Automate 2027

A four-day industrial automation and digital transformation event at the Thomas M. Menino Convention & Exhibition Center. The program combines keynotes, an expo with demonstrations, and general-access sessions featuring customer voices, industry viewpoints, partner solutions, and product introductions. Featured tracks cover executive insights; AI and edge-to-cloud operational data; process control; production logistics; OT security; and the future of industrial automation. Industry tracks include automotive and tire, food and beverage, life sciences, mining and metals, energy, OEMs and machine builders, and water and wastewater. Topics include rare-earth processing automation, critical metals and industrial energy systems, grid decarbonization through hydro and bioenergy, and data-driven oil and gas operations. Five curated summits address process automation and PlantPAx DCS; secure digital operations, industrial data, AI, MES, digital thread, and OT cybersecurity; OEM machine building, digital twins, and secure design; production logistics, autonomous material movement, robotics, and orchestration; and industrial safety. The safety program covers functional-safety and cybersecurity standards including IEC 61508, IEC 61511, ISO 13849, and IEC 62443, as well as robotics, AI, and autonomous operations. Process-summit sessions include copper-mine control systems, PlantPAx modernization, predictive control, and EtherNet/IP. Keynotes address leading through change and complexity, the future of industrial operations, and innovation through experimentation.

The event features manufacturing, distribution, and supply-chain equipment and systems, hands-on demonstrations of equipment and technology, expert-led educational sessions, and in-person business connections. Featured keynote themes include the 2027 MHI Annual Industry Report, innovation at scale, and teamwork and leadership.

The event features exhibits in automation, robotics, smart manufacturing, precision machining, software, industrial IoT, and cybersecurity, alongside an executive keynote panel series and presentations, technology demonstrations, and interactive Knowledge Bars. The Knowledge Bars address how technology, innovation, and AI can help small and medium-sized manufacturers adopt technology. Featured technology areas also include additive manufacturing, advanced materials, digital transformation, energy and environmental efficiency, and manufacturing engineering. SME Mission Critical: Workforce 2030 focuses on manufacturers’ workforce challenges.

Focuses on sustainable, safe and reliable on-site utilities that power automation, including industrial compressed air, vacuum, blowers and comfort/process cooling. The technology showcase covers air compressors and controls, air purification and piping, condensate management, measurement instruments, chillers, cooling towers, water treatment and pumps. Educational offerings include opening and plenary sessions and technology and leak-detection pavilions; the latter includes testing leak-detection devices on a compressed-air system.

The expo covers the technical ceramics supply chain, from raw materials and powders to components, systems, and finished applications. Cross-sector solutions include aerospace, automotive, semiconductors, energy, electronics, and medical applications, alongside live demonstrations, technical showcases, and conference sessions on research and manufacturing innovations. The 2027 Innovation Hub spotlights advanced ceramics, thermal materials, and next-generation engineering solutions.

The conference brings together engineers, designers, managers, and educators to exchange expertise, best practices, challenges, and application developments in additive manufacturing. The program includes keynote presentations, technical sessions, panel discussions, training sessions, hands-on workshops, the Technical Competition, the Innovators Showcase, and AMUGexpo. Tracks cover aerospace and defense applications such as flight-certified parts, satellite components, qualification, repair, and sustainment; automotive, infrastructure, energy, and battery applications; business topics including capital equipment, return on investment, market research, and mergers and acquisitions; and design, metrology, scanning, and in-situ monitoring. Other track areas include additive manufacturing education and standards; emerging technologies and research-to-industry translation; healthcare and dental applications; industrial automation, tooling, hybrid manufacturing, robotics, and digital thread; materials, powder recycling, feedstock innovation, heat treatment, and post-processing; manufacturing safety and cybersecurity; and simulation, AI, digital twins, and process optimization. Attendance is limited to individuals from organizations that directly own commercially available additive manufacturing equipment used in a professional environment.

The program includes panel discussions, breakout sessions, and conference talks, alongside hands-on demonstrations and live simulations of manufacturing technologies and processes. Topics include automation, robotics, artificial intelligence, and sustainable practices. Exhibitor sectors include aerospace, automotive, electronics, and sustainable manufacturing.

The program brings together energy, industrial transformation, and advanced manufacturing, with cross-cutting themes of workforce development, standards, finance, AI and digital transformation, policy, and resilience planning. Roundtables, workshops, and demos are designed to address tradeoffs involving affordability, risk, standardization, and deployment speed. Program tracks include Powering Growth, with sample sessions on data-center power and cooling, new nuclear deployment, solar cost reduction, and scaling geothermal; Industry Reimagined, covering industrial heat electrification, next-generation steel, and EPC project-delivery costs and risks; Next-Gen Manufacturing, addressing hardware investment and bankability, additive manufacturing, and sustainability tradeoffs in product design; and Future Workforce, on nuclear workforce readiness, apprenticeships, and aligning training programs with real projects. Additional sessions are in development in areas including energy storage, fusion, industrial efficiency, critical minerals, and sustainability tradeoffs. The listed sessions are samples and subject to change.

Exhibit areas include automation, robotics, smart manufacturing, precision machining, software solutions, industrial IoT, and cybersecurity. The Executive Perspectives series features panels with manufacturing-company executives and technology providers; Knowledge Bars cover advanced manufacturing technologies and how innovation and AI adoption can address technology challenges for small and midsize manufacturers. Other listed features include the SME Mission Critical: Workforce 2030 experience on manufacturers’ workforce challenges; a Pop Up Factory demonstrating an assembly and inspection workflow that captures data and connects apps, devices, and analytics; and a Corporate and Institutional Roundtable addressing the manufacturing skills gap, alignment between academic outcomes and workforce needs, and strategies for manufacturing’s future. The Bright Minds College Experience includes executive chats, student-led sessions, hands-on exposure to advanced manufacturing technologies, industry roundtables, and discussions about the manufacturing workforce.