digital manufacturing summit uk

Kris is currently the Digital Transformation Lead, Global R&D at ArcelorMittal, the world’s largest steel manufacturer. In this role Kris is actively contributing to his organisation’s transformation to maximize technology contribution to its operations and innovation.

In the last 25 years Kris held various roles in international corporations like EDS (Electronic Data Systems), Hewlett-Packard and Hewlett-Packard Enterprise from Systems Engineer, Business Analyst, Project and Programme Manager, Regional Manager and Account Executive mainly in Automotive and Manufacturing sectors. He also contributed to non-profit organisations as a Non-Executive Director and a Board Member.

In the past Kris also was a member of The Institute of Directors in the UK and was a member of its Welsh leadership council.

Kris is passionate about technology and its role in transforming organisations and people lives. He created and led multinational teams and is always on the lookout for new ideas and creative collaboration.

He is committed to lifelong learning and is currently conducting PhD research related to Digital Transformation and Digital Maturity with the University of Oviedo in Spain.

Eman Martin Vignerte is Director External affairs and government relations Bosch UK. She holds B.S and M.S. degrees in electrical and Medical engineering from the University of Paderborn/Ulm, Germany. She was responsible for business development for telehealth in UK and Ireland. She has more than 6 years of experience in Software and hardware engineering in automotive industry. In 2004, she was the project manager for electronic pump, Hyundai customer and moved for a year to Korea. She was involved in developing the ceramic Medtronic control units for vehicle engine at Bosch GmbH. She is a board member at BBF (Buckingham Business First). She is the Chair of CBI Southeast and board member of Local enterprise partnership Buckinghamshire. She is a board member at Success Essex Partnership.

She sets on the advisory board for UK5G. She is a member at OCAVIA – The Oxford- Cambridge ARC Virtual Institute for Aviation. She is an advisor for WE- Transform, Workforce Europe transformation agenda for transport automation, EU commission.” She is advisor at Autotech Europe. She is fellow at Leadership Fellow Society of Leadership Fellows, St George’s House, Windsor Castle

Nikesh Mistry is Sector head of Industrial Automation at GAMBICA, the Trade Association for Instrumentation, Control, Automation and Laboratory Technology in the UK.

While relatively new to the trade association world, Nikesh is a highly motivated individual who has developed an extensive understanding of both technical and commercial areas of manufacturing and automation industry. His previous role as Technical Sales Engineer for Keyence UK allowed him to gain on-site industry experience and working as an account manager for OEM, Alphr technology enabled him to work with colleagues and customers of varying skill sets worldwise. The abootyu to build sustained client relationships has been thoroughly refined in different industries including automotive, food and pharmaceutical, raw materials, chemical testing, defence and aerospace and even financial services. 

He has an honours degree in Electronic Engineering from The University of Birmingham and believed with the right mind-set and maximum use of innovation in the UK will excel throughout the fourth industrial revolution. 

Ronald is an expert in leading data analytics and AI teams with extensive experience in digital transformation. His proven vision is that a better world for future generations can be achieved with data analytics. He has worked for over 15 years in Data and Analytics and is currently Head of Data & Analytics at Van Oord, a global Marine Contractor with a 2B turnover. He is responsible for deploying the Enterprise Data Platform, the central way of working on data products and the Data Governance and Enterprise Data Management.

Dr Hadi Moztarzadeh is an R&D and innovation specialist with over 20 years experience in both academia and industry. He is the Head to Technology Trends at APC, where he oversees the technology strategy, and a portfolio of supply chain and insight analysis as well as technology and system-level roadmaps, working closely with the Automotive Council, industry and innovation ecosystem. As part of the APC, Hadi collaborates with research and technology organisations, academia and industry, to de-risk innovation, accelerate technology transfer, and drive growth in the UK manufacturing and automotive sectors.

