical business strategy, regulatory developments, and manufacturing operations across three tracks: C-Suite Executive Leadership, Regulatory & Policy, and Manufacturing & Operations. Sessions address the U.S. economic outlook and chemical industry impacts; AI in commercial operations and supply planning; domestic pharmaceutical supply chains; process safety; workforce succession and knowledge transfer; mergers and acquisitions; TSCA and the CMAS RTR final rule; trade policy and supply-chain resilience; operational disruption; and contract manufacturing partnerships and market trends. The program also includes an economic outlook briefing, an analysis of the 2026 election’s implications for manufacturing and chemicals, SOCMA’s Annual Meeting and update, and the Awards & Safety Recognition Dinner.

Under the theme “Chemical Engineering Reimagined,” the meeting covers chemical-engineering research, technologies, and emerging growth areas. Program guides highlight AI and machine learning, climate change, industrial careers, and early-career faculty. The AI and machine-learning program includes sessions on process development; polymer simulation, informatics, and data analytics; data-driven pharmaceutical process controls; AI-enabled process design, scale-up, and workforce readiness; nuclear chemical engineering; manufacturing-system modeling; computational catalysis; digital twins in energy systems; biomass utilization; and data-driven medicine. Featured discussions consider digital transformation, evolving industrial ecosystems, sustainability pressures, and changing workforce expectations, as well as ways to incorporate data science into chemical-engineering curricula, degree programs, certificates, and teaching of statistics and programming. Featured lectures address chemical engineers’ roles amid advances in AI, sustainable energy, and an interconnected global economy, and the use of catalysis to convert biomass, CO2, and end-of-life polymers into fuels, chemicals, and materials. Other lecture themes include carbon circularity, process intensification, renewable hydrogen, and pathways toward net-negative carbon manufacturing.