The Monthly Newsletter of the Council of Industry

October 23rd, 2025

Join the Council at the 2025 Annual Luncheon and Member Expo

Join us on Friday, November 21st at the beautiful Grandview on the Hudson River, in Poughkeepsie NY, for our annual Luncheon & Member / Associate Member Expo.

The Member/ Associate Member Expo will precede the luncheon from 11:00 - 12:15. Lunch will follow at 12:15 p.m. There is no charge to be part of the expo, but we require participants to purchase two seats.

Keynote Speaker

Maribel Cruz-Brown - Vice President, Economic Development & Key Account Management at the New York Power Authority (NYPA) - will speak about programs that the NYPA runs to help businesses and manufacturers.

Maribel is focused on maximizing customer service, advancing clean energy technologies and securing long-term program effectiveness. Her group is responsible for serving various customer segments comprised of more than 1,200 customers with annual sales of over $2B while effectively maintaining NYPA’s reputable customer satisfaction score.

Pricing:

Individual Ticket:  $85.00

Table of Ten: $800.00

Click here to learn more

Annual Member Expo

The Member Expo, following the Annual Luncheon, provides ample opportunities for cross-industry advocacy, collaboration, and networking.

This year's Expo Sponsor, Viking Packaging, has been a long time Member Expo participant, and has found significant value in attending each year.

“We at Viking love to participate in the “Annual Luncheon Member Expo," said Viking's President and CEO, Rich Croce Jr.

"It gives us a chance to show the nearly 400 attendees our capabilities and packaging solutions, and we also enjoy seeing what the products and services all the other members and associate members of the Council have to offer. We appreciate the opportunity to network with other industry leaders in our community and always learn something interesting and useful from the keynote speakers.

"We’re proud to sponsor the Expo and, of course, support the Council of Industry.”

Want to participate in this year's Member Expo? Click here to learn more

Annual Certificate Presentations 

Every year, the Council recognizes those who have completed our Certificate in Manufacturing Leadership series.

Each graduate receives their Certificate and are congratulated on their hard work at the Annual Luncheon. The Council's leadership series has been a great way for companies to upscale their talent.

"Ametek Rotron relies of The Council of Industry’s Certificate in Manufacturing Leadership – to give our front-line supervisors the leadership skills they need to be successful in their roles," said Chris Rodrigue, director of operations at Ametek. 

"Completing the training is a significant accomplishment and the acknowledgement and recognition they receive at the November Luncheon - in front of the all the attendees from the manufacturing community - cements the importance of the achievement.”

Click here to learn more about our Certificate in Manufacturing Leadership Series

Thank you to our Luncheon Sponsors to Date!

SUPPORTING SPONSORS

Sponsorship Opportunities Available

This Event is Made Possible With Your Support

Manufacturing Day Events Shine a Light on Innovative Companies and Careers in the Sector

Manufacturing Day was celebrated across the Hudson Valley last week by companies, schools, students and local media.

Festivities started bright and early Friday morning at Ulster BOCES with Hudson Valley Focus Live, hosted by Tom Sipos, airing a special MFG Day broadcast.

Later in the day, students from multiple counties got to tour manufacturing facilities.

Finishing the day off strong, Ulster County manufacturing leaders, elected officials, organizations and students got to join Ulster BOCES in celebrating its ribbon cutting of the Career Pathways Academies, Sustainable Ulster Workforce Innovation Center, and the Ulster BOCES Career & Technical Center at iPARK 87.

Read the full article here

Lean Training - NEXT WEEK! Intro to Lean and Simulation

Yellow Belt November 12, 13 and 14

Lean Simulation & Overview

This full-day Lean Foundational course, led by Vin Buonomo from RIT Center for Qualtiy and Applied Statistics (CQAS) provides a comprehensive introduction to Lean principles, tools, and methodologies.

Through a combination of instruction and simulation exercises, attendees will explore the differences between traditional batch manufacturing and Lean manufacturing, gaining practical insights they can apply immediately.

Location:

DCC Fishkill - 461 US-9, Fishkill, NY 12524

Dates:

October 28, 8:30-4:30

Full Program Cost:

Individual Attendee: $325

Two or More Attendees: $300

To learn more contact Emma Olivet eolivet@councilofindustry.org

Lean Six Sigma: Yellow Belt

Participants will learn a short history of each approach and how they can complement each other. They will be introduced to the Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, and Control improvement process and some of the tools associated with each stage.

The following topics will be focused on during the training:

• Resistance to Change
• 5-S and Visual Controls
• Team Building
• Problem Solving Process
• Statistical Thinking

Instructor Vinnie Buonomo from The Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT).

