Salon Industriel du Centre-du-Québec

Dans chaque usine se cachent des opportunités d'efficacité énergétique inexploitées. Pourtant, peu de manufacturiers structurent leurs projets avec méthode. Résultat : des gains éphémères et des économies manquées. This conference will reveal how to maximize and sustain your savings through three concrete pillars: quantifying your actual gains (financial + greenhouse gas reduction), structuring your projects with the right methodology, and maintaining performance over time using an energy management tool. You will also discover how we quickly identify savings opportunities in your facilities, which are often accessible at no cost and eligible for subsidy programs. This approach is self-financing and generates measurable returns. Because optimizing your energy consumption starts with knowing where to look.

In a context of rising production costs, labor shortages, and rapidly changing North American markets, manufacturers must make clear investment decisions. Frederico Panetta, President of Gould Industries, shares a field perspective on productivity, automation, strategic acquisitions, and market development, particularly in the United States, as growth drivers that strengthen the company here. An operations- and results-oriented conference designed for industrial leaders who need to combine performance, stability, and expansion.

Innovation has become essential to remaining competitive, but for many industrial SMEs, innovation is often perceived as a risk: production stoppages, team overload, uncertainty about return on investment. This conference offers a pragmatic and realistic approach to industrial innovation, designed for the concrete constraints of the manufacturing sector. Based on CNIMI's experience with industrial companies in various sectors, the conference will present strategies for integrating innovation without compromising business continuity. In particular, it will address the distinction between incremental innovation and more structural transformation, as well as the criteria for choosing the right projects at the right time. Participants will learn how to structure low-risk projects, mobilize production teams, manage change, and leverage collaborations with research centers and technology partners. Concrete examples will illustrate how SMEs have improved their productivity, flexibility, and energy performance while maintaining their operations. The conference will also highlight the conditions for success in making innovative projects financeable and sustainable. Aimed at executives, plant managers, engineers, and innovation managers, this presentation offers concrete keys to transforming innovation into a performance lever rather than an operational obstacle.

Judith Fetzer, founder of Cook it, invites you to dive into her entrepreneurial journey, marked by a meteoric rise followed by a brutal fall. She will share the ups and downs of her adventure, from the daring beginnings of her startup to the challenges of bankruptcy. With transparency, Judith addresses the pitfalls of rapid growth, costly mistakes, sacrifices, and the path to recovery. She explores themes such as excessive ambition, distraction due to ADHD, managing business relationships as a couple, the importance of intuition, bold financial decisions, and the essential role of sincere communication and resilient leadership. She will also discuss the impact of innovation on corporate structure, adapting to the unexpected, and the personal redefinition that every entrepreneur must sometimes consider. More than just a story of failure, this conference is a tribute to resilience. Whether you are an entrepreneur, an intrapreneur, or simply curious about the other side of entrepreneurship, you will discover the challenges of innovation, business relationship management, and perseverance in the face of adversity. Judith will invite you to reflect on the importance of authentic leadership, strategic intuition, and the sacrifices necessary to overcome challenges and rebuild. She will offer you an honest and inspiring look at perseverance, even when everything seems to be falling apart.

This conference will show how industrial buyers now do most of their purchasing online before even contacting a sales team. It will highlight the impact this has on businesses, particularly the importance of strong web visibility, creating relevant educational content, and implementing an effective inbound strategy. It will also illustrate why close collaboration between marketing and sales is essential throughout the customer journey, and how connected tools can help identify and seize the best opportunities at the right time.

In a labor market where labor shortages complicate recruitment, attracting top talent has become a real challenge. In this conference, “5 Secrets to Attracting Talent... Even in a Labor Shortage,” you will discover concrete strategies to turn your recruitment into a competitive advantage. We will discuss how to identify what makes your company unique in the eyes of talent, how to optimize your communications to stand out, and how to create a candidate experience that encourages them to say “yes” even before the interview. We will show you how to use strategies to get noticed by top talent and receive more qualified applications. Whether you are an owner, manager, or HR manager, you will leave with tools and a clear action plan to attract and retain talent even in a shortage. Make your company a place where the best want to work.

Digital transformation is profoundly redefining how industrial companies produce, consume, and manage energy. At the heart of this transformation is data, which has become a strategic lever for simultaneously improving operational, energy, and environmental performance. This conference offers an integrated vision of the smart factory, where production and energy data are collected, structured, and exploited to support rapid, reliable, and value-added decisions. Drawing on the expertise and projects carried out by CNIMI, the presentation will illustrate how to move from an accumulation of heterogeneous data to intelligent, near real-time operational management. Participants will discover how to integrate data from equipment, control systems, digital platforms, and energy infrastructures to optimize processes, reduce energy costs, and increase operational resilience. Case studies will demonstrate how advanced analytics, decision-making automation, and digital tools can align industrial performance with energy transition, while preparing companies for future decarbonization requirements. The conference will also address the conditions for success in structuring realistic, financeable digital projects that are tailored to the constraints of industrial SMEs. Aimed at executives, engineers, and managers, this presentation offers a clear and pragmatic overview of the strategic role of data, from the factory floor to the energy grid.

Artificial intelligence, chatbots, personal assistants, and the rest—these are all terms that capture the imagination of those looking to explore new avenues for improving their performance and staying ahead of the competition. But how can this be achieved in practice? This conference provides a direct answer to this question with clear explanations and concrete examples that can be adapted to different contexts.

Preventive maintenance is a cornerstone of industrial performance, yet planning for it often remains manual, complex, and costly, particularly for SMEs. Too many companies still rely on a “break-and-repair” approach, suffering from unexpected and costly production downtime. This conference presents a visionary solution developed by Binder: the first autonomous artificial intelligence (AI) system designed to generate optimal and adaptive maintenance plans. Using an innovative two-step approach, the AI first creates customized programs based on the characteristics of your machines. Then, it continuously refines these plans by analyzing your historical work orders to adjust maintenance frequencies and merge tasks to reduce downtime. Discover how AI transforms maintenance into an accessible and affordable lever for efficiency, allowing you to maximize the reliability of your equipment while drastically reducing your operating costs.