Hannover/Chicago. The Fourth Industrial Revolution is changing manufacturing: automation improves productivity and optimizes efficiency, digitalization creates new business models. The Global Automation & Manufacturing Summit on Wednesday, 14 September 2016, will cover these topics under the motto "Industrial Internet of Things". The summit is part of Industrial Automation North America, which runs 12–17 September 2016 at McCormick Place in Chicago parallel to IMTS-International Manufacturing Technology Show.

Jack Nehlig, president and CEO of Phoenix Contact USA, explains in his keynote how his company works with the Industrial Internet of Things. The session "Cloud-based manufacturing: Setting the standard" examines industry attitudes towards the Industrial Internet of Things as well as adoption and creating standards. "Robotics: Rise of the machines" looks at robotics in manufacturing. "How maintenance and big data can co-exist" gives an overview of maintenance in the age of digitalization.

"The Industrial Internet of Things has changed the way industry thinks about manufacturing," said Wolfgang Pech, senior vice president at Deutsche Messe. "In order to stay competitive, industry professionals have to keep up not only with core technologies, but also best practices, strategies and trends. The Global Automation & Manufacturing Summit provides a discussion platform that advances smart manufacturing."

Online registration for the Global Automation & Manufacturing Summit is at http://industrialtechnology.events/gams .

Deutsche Messe’s U.S. subsidiary, Hannover Fairs USA, Inc., organizes Industrial Automation NORTH AMERICA, MDA NORTH AMERICA, ComVac NORTH AMERICA, Industrial Supply NORTH AMERICA, and Surface Technology NORTH AMERICA in cooperation with AMT-The Association For Manufacturing Technology. The five events run parallel to IMTS 2016 and belong to Deutsche Messe’s HANNOVER MESSE Worldwide portfolio.