Location:

DCC Fishkill - 461 US-9, Fishkill, NY 12524

Dates:

November 12, 13 & 14 - 8:30-4:30

Full Program Cost:

Individual Attendee: $600

To learn more contact Emma Olivet eolivet@councilofindustry.org

Season 5 Ep 4:

Vincenzo Buonomo, Rochester Institute of Technology

In this week’s episode of Manufacturing Matters, we speak with Vincenzo Bonomo, Senior Program Manager and Adjunct Faculty at RIT’s Center for Quality and Applied Statistics. With decades of experience applying Lean and Six Sigma principles across industries, Vincenzo shares how process improvement continues to shape more efficient, effective organizations throughout New York. His work helps manufacturers of all sizes streamline operations, reduce waste, and build a culture of continuous improvement.

Vincenzo also emphasizes the value of cohort-based training models and regional collaboration. From working with community colleges to supporting companies through real-world challenges, he highlights how shared learning environments can accelerate results. Whether you're just starting out or looking to refine your approach, Vincenzo offers practical advice and deep insight rooted in experience.

In this episode, we discuss:

🔹 The evolution of process improvement across sectors

🔹 Why learning in a multi-company cohort is so impactful

🔹 How partnerships with community colleges strengthen regional training

🔹 The practical benefits of Lean and Six Sigma at work—and at home

Listen to the Podcast Episode Now

Manufacturing Industry News

Is Manufacturing Making A Comeback In The US? Reshoring Institute CEO Rosemany Coates Chimes In

When Rosemary Coates, executive director of the nonprofit Reshoring Institute, worked as a supply chain consultant for large companies in the 1990s and early 2000s, the CEOs would invite her into their offices and say, “Just get me to China.” “‘We know it’s cheaper. Our competitors are doing it. It’s what we should do. Let’s just go to China,’” Coates recounted at the Women in Manufacturing Summit in Chicago on Oct. 13. “There wasn’t a whole lot of thought to it. Some may be financial analysis, but by and large, it was simply the strategy to go forward.”

The China debate in the mid-2010s had CEOs talking about the potential for reshoring, asking her, “Is it even possible to bring manufacturing back? Can we do it?” Coates then decided to pivot and focus on helping rebuild, reevaluate and find ways to bring manufacturing back to the U.S. by establishing the Reshoring Institute in 2014. So can manufacturing make a comeback? The answer is yes and no, Coates said. “Brace yourself. [Change is] coming if it isn’t already here,” Coates said. “And you need to learn to be flexible and accept that and look to the future.” Coates said there is an intense intent and desire by CEOs to bring manufacturing back to the U.S., but it “has to make economic sense.”

Read more at Manufacturing Dive

'Brilliant Failure’: Cultivating a Healthy Approach to Risk

Members of the Innovation Research Interchange (IRI), the National Association of Manufacturers’ innovation division, conducted a study of failure and failed projects within research and development to better understand the benefits of failure. IRI members from Kimberly-Clark, Sonoco and others described brilliant failure as “a well-intended and prepared project … that does not achieve its original goal – failing because of something that was not knowable at the time, but providing incredible value to the organization through learning.”

IRI has long researched the concept of failure in the context of research and development, with a focus on how learning from failure is key to innovation. However, the concept of brilliant failures can and should be applied across manufacturing companies’ functions. It is the signal of a healthy approach to risk. The team of IRI members determined that “a strong risk culture embraces uncertainty as a space for learning and growth and is marked by open communication, accountability, and a willingness to challenge assumptions.” The advantages of this approach include:

• Improved processes to avoid similar missteps
• Increased adaptability and problem-solving
• A culture of ownership and accountability
• A reputation for continuous improvement

Read more at IndustryWeek

Where Does AI Work Best With Lean?

AI is everywhere right now. From splashy product launches to bold claims of “autonomous factories,” the conversation is moving fast—and often leaves lean practitioners wondering: Where does this fit with what we know works? Here are seven Practical Ways to Use AI in Lean Transformations”

1.     Strengthening problem-solving - AI can dramatically improve the discipline and speed of problem-solving by serving as a coach and reviewer.

2.     Standard work creation and retrieval - Capturing tribal knowledge is one of the hardest parts of sustaining a lean transformation. AI and related technologies can help.

3.     Daily management and metrics flow - AI can automatically pull data from MES, ERP and QMS systems to populate electronic boards, making it easier to track trends and spot abnormalities.

4.     Quality at source through poka-yoke and AI - AI can be a powerful enabler of mistake-proofing, bringing traditional poka-yoke concepts into the digital era.

