After a six-year break, the Georgia Manufacturing Summit is returning Sept. 15 to the Cobb Galleria Centre, with roughly 500 manufacturing executives, technology providers, workforce specialists and industry partners expected to attend. Hosted by the Georgia Manufacturing Alliance (GMA), the 2026 event will put two issues at the center of Georgia’s industrial economy: how manufacturers can automate more work while finding and developing the people needed to operate increasingly digital factories.
Georgia’s manufacturing sector is heading into the next phase of automation with a problem that technology alone cannot solve: there still have to be people capable of deploying, managing and improving the technology.
That tension will be a central theme when the Georgia Manufacturing Summit returns Sept. 15 at the Cobb Galleria Centre following a six-year hiatus. The event is expected to attract about 500 attendees, including approximately 300 manufacturing leaders and 200 industry partners.
The summit’s return comes after a period of major change for manufacturers. When the event last took place in 2019, attendance had grown beyond 850 from roughly 150 at its 2015 launch. Since then, manufacturers have accelerated investments in robotics, artificial intelligence, connected production systems and cybersecurity while facing persistent shortages of skilled labor.
The result is a manufacturing technology paradox: automation can reduce dependence on some repetitive tasks, but digital factories require workers with increasingly specialized technical, analytical and problem-solving skills.
That issue will take center stage during the summit’s morning keynote, “Automation in Manufacturing: From Cages to Collaboration,” presented by Brandon Seadorf, director of manufacturing at PAI Manufacturing.
The session is expected to examine how robotics and automation can improve production efficiency, consistency, quality and ergonomics while moving employees away from repetitive tasks and toward higher-value responsibilities.
The shift from industrial robots operating behind physical safety barriers to collaborative automation is significant for workforce strategy. Modern manufacturing automation increasingly involves human-machine collaboration, machine vision, sensors, industrial software and data analytics. Those technologies change jobs rather than simply eliminate them.
The labor challenge remains substantial.
The National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) has projected that the U.S. manufacturing industry could face a shortage of 1.9 million workers by 2033 if current trends continue. NAM and the Manufacturing Institute have also identified skills shortages as a major constraint on manufacturers’ ability to expand production.
Georgia is responding through a workforce ecosystem that includes technical colleges, manufacturers and state workforce organizations. The summit’s afternoon general session will bring those stakeholders together for the Georgia Manufacturing Workforce Forum — Building the Workforce We Need.
Travis Almy of TRC Talent Solutions will moderate the forum and provide workforce data. Participants include Tyson Baker of Infinity Building Solutions and Mark Peevy, chief of staff for the Technical College System of Georgia, with additional manufacturing leaders expected to participate.
The focus is deliberately practical: where workforce pipelines are working, where manufacturers continue to encounter gaps and how industry, education and workforce organizations can improve recruitment, development and retention.
That approach reflects a broader change in HR technology. Manufacturing workforce management is no longer limited to payroll and scheduling. Companies increasingly need systems that connect recruitment, skills management, learning, compliance, workforce planning and employee development.
Platforms from Microsoft, SAP, Oracle and Workday, along with specialist manufacturing and frontline-workforce providers, are increasingly competing to connect employee data with operational requirements. Manufacturers are also deploying learning platforms to train workers on robotics, automation systems, cybersecurity and digital production tools.
The technology creates another challenge: cybersecurity.
As factories become connected through industrial IoT devices, cloud platforms and operational technology networks, the boundary between IT and production becomes increasingly difficult to maintain. The Georgia summit will address operational technology and cybersecurity alongside workforce and automation topics, reflecting how closely these issues now overlap.
A cyberattack on a connected production environment is not simply an IT incident. It can interrupt manufacturing, compromise intellectual property, disrupt supply chains and create safety risks.
The summit will also examine legal exposure, financial performance, operational excellence, Lean manufacturing, continuous improvement and leadership development.
One session, “Legal Landmines in Manufacturing: What Georgia Leaders Need to Know Now,” will address patents, intellectual property, workplace safety and litigation. Russ Dunlap will facilitate the discussion, with Micah Dickie of Fisher Phillips contributing perspectives on workplace safety and litigation.
The inclusion of intellectual property is particularly relevant as manufacturers invest in automation and AI. Production data, proprietary processes, software configurations and engineering designs can become valuable digital assets, increasing the consequences of weak security and poorly defined ownership arrangements.
The summit will also look beyond the factory floor. Sessions are expected to address margins and cash flow as well as sales and marketing, including the use of relationships, video, digital visibility and artificial intelligence to generate new business.
That broader agenda reflects the reality of modern manufacturing. Technology decisions increasingly affect finance, HR, cybersecurity, legal, sales and customer relationships at the same time.
For the Georgia Manufacturing Alliance, however, the defining feature of the event is not its technology agenda. It is the emphasis on putting manufacturers in the same room.
GMA founder and CEO Jason Moss said the organization is deliberately targeting 300 manufacturers among approximately 500 attendees rather than maximizing attendance. The objective is to create a forum where executives can exchange practical solutions with peers who have already encountered similar problems.
That model may be particularly useful in an environment where manufacturers can find technical information almost instantly but still struggle to identify which technology, workforce strategy or operational practice will work in their specific environment.
The Georgia Manufacturing Summit therefore arrives as something more than a trade event. Its agenda reflects the convergence of industrial automation, AI, workforce technology, cybersecurity and leadership that is redefining manufacturing.
The companies that navigate that transition successfully will not necessarily be the ones that automate the fastest. They may be the ones that understand how technology, people and operational processes need to evolve together.
Market Landscape
Georgia has become an important manufacturing hub, with automotive, aerospace, food and beverage, logistics and advanced manufacturing contributing to the state’s industrial economy. The state’s economic-development strategy has also increasingly emphasized advanced manufacturing and workforce development.
Nationally, manufacturers are investing in automation to address labor shortages, improve productivity and increase production flexibility. Robotics adoption is expanding beyond traditional automotive applications into food processing, packaging, logistics and other industries.
The International Federation of Robotics reported that global industrial robot installations reached approximately 542,000 units in 2024, with more than 4.6 million industrial robots operating in factories worldwide.
For HR leaders, the automation trend creates a corresponding skills challenge. Workers increasingly need digital literacy, robotics knowledge, data skills and the ability to troubleshoot automated systems.
That is driving convergence between HRTech and industrial technology. Workforce analytics, learning management systems, skills intelligence and frontline communication tools are becoming part of the infrastructure required to operate modern factories.
For manufacturers evaluating new technology, integration is increasingly important. A robotics deployment that does not account for training, workforce planning or cybersecurity can create as many organizational challenges as it solves operational ones.
The Georgia summit’s agenda captures that convergence: automation is no longer an isolated engineering decision. It is a workforce, cybersecurity, financial and leadership decision as well.
Top Insights
- Georgia Manufacturing Summit returns after six years, bringing manufacturers together around automation, workforce development, AI, cybersecurity and operational technology challenges.
- The event targets 300 manufacturing leaders among 500 attendees, prioritizing peer connections and practical problem-solving over maximum conference attendance.
- Automation keynote focuses on robotics and human-machine collaboration, highlighting how manufacturers can shift employees toward higher-value technical and operational roles.
- Georgia’s workforce forum brings manufacturers, talent specialists and technical education leaders together to address skilled-labor shortages and talent-development gaps.
- Cybersecurity, intellectual property, AI and workforce technology increasingly overlap, making digital transformation a cross-functional leadership issue for modern manufacturers.
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