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Manufacturing Exchange
The Physical AI Advantage: Building Connected Intelligence Your Enterprise Owns
Build the foundation for lasting operational advantage, cost efficiency, and differentiation
⚪ 20 August 2026 | 2:30 PM
⚪ Cognizant Manufacturing Innovation Center at MxD, Chicago
⚪ Executive Roundtable + Live Demonstrations + MxD Facility Tour
⚪ Private Drinks & Dinner with Manufacturing Leaders
JOIN US THIS AUGUST
The next phase of manufacturing won't be won by whoever runs the most AI pilots. It will be won by those who turn every decision and outcome into shared intelligence that builds across the enterprise — and becomes an advantage that is hard to replicate.
Manufacturers have built real capabilities: automation, robotics, digital twins, AI models, connected operations. Yet in most organizations, these work in isolation. Each model and system operates on its own logic, with no shared understanding of the wider enterprise.
What changes this is a shared foundation: one place where operational knowledge, governance, and coordination live — owned by the enterprise, independent of any single model or vendor. When physical and digital operations draw on it, they act as one system: anticipating problems, preventing incidents, and improving with every decision.
For manufacturing leaders, the payoff is concrete: decisions that account for cross-functional impact, autonomy that stays safe and governed, faster scaling across sites and lines without rebuilding controls each time, and intelligence that grows more valuable with every decision it informs.
This session is about that shift: building the cohesive and institutional intelligence foundation that enables physical and digital operations to act as one intelligent system. Through the Cognizant Intelligence Spine, leaders can drive unprecedented agility, reduce AI execution and labor costs, preserve flexibility across evolving models, and turn real-world operating intelligence into a competitive moat that competitors cannot easily replicate.
Join a select group of manufacturing leaders at the Cognizant Manufacturing Innovation Center at MxD for a closed-door exchange to experience the launch of the Cognizant Intelligence Spine and explore the next stage of Physical AI. Hosted by Cognizant and AWS, the session combines executive discussion, live demonstrations, and peer exchange, offering a firsthand look at how manufacturers are moving from fragmented intelligence to governed, autonomous operations.
EVENT SNAPSHOT - KEY INSIGHTS
See how Physical AI moves beyond pilots
What it takes to move from isolated use cases to systems that can sense, reason, act, and learn in real manufacturing environments — coordinated through a shared foundation rather than run in isolation.
From Fragmented Intelligence to Governed, Autonomous Operations
Why fragmented intelligence, not a lack of data, has become the real barrier to scaling AI — and how manufacturers are connecting systems, decisions, and action across the enterprise for greater resilience.
Autonomy with Governance
Autonomy in physical environments takes more than model performance. How shared context, policy, and human oversight keep decisions aligned, auditable, and safe — grounded in intelligence the enterprise owns, not tied to any single model or vendor.
Live at MxD: See It in Motion
Practical examples of Physical AI across digital twins, computer vision, quality inspection, robotics, and autonomous operations. Includes a guided tour of MxD — a firsthand look at how cloud, edge, AI, and operational technology come together in a real manufacturing environment.
Peer-Level Exchange, Not Presentations
A candid, closed-door discussion with leaders facing the same questions on scale, legacy-plant complexity, workforce adoption, operational risk, and measurable value — and how peers are approaching them.
Leave with a Practical Playbook
Clear direction on moving from experimentation to production-grade Physical AI — and on building intelligence you own, rather than adding another disconnected layer of technology.
SPEAKERS
Gabriel Verreault
Sr. Partner Solutions Architect, Physical AI, Industrials
AWS
SESSION FLOW
14:30
Registration and Networking
Arrive at the Cognizant Manufacturing Innovation Center at MxD and connect with fellow manufacturing leaders.
15:00
Opening Remarks: The Next Phase of Physical AI in Manufacturing
A short framing on why the conversation is shifting from pilots and dashboards to connected, governed intelligence that learns at enterprise scale.
15:15
Executive Perspective: From Fragmented Intelligence to Institutional Intelligence
Why manufacturers generate intelligence across every system yet struggle to connect it — and what it takes to bring physical systems, AI models, automation, and operational knowledge into one shared foundation for faster, safer, more consistent decisions.
15:45
Live Demonstrations and MxD Facility Tour
Experience Physical AI in action across manufacturing environments, including digital twins, vision intelligence, quality inspection, worker safety, robotics, edge intelligence, and autonomous operations.
16:45
Executive Roundtable: Scaling Physical AI Beyond the Pilot
A closed-door peer discussion on the realities of scaling AI across plants, lines, and operational ecosystems — governance, brownfield integration, intelligence ownership and sovereignty, workforce adoption, and business value.
17:30
Closing Insights: Building the Institutional Intelligence Backbone for Governed, Autonomous Operations
Key takeaways and a practical view of how manufacturing leaders can move toward connected, governed intelligence that grows across the enterprise.
17:45
Private Drinks & Dinner Networking
Continue the conversation with peers, Cognizant, and AWS leaders in a relaxed setting.
ABOUT COGNIZANT
Cognizant (Nasdaq-100: CTSH) is an AI builder and technology services provider helping enterprises turn AI investment into real-world value. In manufacturing and physical industries, Cognizant brings together engineering, IoT, edge, AI, cloud, security, and operational expertise to help organizations design, test, and scale intelligent systems in complex real-world environments.
At MxD, the Cognizant Manufacturing Innovation Center provides a hands-on environment where manufacturers can explore how cloud, edge, AI, automation, digital twins, and OT integration come together to improve production at scale.
As Physical AI advances, Cognizant helps manufacturers move beyond isolated use cases toward connected intelligence — where every decision and outcome contributes to enterprise-wide learning, governed autonomy, and measurable impact. Through the Cognizant Intelligence Spine, physical and digital operations act as one system the enterprise owns and governs, helping organizations scale AI with greater consistency, speed, and lasting operational advantage.
Cognizant works with leading manufacturers across automotive, industrials, consumer goods, and life sciences. With over 270 centers in 45 countries, Smart Manufacturing Studios, ER&D labs, innovation hubs, and a partner ecosystem that includes Microsoft, NVIDIA, AWS, and OMRON, Cognizant helps organizations accelerate prototyping, industrialization, and AI adoption at scale — moving from isolated wins to enterprise-wide impact.
ABOUT AWS
Amazon Web Services (AWS) is the world's most comprehensive and broadly adopted cloud, trusted by leading banks, capital markets firms, and insurers to run their most critical workloads securely and at scale. As financial institutions move beyond AI pilots to enterprise-wide deployment, AWS is powering the shift to agentic AI intelligent systems that reason, plan, and act across complex workflows. Through services like Amazon Bedrock and Bedrock AgentCore, FSI organizations can deploy trusted, autonomous AI agents across customer engagement, risk, and compliance. With the governance and responsible-AI guardrails the industry demands, they can turn early promise into measurable, at-scale business value.
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EXECUTIVE ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSION
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