Meet the Speakers

2026 Speakers To Be Announced...

2019 Summit Keynote Speakers

Werhner holds a B.S. in Chemical Engineering and has held a variety of assignments with increasing responsibility at Procter & Gamble. He started his career at the P&G Albany Plant as a Process Engineer and advanced through a variety of manufacturing assignments including Operations, Initiative Delivery, and Logistics. As his career progressed, he worked in several locations including Pennsylvania, Maryland and the P&G Global Headquarters in Cincinnati, Ohio.

While in manufacturing, he was able to build extensive skills in Operations Management, Total Quality Assurance and Change Management. He also held a number of assignments in Corporate Human Resources where he developed expertise in Organization Design and Talent Management.

Werhner was the P&G Albany Plant Manager from May 2014 to October 2019 and led the plant to be one of the top-performing in P&G. The P&G Albany Plant won the 2019 Georgia Manufacturer of the Year Award for their work in Economic Development, Community Service, and Workforce Development. Werhner will retire from P&G on October 1, and plans to do Manufacturing Capability and Organizational Performance Consulting in the future

Stuart Countess

Chief Operating Officer, Kia Motors Manufacturing Georgia

Stuart Countess is the Chief Operations Officer for Kia Motors Manufacturing Georgia, Inc. (KMMG), responsible for leading the Human Resources and Administration Division including Team Relations, Public Relations, Safety and Security, Environmental, Corporate Services, Legal and Sales.

He previously served as the Vice President of Quality overseeing overall vehicle quality, process quality, customer satisfaction, warranty and ISO/TS certifications for Business Management Systems. Originally, Countess joined KMMG in 2008 as the Senior Manager for the General Assembly Shop.

Morning Sessions - 10:30 - Noon

Manufacturing A Better Bottom Line

Trends to Track in Your Supply Chain

Developing Georgia's Winning Workforce

Safety

Afternoon Sessions 2:30 - 4:00

International Manufacturing

Secrets To More Successful Selling

Operational Excellence

Smart Factory

Manufacturing A Better Bottom Line (back to of page)

How to Power Profitability at Every Level of Your Business – An interactive conversation

This panel will be comprised of Georgia business leaders who understand the challenges of leading a successful organization. They will offer tips and ideas and will take questions from the audience. Focused on CEOs, CFOs, Controllers, and HR executives, this panel will address how to power profitability at every level of your business.

Businesses have risk exposure in internal and external data – including data within manufacturing processes. A manufacturing business can suffer debilitating financial losses because of one overlooked or careless practice. Smith & Howard’s enterprise risk leader will cover five key areas manufacturers should address to take their business from reactive to proactive as one step toward protecting their bottom line.

Who should attend: CEOs, CFOs, Controllers, HR executives

Topics covered:

-Insights and Tools to Make Your Business More Profitable
-Technology Threats and Opportunities
-Industry 4.0 Data to be collected and how to use it

Creating a Cyber Aware Culture

Richard Warner, CEO at Aware Force -

Strong entrepreneurship professional: led three startups, one in broadcasting and two in technology. Skilled in cybersecurity; digital strategy, content creation and sales; public speaking and emceeing; and radio and television. Volunteer mentor and board member. Expert in radio and television history. ABJ focused in Broadcast News from the University of Georgia.

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Trends to Track in Your Supply Chain (back to of page)

This panel will be comprised of Georgia business leaders who understand the challenges of maintaining a successful supply chain.

“Trends to Track in Supply Chain” will offer helpful insight on critical business issues that manufacturers face. The panel will be tackling four key themes: “the Four T’s”: Technology, Transportation, Talent & Trade/Tariffs.

“We've approached this panel discussion by tackling topics that I hear top-of-mind from speaking with hundreds of manufacturing professionals and leaders,” said Scott Luton, Executive Vice President of APICS Atlanta and moderator for the session. “With a few exceptions, what has made manufacturers successful over the last 20 years won't necessarily make them successful over the next 20 years.”

Who should attend: Purchasing / Engineering/ Operations / Logistics

Topics covered:

Technology, Transportation, Talent & Trade/Tariffs.

This session is sponsored TBA

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Developing Georgia's Winning Workforce (back to of page)

This panel will be comprised of Georgia business leaders who understand the challenges of maintaining a successful workforce.

Who should attend: CEO / Human Resources

Topics covered:

- What programs are available and what is working
- Generational Gaps
- Leadership Training Game Plans

This session is sponsored TBA

This panel discussion will be moderated by TBA

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Safety in Georgia's Manufacturing Community (back to of page)

What are the secrets to a world-class safety culture? The answer is not the size of the organization. During this session, you will gain insight into developing a world-class safety culture for manufacturers of ALL sizes and industries. You will hear from an attorney, an EH&S Professional for a local manufacturer, a third-party senior safety specialist, as well as an Area Director for OSHA. Each of these individuals will share their key takeaways on how to create buy-in at all levels of your organization, how to manage the inevitable OSHA inspection and what you need to know about continuous improvement.