Prior to joining the APC, he was the Associate Dean (& Director) for Research, Innovation and Enterprise at the University of Salford, and before that, he had a 9-year career at WMG, University of Warwick and High Value Manufacturing (HVM) Catapult, most recently led the cross-Catapult portfolio.

Hadi has a PhD in Engineering from Warwick University and an MSc from University of Sheffield. He is a Chartered Engineer (CEng) and a Fellow of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (FIMechE), and the vice-chair of the IMechE Midland region.

Sarah Black-Smith is passionate about helping UK Manufacturers become more productive and has led the Motion Control business in Siemens Digital Industries since June 2022.  Prior to this, Sarah led the Factory Operations at the Siemens Digital Industries factory in Congleton since December 2018, having previously been Head of Manufacturing.  Sarah has worked for Siemens for 21 years and prior to working in Congleton, held several Operational positions within the Siemens Energy business in Lincoln.

Sarah graduated from Loughborough University in 2004 with a BEng (Hons) in Manufacturing Engineering and Management.  Sarah completed an MSc in Operations Excellence from Cranfield University in 2016 and completed her Global MBA at Alliance Manchester Business School in 2023.

Sarah loves working with people.  She is passionate about manufacturing in the UK as we have amazing people in the UK who are innovative and highly skilled.  Sarah believes that diversity is key to unlocking our potential in Engineering and Manufacturing industries and believes that we need greater diversity in our businesses and Engineering courses to drive new ideas and ways of doing things. Sarah was born in 1982 in Dundee, Scotland and lives in Chester.

Nipuni Karunaratne is the Head of Model Factory at Rolls-Royce, an entrepreneur, and a passionate advocate of STEM education.  At Rolls-Royce she heads a team of experts delivering a large portfolio of project in advance analytics to support the next gen Digital Technologies.

She actively supports the future talent and STEM awareness across the world. She has also worked as the Chair of Rolls-Royce Gender Diversity Network in the past and have won many awards under various categories included being listed in Forbes Europe.

As Chief Engineer for Technology, Steve is responsible for leading digital engineering projects at the MTC, supporting manufacturing companies with their digital transformation and using data to help drive productivity.

Prior to joining MTC in 2021, Steve spent over 37 years in manufacturing within the automotive sector – specifically around the planning, integration and launch of industrial automation and robotics solutions – playing a key role in over 40 vehicle launches across multiple brands.

Oscar Yang is a seasoned Data Governance Lead with a passion for driving transformative change and reshaping perspectives. With over 7 years of dedicated experience in the realm of Data Management consulting, Oscar has played a pivotal role in spearheading large-scale transformation programs centered around Data Governance, Master Data Management and Data Quality for industry giants in the Netherlands such as NS, VodafoneZiggo and PostNL.

Oscar holds an MSc in Strategic Management from Rotterdam School of Management, a testament to his dedication to understanding the strategic implications of data within organizations. His extensive background and relentless pursuit of excellence have solidified his position as a thought leader in the field of data governance.

Currently working for Van Oord, a global maritime engineering company with more than 5000 employees and more than $2 billion in revenue, Oscar is responsible for setting up the Data Governance initiative and realizing the vision where all data used within the company is owned, managed and secured.

Martyn Williams is the UK Managing Director of COPA-DATA, a global developer of industrial automation software. Martyn has been in the industry for over 20 years, has led the company’s UK operations for over a decade and in his free time, volunteers as a STEM Ambassador. As Industrial Automation Chair for GAMBICA, the UK’s trade association for control, automation and lab technology, he is well versed in speaking about the technological and leadership challenges in the manufacturing sector. 

Martyn Loukes is a Change and Communications Consultant working in the Automotive Industry, and is also a Diversity and Inclusion speaker.  He is best known for work in London creating the world’s first LGBT+ transport related public awareness campaign ‘Ride with Pride’.

His Change Management career started in 2007 while at Transport for London. There he spent most of his focus on improving the overall communications within the organisation, and to customers while working as a Change and Communications Business Manager for the Managing Director of Communications, Marketing and Technology.