5.     Predictive maintenance within total productive maintenance (TPM) - AI-powered equipment monitoring ties directly into total productive maintenance (TPM) principles. In a classic TPM framework, early steps focus on operator asset care—training team members to understand, clean and maintain their machines.

6.     Smart scheduling and PFEP alignment - The goal of production scheduling is not simply to minimize changeovers, but to serve customers effectively by producing the right product, at the right time, in the right quantity.

7.     Voice of customer and market insights for innovation - AI’s ability to process large volumes of unstructured text makes it ideal for analyzing customer feedback, warranty claims, and complaints.

Read More at IndustryWeek

Learn more about our Lean Overview & Simulation Course

Learn more about our LSS Yellow Belt Course

Learn more about our Green Belt Course

Why Manufacturing AI Pilots Fail to Scale

Manufacturers are under growing pressure to prove that artificial intelligence can deliver results. On a modern assembly line, testing a smartphone’s touchscreen seems almost too simple to automate. A human operator starts the device, taps every part of the screen, pinches to zoom and confirms it responds. The process is so intuitive that you could teach it to almost anyone in minutes. Training a robot to do this becomes easier to do almost every year, but can still require configuring dimensions, specifying every test point and programming the robot’s exact movements. However, if the phone’s size or layout changes, engineers have to start over. That’s why this approach can work in highly repetitive environments, but it can’t adapt or scale easily.

But this scenario is changing with AI. Using cameras and AI models that can learn from what they see, robots can identify a phone or tablet placed before them, measure its dimensions, recognize if it’s upside-down, create a grid of touch points and run the full test — all without a reprogramming cycle. For the manufacturing industry, getting up to speed with these changes can be challenging. While some organizations are integrating adaptive robotics, IoT data and AI analytics into production, others remain stuck with limited pilots that never expand beyond one line or site.

Read more at Automation World

Solving Real-World Problems with the Industrial AI Orchestra

The future of Industrial AI is not a single, all-knowing "super AI" but a distributed, collaborative ecosytem of AI agents. If we have all these specialized tools, how do we get them to work together to solve complex, real-world problems? The future of Industrial AI is a distributed, collaborative ecosystem of AI agents. And the real magic lies not in any single agent, but in their orchestration. It’s critical to understand that "agent" is not a single thing. Industrial agents will exist on a wide spectrum of complexity and will be deployed wherever they can provide the most value, from the deepest edge to the enterprise cloud.

·      Simple agents (the scouts): The simplest, most lightweight agents may not even use AI at all. Their job is to be a "scout," living on an edge device like a sensor gateway or PLC.

·      Specialist agents (the players): These are more advanced agents that contain a specific skill or AI model. A specialist agent running on an edge server might contain a computer vision model dedicated to identifying packaging defects.

·      Orchestrator agents (the conductors): These are higher-level agents whose primary function is not to perform a task themselves, but to manage a complex workflow.

The future of Industrial AI will not be found in a single, all-powerful model. It will be found in the elegant symphony of countless agents, large and small, working in concert from the edge to the cloud. This orchestrated, collaborative intelligence, built upon a foundation of open standards, is what will finally deliver on the long-held promise of the smart, resilient and self-optimizing factory.

Read more at IndustryWeek

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For information on advertising in this and other CI publications contact Harold King (hking@councilofindustry.org)

Traditional industrial robots are often designed for a single purpose and can require weeks of integration. That is changing with the rise of modular robotic systems—flexible platforms that can be reconfigured for different tasks by swapping out end effectors or adding new modules. In the garment sector, for example, CreateMe’s MeRA (Modular Engineering Robotic Assembly) system replaces sewing with precise adhesive bonding. The platform uses AI and machine learning to print microscopic dots of bonding agents and assemble garments up to 20 times faster than traditional sewing. Because the modules can be rearranged or upgraded as needed, companies can quickly adjust to new product designs or volume changes without installing entirely new equipment.

Modularity isn’t confined to textiles. The same concept is being applied in electronics and consumer goods factories where lines must pivot rapidly to accommodate short product life cycles. An ecosystem of plug and play robot modules is emerging, allowing manufacturers to compose assembly lines like Lego sets, which dramatically lowers the barrier to automation for small and medium sized enterprises

Read more at Industry.net

In manufacturing, every minute of downtime comes at a cost. While some downtime is necessary, an overwhelming portion of line stoppages occur due to preventable issues. And it’s eating away at company profits, time, and even employee morale. Extensive line stoppages are expensive problems that go beyond simple equipment failures. The solution requires more than just fixing broken machines. According to over 600 manufacturing leaders, to get to the root of excess downtime, you have to solve systemic manufacturing issues first.

