Forum Members and First Timers - Manufacturing Peer Support Session and Key Speaker Richard Hill, Professor of Agentic AI.

Tickets: We Are Wakefield Manufacturing Forum Tickets, Tuesday, October 6  •  9:30 AM - 11:30 AM | Eventbrite

THIS SESSION IS FOR MANUFACTURERS ONLY

Join us for a peer networking session with other local manufacturers and key speaker Professor Richard Hill, Professor of Agentic AI at the University of Huddersfield and a National Teaching Fellow, Chartered Engineer and Fellow of the Institution of Engineering and Technology.

Richard specialises in the practical application of artificial intelligence to real business problems. His work focuses on helping organisations understand where AI can genuinely improve performance, rather than adopting technology for its own sake.

He has worked with businesses across manufacturing and other sectors to explore how AI, automation and tools such as Microsoft 365, Copilot and Power Automate can improve processes, reduce administrative workload and make better use of the knowledge and expertise already within an organisation.

Richard’s approach starts with understanding how work is actually done: where time is lost, where important decisions are made, and where people are dealing with repetitive or information-intensive tasks. From there, he looks at where AI can assist, automate or improve those processes in a practical, controlled and measurable way.

Making AI Useful: Where Should Manufacturers Actually Start?

AI is developing extraordinarily quickly, but for many manufacturing businesses the difficult question isn’t whether AI matters, it’s what they should actually do with it.

In this session, Richard will cut through some of the hype surrounding AI and look at where it can deliver genuine value within a manufacturing business.

Rather than starting with AI tools, Richard will start with the business itself: its processes, bottlenecks, administrative workload, information flows and the decisions people make every day. He will show how these can be used to identify realistic opportunities for AI and automation, including opportunities using technology that many businesses already have through Microsoft 365.

The session will explore questions such as: What should we automate? Where can AI save time or improve decision-making? And what can we do with the technology we already have?

The aim is that attendees leave with a clearer idea of where AI could make a difference in their own business and, equally importantly, where it probably won’t.

Refreshments will be served on arrival and there will be time to meet fellow local manufacturers.

Hosted by Solupak - Manufacturer of Water-Soluble Sachets

Please note: If you have attended A WAW Manufacturing Forum Session previously, you will be asked to become a member of the We Are Wakefield community to attend this and future events.