More than 200 people attended the AMBayArea Summit 2022 hosted by the Association of Manufacturers Bay Area (AMBayArea) at Chabot Space & Science Center in Oakland on Tuesday, April 26.

The event began with an hour of networking and exhibits followed by the panel discussion Bay Area Manufacturing: The Next Five Years, which was moderated by Lance Hastings, President and CEO of the California Manufacturers & Technology Association (CMTA) and featured industry experts with extensive experience in current and future regulations, sustainable business practices, emerging technologies, and managing supply chains, as well as insight into regional economic and labor market trends. Panelists were Kevin Kelly, Emerald Packaging CEO; J.D. Sassaman, Sutro Collaborative CEO & Founder; Chris Lee, Ph.D., The Centers of Excellence for Labor Market Research Assistant Director; and Bindiya Vakil, Resilinc CEO & Co-Founder.

Attendees could attend two breakout sessions and chose from six engaging topics including Real-World Cybersecurity Breaches in Manufacturing presented by Albert Brown, Director of Strategic Initiatives for ZAG Technical Services; Creating an Apprenticeship in 3 Easy Steps presented by Mark Martin, Ph.D., Regional Director for Advanced Manufacturing Workforce Development – Bay Area; Building and Maintaining a High-Performance Environment presented by Robert Sher, CEO of Mastering Midsized; Plant Automation: A Case Study With Ramar Foods presented by PJ Quesada, Vice President of Ramar Foods and Michael Shabaka, Ph.D., Director of Sales and Innovation Excellence for Manex; How to Take Advantage of California Competes Tax Credits presented by Scott Dosick, Deputy Director for the California Competes Tax Credit for the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development (GO-Biz); and B Corp Certification 101 presented by Jennifer Cantero, Director of Sustainability for Sensiba San Filippo LLP.

The Summit concluded with an extended hosted happy hour from allowing attendees to enjoy food and drinks while re-connecting with peers and making new connections, as well as visit exhibitor booths hosted by local manufacturers, community partners, and service providers.

The Presenting Sponsor of the AMBayArea Summit 2022 was Manex Consulting. The Summit was also supported by Gold Sponsors AB&I Foundry, City National Bank, Corteva Agriscience, EASTBAYWorks, and Sensiba San Filippo; and Silver Sponsors ALOM, Bank of America, Bay Area Community Colleges, Bay Area LEEDS, Bodycote, Champion Risk & Insurance Services, CMTA, Comerica, Contra Costa Community College District, East Bay EDA, Emerald Packaging, Employment Training Panel (ETP), Heffernan Group, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, and ZAG Technical Services Inc.

The 4th Annual Summit will be held in April 2023. Date and details to be announced.