Experience the future of manufacturing, live.

Smart Manufacturing Week 2027 will welcome Factory of the Future as a major immersive feature bringing the next generation of connected, intelligent and secure manufacturing to life.

Developed in partnership with AMIC, the Advanced Manufacturing Innovation Centre, Factory of the Future will bring together digital manufacturing, automation, AI, digital twins, cybersecurity, sustainability and connected supply chains into one integrated manufacturing environment.

Rather than presenting individual technologies in isolation, Factory of the Future will demonstrate how equipment, software, data, controls and people can work together across a connected production ecosystem.

Visitors will be able to walk through a live, modular manufacturing environment and see how modern production systems can respond, adapt and optimise in real time.

In partnership with

Factory of the Future 2027  

See intelligent manufacturing in action

Factory of the Future is being designed to move beyond traditional product demonstrations.

The live environment will show how technologies from different solution providers can be combined to create more productive, resilient and data-led manufacturing operations.

The experience is expected to feature:

  • A functioning production line
  • Robotics, cobots and automation
  • Conveyors, AGVs and intelligent material flow
  • Machine vision, quality inspection and metrology
  • PLCs, sensors, edge computing and industrial networks
  • MES, SCADA, production dashboards and digital twin platforms
  • Predictive maintenance and condition monitoring
  • Energy monitoring and sustainability reporting
  • Cybersecurity for connected manufacturing
  • AR and VR training and operator support
  • Real-time production data and live KPI displays

The demonstrator will be organised into integrated zones, showing how technology connects across the complete manufacturing process.

These may include smart assembly, additive manufacturing, AI and digital twins, predictive maintenance, sustainability, quality control, logistics, cybersecurity and emerging innovation.

A connected, data-driven production environment

At Smart Manufacturing Week 2027, AMIC will showcase a data-driven connected supply chain built on the architecture developed through its flagship Virtual Factory project.

The demonstration will integrate equipment and software from leading manufacturing solution providers to show how smart design and connected data can support the configuration and reconfiguration of products and production processes.

Through a connected digital thread, manufacturers will be able to see how changes can be assessed before they are implemented, allowing teams to:

  • Explore different production scenarios
  • Identify the impact of design or process changes
  • Optimise performance and resource utilisation
  • Improve cost visibility
  • Strengthen operational resilience
  • Make informed decisions throughout the product lifecycle

Together, these capabilities will show how manufacturers can move from reactive operations towards intelligent, adaptive and data-led production.

Technology and capabilities

The Factory of the Future experience will bring together a wide range of advanced manufacturing capabilities, including:

  • Factory layout and redesign optimisation
  • Discrete event modelling and process digital twins
  • Capacity and resource utilisation modelling
  • Dynamic production planning and event-driven scheduling
  • AR-enabled work instructions
  • Connected digital supply chain analysis
  • Digital twin technology
  • IT and OT infrastructure
  • Unified namespace architecture
  • Manufacturing operations software
  • Edge analytics and control
  • Cybersecurity for connected manufacturing
  • Design-led digital threads
  • Costing and value engineering frameworks
  • Design for manufacturability, assembly and disassembly

Why AMIC?

Factory of the Future is being developed in partnership with AMIC, the Advanced Manufacturing Innovation Centre.

Led by Queen’s University Belfast, AMIC is a £100 million innovation centre created to support growth, productivity and competitiveness across the manufacturing sector through world-class research and innovation capability.

AMIC is also developing its own 10,500m² Factory of the Future facility at Global Point in Newtownabbey. The open-access manufacturing and engineering innovation centre is being designed to help industry explore, test and adopt new technologies.

Its capabilities span digital manufacturing, smart design, sustainable polymers and composites, nanotechnology and photonics, with particular expertise in AI, cybersecurity, automation, digital twins and connected production systems.

This combination of technical expertise and practical manufacturing experience makes AMIC the ideal partner to help create a credible, robust and industry-led Factory of the Future at Smart Manufacturing Week.

What's Included?

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Become part of Factory of the Future

Smart Manufacturing Week is looking for technology partners and solution providers to help bring the live 2027 environment to life.

We are particularly interested in speaking to companies offering:

  • Robotics and cobots
  • Additive manufacturing technologies
  • Digital twin platforms
  • MES, SCADA and production dashboards
  • AI, machine vision and analytics
  • Cybersecurity for manufacturing environments
  • Connectivity, edge computing, 5G and industrial networks
  • AR, VR and operator training tools
  • Predictive maintenance and condition monitoring
  • Sustainability, energy and carbon monitoring
  • Smart logistics, AGVs and warehouse automation
  • Quality inspection and metrology technologies

Selected partners will have the opportunity to place their technology at the heart of a major live manufacturing showcase.

Participation could include onsite demonstrations, integration within the production environment, visibility across the wider event, inclusion in dedicated marketing campaigns, thought leadership opportunities and direct engagement with senior manufacturing and engineering decision-makers.

 

Help us build the factory of tomorrow

Factory of the Future will provide a unique opportunity to demonstrate not only what your technology can do, but how it works alongside other systems within a realistic production environment.

Join us at Smart Manufacturing Week 2027 and help show the manufacturing community what the connected factory of tomorrow looks like in practice.

Register your interest below to become a Factory of the Future partner.

Interested in taking part in the 2027 Factory of the Future?