Material Handling and Transportation & Logistics Joint Technology Committee Meeting with Safety & Health Technology Committee Meeting

The committee will develop AISTech sessions, select abstracts, determine session structure and session chairs, review paper- and session-chair instructions, and finalize the call for papers for AISTech 2028. Technical discussion topics include hot-dip galvanizing, galvannealing, aluminized products, new zinc-alloy coatings, dual metallic/organic processes, new facilities and modernizations, productivity improvements, new equipment technologies, coated-product substrate quality, defect prevention and detection, and surface post-treatments. The agenda also includes planning for a 2027 European Galvanizing Line Study Tour. The second day includes a tour of Befesa Zinc in Mooresboro, North Carolina.

The technology conference covers ironmaking, steelmaking, finishing processes, and engineering and equipment technologies. Program topics include safety and health; environmental technology; cokemaking; ironmaking and direct reduced iron; electric and oxygen steelmaking; specialty alloys and foundry operations; secondary refining and continuous casting; hot and cold rolling, galvanizing, tinplate, plate and long products; pipe and tube; metallurgy; energy and utilities; electrical and digitalization applications; project and construction management; maintenance and reliability; refractory systems; material handling; cranes; and transportation and logistics. Technical topics include hydrogen-based ironmaking, scrap optimization, energy efficiency, greenhouse-gas reduction, carbon capture and storage, water treatment and reuse, AI and digitalization, predictive maintenance, industrial control-system cybersecurity, steel product quality, and process reliability. The schedule lists technical sessions, the Howe Memorial Lecture, an undergraduate student project presentation contest, a graduate student poster contest display, a Steel to Students roundtable, Technology Committee meetings, and a Town Hall Forum. The event also includes an iron and steel exposition.

The peer-led program is designed for terminal operators and focuses on health and safety topics affecting terminal operations. Presentations use firsthand operating experiences to discuss incidents, responses, and lessons learned. Sessions address Colonial Pipeline’s “Stuff That Kills You” model for high-energy risks in hazardous work environments; ITC’s cultural, engineering, and reliability changes following the Deer Park fire, including API 653, risk-based inspection, preventive and predictive maintenance; and electrical heat-tracing hazards on movable piping, including design, inspection, testing, and preventive maintenance. Other topics include flammable refrigerants used with LPG, LNG, and specialty chemicals; emergency response and causes of a product spill; corrective actions following an unintended gasoline release during pig retrieval; systems thinking and human performance in terminal-to-barge personnel transfers; and task-focused local plant safety meetings. The program also covers investigation of a leaking aboveground storage tank, including leak identification, nondestructive inspections, and destructive testing. Registration is limited to terminal member companies.

The program centers on “Back to the Future II” and safe, reliable, efficient crane performance, including runways, rail, wheels, wire ropes, brakes, and safety practices. Topics include traditional crane technology, safe work practices and ergonomics, electrical, mechanical, and structural maintenance, and crane inspection technologies. Case studies and open discussions address issues facing overhead-crane owners and users in steel and heavy industries. The program also includes the Charlie Totten Crane Innovator Award announcement. The event may qualify for up to 14 Professional Development Hour credits.

The event brings together the ACerS Annual Meeting, AIST Steel Properties & Applications, the TMS Fall Meeting, and the Advanced Materials Show. Planned technical symposia cover additive manufacturing, including modeling, AI and machine learning, process control, ceramic 3D printing, and qualification and certification of computational materials tools. Other materials topics include ceramics, glass, electronic and nanostructured materials, advanced alloys, and high-temperature phase transformations. Steel and ferrous-metallurgy programming addresses alloy design, steel processing and coatings, medium- and high-manganese steels, decarbonization, scrap recyclability, and materials for transportation, defense, energy, hydrogen, carbon capture, geothermal, and nuclear applications. Energy-focused symposia cover clean hydrogen, electrochemical storage and conversion, thermal management, and alternative-energy devices, including solid-state batteries, electrolyzers, fuel cells, and thermoelectric systems. Additional planned topics include corrosion and degradation in extreme environments, nuclear materials and waste-storage forms, and materials for advanced manufacturing. The co-located Advanced Materials Show focuses on high-performing materials technology and the materials manufacturing supply chain.

The technical program covers MILSPEC requirements, surface-preparation tools, and new technologies involving drones, robotics, and AI. Expert panels address workforce development, safety, and government; contractor stories highlight successes and lessons learned from premature coating failures. Roundtables bring together military, government, and association leadership. Forum topics also include coating standards, application practices, marine coatings, antifouling coatings, marine epoxy systems, corrosion mitigation, and workforce development. The program includes general-session panels and presentations, alongside Contractor Club private meetings and an invitation-only off-site activity. Participation is open to government and regulatory agencies, asset owners and shipyards, painting contractors, consultants and engineering professionals, inspectors, and academia, R&D, and association representatives.

The conference combines superintendent and engineer meetings for presentations on new technology, standards, and industry regulations, alongside a joint product show featuring solutions from digital tools to bucket trucks. Agenda topics include automation, leadership, field testing for metering accuracy and hidden losses, AI tools for engineering and operations, advanced distribution operations and faster restoration, and relay testing. A group-led roundtable covers artificial intelligence in electric cooperatives, contractor requirements, dispatching, employee retention, right-of-way and line-extension policies, pole loading and guying, BESS, data center loads, electronic breakers, safety, equipment, and automation. Additional listed issues include ODOT projects, ground-grid and relay advancements, vegetation and asset management using LiDAR and drone mapping, protection engineering, utility construction coordination and constructability, and independent construction oversight and QA/QC. The business meeting includes the election of 2027 officers and new business.

The program includes keynotes, panels, breakouts, and interactive roundtables on steel-industry conditions; fabrication businesses, leadership, and industry outlook; AI and digitization in manufacturing; shop-floor equipment use cases and return on investment; and manufacturing’s economic and financial outlook. Sessions also address profitability, capital investment, business growth, tariffs, steel, leadership development, recruitment, small- and midsize-manufacturer growth, and potential changes to tax policy, OSHA and EPA regulations, and tariffs. Roundtable topics include culture, marketing, AI, and operations.

The program addresses Executive Order implementation, the FAA Reauthorization Act, secure supply chains and the FCC Covered List, aircraft certification, and airspace coordination. Featured officials include Steven Haines, Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Industry & Analysis; Congresswoman Dina Titus; and Senator Peter Welch. Sessions examine NASA’s plans for future air transportation; federal agency UAS operations and procurement; FAA EIPP progress; state and local pathways for advanced air mobility; vertiports, corridors, grid integration, and spectrum allocation; large-UAS operational approvals; collision avoidance and detect-and-avoid; FCC enforcement; automated flight rules; retail and commercial drone markets; and the policy agenda for drones and AAM. Further program topics include counter-UAS policy for major events, Part 146 certification, industry responses to NPRM 2209, air traffic control investment, coordination between first-responder and commercial drone operations, UAS supply-chain security and domestic manufacturing, cellular integration and spectrum access, U.S. export opportunities, EU certifications and cybersecurity regulations, and state, local, and tribal drone operations.