Nick Ergang

Many manufacturers are modernizing unevenly, with individual plants pursuing their own digital initiatives without a unified strategy. Connectivity remains the foundational barrier, with issues such as inconsistent Wi Fi, legacy infrastructure, and siloed modernization programs slowing progress. This panel brings together leaders who are building enterprise wide connectivity roadmaps that support MES, maintenance modernization, digital work instructions, predictive maintenance, and connected worker initiatives. The discussion will explore how to align plants, IT, and operations around a common connectivity foundation that accelerates transformation at scale.

• Establish a unified connectivity strategy that aligns all plants and modernization programs under a common vision

• Build the foundational infrastructure required for MES, maintenance modernization, digital work instructions, and AI enabled use cases

• Identify and close critical gaps such as inconsistent Wi Fi, outdated networks, and fragmented technology ownership

• Create a scalable approach that avoids each plant taking its own path and ensures repeatable deployment models

• Connect connectivity investments directly to operational outcomes such as reliability, productivity, and workforce enablement

Ecolab is developing a unified data and decision support platform that brings together equipment intelligence, operator intelligence, and multiple operational data sources into a single, consumable experience for frontline teams. The initiative focuses on enabling utilities operators, engineers, and production teams to access the right information at the right time, combining insights from process systems, connected worker tools, and analytics engines. Nick Ergang will share how Ecolab is piloting this integrated model, the early architecture, and the path toward scaling a hub and spoke data ecosystem across diverse manufacturing sites.

• Enabled operators and utilities engineers to make faster, more informed decisions by integrating insights from process systems, connected worker tools, and production data into a single, conversational interface.

• Improved operational efficiency by connecting self service analytics, rounding tools, and internal best practice content into a unified decision support workflow.

• Strengthened loss analysis capabilities by pulling structured data from connected worker platforms and OEE systems into AI driven summaries and recommendations.

• Built a scalable hub and spoke architecture that allows site level autonomy while maintaining enterprise governance, ensuring consistent data sources of record and controlled innovation.

• Established a pilot environment that will demonstrate measurable operator readiness, utilities optimization, and cross system interoperability ahead of broader rollout in 2026.