Who should attend: COOs, Operations Plant Managers, HR Executives, and anyone for whom safety is a top priority.

Topics covered:

Keys to a safety culture
OSHA involvement in your organization
Safety trends for 2020 and beyond

This session is sponsored

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Afternoon Educational Sessions - 2:30 - 4:00

International Issues for Manufacturing: (back to top of page)
Building Domestic Growth and a Competitive Edge

This panel will be comprised of Georgia business leaders who understand the challenges of international trade.

Who should attend: Purchasing / Export/ Logistics

Topics covered:

- Increase sales by leveraging the demand for U.S. products overseas.
- Understand the key dynamics that will guide a successful export program.
- Learn from success stories you can build from.

Join our panel discussion regarding the opportunities available for all size manufacturing companies ready to take their organization to the next level.

This session is sponsored by : TBA

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Sales and Marketing Secrets for Manufacturers (back to of page)

This panel will be comprised of Georgia business leaders who understand the challenges of maintaining a successful sales and marketing program. The all-star panel includes leaders that will be sharing their best practices on how they are tackling key challenges from the shift in how people buy, lead generation and the digital transformation in sales and marketing. This session will be recorded for IndustrialSage.

Who should attend: Sales Representatives / Sales Managers / Marketing

Topics covered:

- Sales Strategies
- Team Accountability (that works for everyone)
- Marketing Game Plans
- Social Media Marketing For Manufacturing

Operational Excellence (back to of page)

This panel will be comprised of Georgia business leaders who understand the challenges of creating and driving continuous improvement.

Operational Excellence is the execution of the business more consistently and reliably than the competition. Operational Excellence is demonstrated and recognized by results. Given two companies with the same strategy, the Operationally Excellent company will have lower operational risk, lower operating costs, and increased profits relative to its competitors. It may more simply be interpreted as "Execution Excellence." Additionally, Operational Excellence (when done correctly and well) can help companies reduce turnover, reduce the long learning curve for new employees, deal with the generational gaps and enhance their employees' experience.

Operational Excellence is neither a specific management philosophy nor a particular methodology; it integrates all those enabling to reach Excellence. However, most of its drivers are based on earlier continuous improvement methodologies, such as Lean Six Sigma and The Toyota Production System. However, the focus of Operational Excellence should go beyond just the shop floor and encompass the entirety of the enterprise.

Who should attend: Operational leaders, C-level business leaders, plant managers, General Managers, Finance personnel

Topics covered:
- Change Management
- How to perform an effective Gemba walk
- Visual Examples of Lean
- The power of Kaizen
- Involving your workforce to get the most out of the culture

Smart Factory (back to of page)

The panel will discuss lessons learned and case studies from multiple manufacturers who are underway with their Industry 4.0 journey and are seeing the business benefits provided by Smart Manufacturing solutions. The framework for the discussion will highlight best practices for developing and implementing a road map for getting to the Smart Factory state, including:

• Identifying Business Drivers
• Developing Requirements
• Stakeholder Alignment
• People, Process & Technology Assessment
• Technology Stack Selection for Short & Long Term
• Change Management Plan
• Heat Map for Pilot Selection
• Pilot(s) execution and Lessons Learned
• Measure actual ROI and business benefits
• Rollout strategy

Who Should Attend

• CIO/ VP/Director of IT
• COO / Operational Leaders
• CFO
• Quality, Lean, Continuous Improvement, Maintenance, and other Manufacturing Managers

Topics Covered

• Improving Performance, Quality, Maintenance, and Schedule Management
• Machine Learning / Predictive Analytics
• Supply Chain integration
• ERP integration and Finite Scheduling
• Traceability
• Smart Sensors
• Paperless, Mobility, Workforce Optimization, and more

Meet the Speakers

2026 Speakers To Be Announced...

2019 Summit Keynote Speakers

Stuart Countess

Morning Sessions - 10:30 - Noon

Afternoon Sessions 2:30 - 4:00

Manufacturing A Better Bottom Line (back to of page)

Trends to Track in Your Supply Chain (back to of page)

Developing Georgia's Winning Workforce (back to of page)

Safety in Georgia's Manufacturing Community (back to of page)

Afternoon Educational Sessions - 2:30 - 4:00

International Issues for Manufacturing: (back to top of page)Building Domestic Growth and a Competitive Edge

Sales and Marketing Secrets for Manufacturers (back to of page)

Operational Excellence (back to of page)

Smart Factory (back to of page)

International Issues for Manufacturing: (back to top of page)
Building Domestic Growth and a Competitive Edge