Wednesday, October 21st: 9:00AM-12:00PM
Maine Maritime Academy’s Maritime Industrial Workforce Training Center – 46 Burbank Ave, Brunswick, ME 04011
We’re excited to offer a free in-person workshop focused on helping manufacturers navigate digital transformation while protecting their businesses as they adopt new technologies.
The program will explore practical approaches to modernization, including identifying manageable next steps, improving efficiency and scalability, managing organizational change, and establishing appropriate governance around new technology. The workshop will also address important cybersecurity considerations facing businesses today.
The goal is not technology for technology’s sake. It’s helping manufacturers understand how thoughtful modernization can support business growth while protecting the people, culture, and values that made their companies successful.
Agenda
- 9:00am: Baker Newman Noyes – Turning Digital Transformation into Business Growth
- 10:00am: Harbor Digital – Smart Manufacturing Without Putting Production at Risk
- 11:00am: Rexel USA – Operational Technology on the Production Floor
- 11:30am: Lunch
Presentations
Baker Newman Noyes – Turning Digital Transformation into Business Growth
As AI, automation, and digital technologies continue to reshape the manufacturing landscape, many small and mid-sized businesses are evaluating how technology can support future growth while maintaining the culture, relationships, and values that make their organizations successful. While technology is often part of the conversation, meaningful transformation also involves people, processes, data, and decision-making.
In this session, professionals from BNN’s Business & Technology Advisory practice will explore how manufacturers and growing businesses can approach modernization in a practical and manageable way. Through discussion of common operational challenges, organizational readiness, and change management considerations, participants will examine how businesses can think about digitization, automation, and continuous improvement as part of their broader business strategy.
Topics include:
• Common operational and technology challenges facing manufacturers and growing businesses
• Signs that growth may be outpacing existing processes, systems, and reporting capabilities
• Considerations for aligning strategy, people, processes, technology, and data
• Practical perspectives on modernization while preserving the culture and values that define the business
• A practical roadmap with next steps for modernizing your technology posture
Key message: Digital transformation is not about becoming a different company. It is about examining how people, processes, technology, and data can evolve alongside the business as it grows.
Harbor Digital – Smart Manufacturing Without Putting Production at Risk
Connecting equipment, systems, and data can make a manufacturer more productive, informed, and competitive—but every new connection must be intentional, documented, secured, and recoverable.
This presentation will explain the practical difference between information technology and operational technology, how connections between business systems and the production floor can introduce operational risk, and why separation does not have to prevent useful communication. Attendees will learn how system inventories, controlled vendor access, network boundaries, System Security Plans, AI guardrails, and tested recovery plans create a safer foundation for digital transformation.
Designed for growing manufacturers, the session will use relatable examples rather than technical jargon and conclude with a practical self-assessment and a manageable 90-day starting plan. The goal is not to discourage automation or connected technology—it is to help manufacturers adopt it confidently without unnecessarily putting production, safety, or business continuity at risk.
Speaker Background
Ben Cameron, CISSP, CMMC-CCP
Owner, Harbor Digital Systems
Ben Cameron is the owner of Harbor Digital Systems, a Maine-based managed technology and cybersecurity company that helps manufacturers, municipalities, and professional organizations protect their data, secure their systems, and maintain reliable operations.
Ben holds the Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) credential and is a Certified CMMC Professional (CMMC-CCP), with additional experience supporting organizations subject to CMMC, NIST 800-171, CJIS, HIPAA, and other security and compliance requirements.
Before entering the technology industry, Ben graduated from Maine Maritime Academy (’93E) with an engineering degree and worked as a marine engineer deep sea. With this experience Ben brings a practical understanding of the difference between protecting business information and protecting the systems that keep equipment, facilities, and physical processes running.
Through Harbor Digital Systems, Ben works with growing organizations to assess technology risk, document systems and responsibilities, separate and secure critical environments, manage vendor access, strengthen cybersecurity, and prepare for operational recovery. His approach focuses on making complex technology and security topics understandable and actionable for business leaders—not turning them into IT specialists.
Rexel USA – Operational Technology on the Production Floor
Explore what makes up the Operation Technology (OT) in a manufacturing facility and how the various devices such as Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs), Variable Frequency Drives (VFDs), Human-Machine Interfaces (HMIs) and Smart Sensors are the core of any automated process. Learn how automation architectures, industrial networks and integrated safety have evolved and work together to bring more data, speed, efficiency, and productivity to the manufacturing environment. Whether you have legacy automation systems in need of modernization or are considering a brand-new automated system, understanding the core devices and how they can be integrated can help you achieve a safer, faster and “smarter” manufacturing environment.
Speaker Background
Matt Anderson
Industrial Automation Sales Manager for Rexel
Matt Anderson is the Maine & New Hampshire Regional Sales Manager with Rexel Industrial Automation, part of Rexel, a global company with a strong regional presence. With nearly four decades of experience in the industrial automation industry—including 12 years with a systems integrator and 26 years with Rexel, formerly known as Horizon Solutions and Holmes Distributors—Matt brings a deep understanding of the technologies and challenges shaping modern manufacturing.