After leaving TfL in 2017 he worked as an independent consultant in several different industries before ending up at the largest Automotive Safety Industry based in Stockholm, Sweden. He works remotely from his home in Brighton, East Sussex.

His creative approach to communications has seen many innovations, including using AI to replace lengthy FAQs, digitalisation queries and error code resolution. This saw a huge drop in simple support queries and increased productivity for a multi-million Euro Finance Transformation Project. This was the first use of AI in this company’s 80-year history working collaboratively with the Innovations Team and Information Technology Teams.

He regularly speaks at conferences and to companies about the importance of Mainstreaming LGBT+ Diversity, and received a medal for his work from the late Queen in her 2015 Birthday Honours.

This year has seen him continuing his far-reaching influence on mainstreaming LGBT+ inclusion by contributing to Waltham Forest’s Material Witness exhibition, speaking at Auckland’s Women in STEM conference in Auckland (ICESW19) and to New Zealand’s Diversity Agenda organization.

Among his well-known campaigns are the 48 LGBT+ Traffic Lights in Trafalgar Square, the world’s first rainbow bus, train and taxi and delivered in one joined up outwardly focused communications campaign. This changed the diversity landscape for many other cities that followed London’s example.

Kirsty has over 30 years experience in the metals industry. She is the Managing Director of Professional Polishing Services Limited, Director and current Chair of the British Stainless Steel Association, Founder of Women in Industry Podcast and Founder of Women with Metal Conference. She consults internationally on surface finishing on non-ferrous material and her finishes are visible worldwide.

Cindy has over 28 years of industrial experience of working within all areas of the organization and in many high technology markets. Predominantly bridging engineering strategies with customer requirements, as well as many years driving technology and innovation, by focusing on true customer needs and fully understanding the pain-points to deliver higher value- added solutions. Cindy is Certified in Design Thinking from both the Design Thinkers Academy London, and MIT Sloan, USA. In parallel is the focus on our internal customers, integrating digitization and intelligence into our operations, that optimize efficiency and output.

Cindy is a Chartered Engineer (IEEE) with a Bachelors in Engineering BEng, and a Masters in Manufacturing Systems and Technology Msc(Eng), with Project Management PMP Certification, and also an active advocate for STEM in education.

Cindy recently formed and started Avanya Consulting Ltd. due to the many years of understanding the resource limitations and struggles that keep us busy with our day-to-day operational activities, preventing time to take a step back and evaluate our development pipelines and operational processes. This evaluation then allows us to match the right technology and capabilities to the needs and value of the business.

Adele Baker is the Commercial Director within Digital and Innovation at RS Group Plc. With a background in Corporate Sales, Research and Innovation, Adele has forged a senior level career across the Industrial, Mechanical and Electronics industry. Adele is now the commercial lead for new initiatives across the digital function which supports the entire global omni channel organisation. 

Michael Larner, Research Director, is part of ABI Research’s End Markets team tracking the development and adoption of emerging technologies within the context of smart manufacturing and industrial solutions. Michael’s research focuses on manufacturing technologies, such as product life cycle management and simulation software, plus the adoption of data analytics, robotics, Artificial Intelligence (AI), the Internet of Things (IoT), and connectivity technologies on the factory floor and by industrial firms. 

Prior to joining ABI Research, Michael was an independent market analyst and delivered reports and consulting projects on behalf of GlobalData, IDC, IHS Markit, Informa, Juniper Research, Machina Research, and Ovum, among others. During this time, he led various research projects providing custom and omnibus online surveys, working alongside management teams to deliver quantifiable insights into adoption rates, addressable markets, and sales enablement 

Michael has covered numerous vertical markets, including automotive, healthcare, media, public sector, smart cities, and technologies, such as Advanced Driver-Assistance Systems (ADAS), chatbots, cybersecurity, Hyper-Converged Infrastructure (HCI), mobile app development platforms, and robotics.