Downtime, a timespan where an entire line or a single asset stops working, is incredibly costly for manufacturers. In fact, 6 in 10 leaders surveyed said that downtime costs their business over $250,000 per year. And it costs them precious production hours, too. Respondents indicated that their facilities experience an average of 30 hours of downtime per month, or 360 hours annually of lost production capacity. With manufacturers averaging 30 hours of downtime monthly and 60% losing over $250,000 annually, every minute of lost production costs approximately $12. A 10-minute stoppage may cost $120, while a 2-hour unplanned outage approaches $1,400. If this pattern repeats itself across 10 sites, for instance, manufacturers are looking at losses exceeding $200,000 per month.

Read (Download) the report at L2L

A team of scientists has made a major breakthrough in fusion energy research that could bring us a step closer to limitless energy. The researchers, at the UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA), have used magnetic coils to apply a 3D magnetic field to a spherical tokamak to stabilize plasma for the first time. The new method could allow the scientific community to overcome one of the key hurdles associated with fusion energy – maintaining plasma stability. Nuclear fusion is the reaction the sun and stars use to produce energy. When two atoms slam together, they form a heavier nucleus, releasing practically endless amounts of energy in the process.

A tokamak utilizes powerful magnets to control and stabilze the burning plasma required for the reaction to take place. To achieve fusion using MAST Upgrade, scientists confine fusion fuel within the tokamak at extremely high temperatures. At these temperatures, the fuel creates plasma, allowing for the fusion reaction to take place. However, if the pressure, density, or current is too high, the plasma can become unstable. This instability can lead to poor performance. In more extreme cases, it can cause damage to expensive tokamak components. In a UK government press statement, the UKAEA team outlined how they used Resonant Magnetic Perturbation (RMP) coils to completely supress ELMs within the MAST Upgrade machine.

Read more at Interesting Engineering

NYISO Again Identifies Reliability Need for NYC, LI and Hudson Valley

The ISO’s Short-Term Assessment of Reliability released last week, examined the five-year period from July 2025 to July 2030 and identified reliability weaknesses beginning in New York City in 2026, in Long Island in 2027 and in the Lower Hudson Valley region in 2030. The New York City area will be deficient “through the entire five-year horizon without the completion and energization of future planned projects,” the STAR report concluded.

“The reliability needs identified by the STAR [report] in New York City and Long Island are based on a deficiency in transmission security,” the ISO said. “Transmission security analysis tests the ability of the power system to withstand disturbances, such as electric short circuits or unanticipated loss of a generator or a transmission line, while continuing to supply and deliver electricity to consumers during peak demand when the system is stressed.” And the ISO added that the risk of deficiencies beyond the STAR report “is even greater when considering a range of plausible futures with combined risks, such as the statistical likelihood of further generator retirements or failures,” the report said. “New York’s generation fleet is among the oldest in the country, and as these generators age, they are experiencing more frequent and longer outages.”

Read more at Utility Dive

Learn more about the Council of Industry’s energy consortium

Briefs

These Jobs Will Fall First As AI Takes Over The Workplace – Forbes

7 Questions Every Leader Should Ask Before Launching A Major Initiative – Smart Brief

Some Employers Skip The Upskilling, Use AI To Replace Workers – Supply Chain Dive

General Mills' Digital Roadmap: Agentic Infrastructure, Digital Twins, AI Personas – Consumer Goods Technology

US Manufacturing Needs Pro-Growth Policy and Time – IndustryWeek

Can AI Replace Junior Workers? – The Economist

Google Deepmind Will Work With Startup Commonwealth Fusion Systems  – Google

Amazon’s Switch To Robots Over Human Warehouse Employees Will Save It Up To $4 Billion A Year, Morgan Stanley Says – CNBC

The Lighter Side

How WWII Made Hershey And Mars Halloween Candy Kings

Every year, Hershey manufactures 373 million of its signature milk chocolate bars. While the company doesn’t release exact stats on Halloween sales, you can bet a lot of those end up in plastic Jack O’Lantern-shaped pails. Hershey’s also produces a few other Halloween heavy-hitters in similarly staggering quantities, churning out 25 million Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups and 70 million Hershey’s Kisses a day. But last year, Mars Inc. gave Hershey a run for their money when M&Ms overtook Reese’s as that year’s most popular Halloween candy. Mars makes a whopping 400 million of the sugar-coated candies daily.

A few different factors have helped Mars and Hershey maintain their Halloween aisle hegemonies year after year. There’s the nostalgia element: Parents often want to give their kids the same candies they loved when they were small. But how these candies are so embedded in the American psyche in the first place actually has to do with a less obvious source: the United States military and World War II’s sugar shortage.

Read more at Popular Science

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