MMA Legislative Day

OMA's Manufacturing Day at the Capitol brings industry leaders from across Oklahoma together for face-to-face conversations with legislators and state officials. Discussion topics include workforce challenges, supply chain needs, and long-term investment. Participants meet directly with policymakers, build relationships, and share real-world insight on what it takes to grow and compete in Oklahoma; lawmakers hear how their decisions affect companies on the ground.

Member-only annual legislative-affairs event connecting IMA members with elected officials. The briefing covers legislation expected during Indiana’s 2027 legislative session and legislative and regulatory matters affecting manufacturers. The event also releases results of the 2026 Indiana Manufacturing Survey. The reception gives members an opportunity to discuss business and community concerns with elected officials.

Participants will discuss critical key industry issues that directly impact their business with congressional leaders in Washington, D.C. Topics include fair trade, workforce development, and infrastructure. Meetings with members of the U.S. House and Senate and Capitol Hill visits are being organized in partnership with Inside Beltway.

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 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 meeting brings together leaders from the Department of War, industry, manufacturing institutes, and academia to address the future of American defense manufacturing. Program themes include industrial surge and production capacity, supply-chain resilience, advanced manufacturing, manufacturing modernization, and priorities for strengthening the Defense Industrial Base. The format includes high-level briefings, panel discussions, and fireside chats with senior leaders.

The event features exhibits in automation, robotics, smart manufacturing, precision machining, software solutions, industrial IoT, and cybersecurity. Its Executive Perspectives series is a thought-leadership panel program featuring manufacturing-company executives and technology providers; featured presentations cover diverse manufacturing disciplines. The Smart Manufacturing Experience includes exhibits on smart manufacturing and cybersecurity, plus Knowledge Bar conversations about advanced manufacturing technology, innovation, AI, and technology-adoption challenges for small and medium-sized manufacturers. SME Mission Critical: Workforce 2030 focuses on manufacturers’ workforce challenges.

The event focuses on assembly and quality manufacturing, with industry professionals exploring equipment, technologies, and solutions for assembly and manufacturing. Its stated offerings include suppliers, interactive product demonstrations, and expert-led technical sessions addressing real-world manufacturing challenges and operational excellence.

The agenda covers economic development, recent business expansions, and the future of energy production and costs. Sessions address women's experiences and challenges in manufacturing; the 2026 General Election and its potential effects on the 2027 legislative session and WVMA legislative agenda; and Helsing, an autonomous systems manufacturer based in Berkeley County. Other discussions cover long-term employer-employee relationships and retaining a multigenerational workforce; moving a new plant from prototype to full-scale production, including permitting, supply-chain challenges, and workforce development; and West Virginia University's NSF RETI grant, an industrial energy innovation hub focused on grid management, storage, cybersecurity, and reliability, along with programs from the WVU Industrial Extension. A final energy-sector discussion examines policy and public opinion on maintaining versus pursuing new markets and the effects of an anti-growth stance on development and economic growth in West Virginia.