Leading voices from across industry will examine the technologies, pressures and practical challenges reshaping sheet metal manufacturing at EuroBLECH 2026 in Hanover.
What does it take to move smart factory projects from strategy to the shop floor? Where is AI already delivering value in production? What are buyers looking for from technology suppliers? And as requirements for precision, quality and traceability increase, how are manufacturers responding?
These are not hypothetical questions. They are challenges manufacturers, production teams and technology buyers are dealing with now.
At EuroBLECH 2026, taking place from 20 to 23 October in Hanover, they will be brought onto the stage as part of the exhibition’s new curated conference programme.
Hosted on the NextGen Technology Stage in Hall 27, the programme brings together manufacturers, engineers, procurement specialists, consultants and industry experts to examine how technologies are being applied in production and the technical, operational and commercial factors that influence implementation.
For the first time, EuroBLECH has built a fully curated conference programme around the issues affecting production and investment decisions across the sheet metal working industry. Sessions will explore everything from AI, automation and smart manufacturing to productivity, workforce development, sustainability and changing buyer expectations. Access to the conference is included with an exhibition ticket.
“There is a lot of discussion around AI, automation, digitalisation and the factory of the future, but the interesting questions are increasingly about application,” said Evelyn Warwick, Event Director for EuroBLECH on behalf of RX. “Where is the technology already delivering value? What does implementation mean in an existing production environment? And where do the technical or commercial challenges remain? The conference brings different perspectives together to explore exactly those questions.”
The conference compliments the technology on display across eight exhibition halls and 15 technology sectors, allowing visitors to move between live machinery, product demonstrations and expert discussion throughout their visit. EuroBLECH 2026 will bring together the sheet metal working value chain from machinery, automation and tooling to forming, joining, surface technology, digital production and subcontracting.
Conversations worth joining in Hanover
Across four days, the programme will move from the factory floor to the bigger questions shaping the industry’s future. Speakers will share practical experience, challenge established thinking and explore what changing technologies, workforce pressures and customer expectations mean for manufacturers. Among the conversations to look out for:
- What happens when Smart Factory meets the real factory?
Connected machinery, automation, AI and production data are creating new opportunities for more intelligent manufacturing. But getting from ambition to implementation is another matter.
Cenk Çetin, Design Director at DORCE Prefabricated Buildings, will join the panel From Smart Factory Hype to Shop Floor Reality, tackling the gap between what smart manufacturing promises and what it takes to make it work in production.
- What do buyers actually want?
For technology suppliers, machine performance is only one part of an increasingly complex investment decision. Integration, productivity, service, operating costs and long-term production requirements all influence how technologies are evaluated.
Cedric Barth, Head of Entity Procurement at Viessmann Climate Solutions, will bring a procurement perspective to What Buyers Really Want from Sheet Metal Technology Suppliers, putting the priorities and expectations behind purchasing decisions under the spotlight.
The subject is part of a broader focus on procurement at EuroBLECH 2026. On Thursday 22 October, the BME Buyer Day in the Convention Centre will examine topics including purchasing KPIs, supply chain management, steel market developments, economic security, CBAM and AI-supported product costing.
- Technology won’t solve the skills gap. People will.
As production becomes increasingly automated and digitalised, workforce requirements and the skills needed on the shop floor are changing too. Anna Sänger, Metal Industry Consultant & Content Creator, will explore the human side of an increasingly automated industry in Technology Won’t Solve the Skills Gap. People Will.
- How do you manufacture when ‘good enough’ isn’t good enough?
In sectors such as aerospace and defence, precision is only part of the challenge. Manufacturers must also respond to demanding requirements around quality, consistency and traceability.
Jesper Evervall, Engineer – Sheet Metal Forming at GKN Aerospace AB, will join Aerospace, Defence and High-Spec Fabrication: Meeting Demands for Precision and Traceability, bringing the perspective of one of manufacturing’s most demanding application areas.
- And what if the productivity problem isn’t the machine?
Productivity is determined by more than machine performance alone. Utilisation, process discipline, skills and the interaction between production systems all influence overall manufacturing performance.
In Solving the Productivity Gap: Skills, Systems and Process Discipline, Bojan Mijatovic, Production Director at Unipromet, will join the discussion around the combination of people, systems and processes needed to improve manufacturing performance.
Join the conversation at EuroBLECH 2026
The EuroBLECH conference will take place on the NextGen Technology Stage in Hall 27 during EuroBLECH 2026, 20–23 October at the Hanover Exhibition Grounds.
Access to conference sessions is included with an exhibition ticket.
Register to attend EuroBLECH 2026 and explore the full conference programme at www.euroblech.com