IBM auf der Hannover Messe 2026

How can manufacturing companies deploy AI agents securely, at scale, and with measurable impact? In this 1‑hour workshop, IBM experts will demonstrate how industrial data structures can be made AI‑ready and how sovereign AI agents are already being used productively in real manufacturing environments today. We will explore the technical foundation of watsonx—from lakehouse architectures to predictive optimization and operational agent tools—and show through concrete examples how production planning, service, and supply chain operations measurably benefit. The workshop is designed for AI leaders and innovation executives who want to bring agentic AI into their organizations in a sovereign, controlled, and scalable way. 

How can manufacturing companies deploy AI agents securely, at scale, and with measurable impact? In this 1‑hour workshop, IBM experts will demonstrate how industrial data structures can be made AI‑ready and how sovereign AI agents are already being used productively in real manufacturing environments today. We will explore the technical foundation of watsonx—from lakehouse architectures to predictive optimization and operational agent tools—and show through concrete examples how production planning, service, and supply chain operations measurably benefit. The workshop is designed for AI leaders and innovation executives who want to bring agentic AI into their organizations in a sovereign, controlled, and scalable way.  

Global supply chains are under immense pressure: risks are detected too late, information is scattered across silos, collaboration between partners is slow, and many processes are still manual, time‑consuming and error‑prone. This is exactly where Agentic AI comes in — transforming supply chains into responsive, data‑driven and predictive networks.

In this 60‑minute workshop, we will demonstrate how companies can gradually build a supply chain that identifies risks proactively, makes faster decisions, increases efficiency and responds autonomously to disruptions. 

In this workshop, you will learn what truly makes industrial data AI‑ready and why it is the key success factor for scalable AI solutions in manufacturing. We will address core challenges specific to the shopfloor and production environments — such as heterogeneous OT data, data quality issues, governance requirements and the need for modern, flexible data architectures. You will see how manufacturers can build a robust data foundation that enables predictive quality, reduced downtime, optimized production flows and faster decision‑making. You will also receive a clear roadmap for developing data maturity step by step and accelerating AI use case deployment across engineering, production, quality and maintenance. Expect concise insights, practical methods and the opportunity to exchange ideas with other manufacturing experts. 

The global development of artificial intelligence is accelerating rapidly. While the U.S. and China are already investing at massive scale, Europe faces the strategic challenge of building its own sovereign AI infrastructure to secure innovation, competitiveness and long‑term technological independence. At the center of this effort is the concept of the AI Factory – modern computing and data platforms that industrialize AI at scale and make it usable across production, quality, supply chain and maintenance.

In this workshop, Thomas Harrer – Distinguished Engineer at IBM – will explore the importance of AI Factories specifically for the manufacturing industry:

• What is an AI Factory – and why does Europe need it?
• What role does digital sovereignty play in an industrial context?
• How can Europe close the investment gap compared to the U.S. and China?
• Why are state‑supported models – similar to GIGA factories – essential for Europe’s future? We will discuss how the public sector and private industry can work together to build powerful, secure and sustainable AI infrastructures – from advanced data centers to cloud platforms and future quantum‑computing systems.

IBM plays a central role in this transformation with infrastructure and platform solutions such as IBM Storage, hybrid cloud architectures, integration systems and a clear path toward quantum‑computing capabilities. In the interactive discussion, we will explore concrete scenarios showing how AI Factories can boost industrial efficiency and help Europe achieve long‑term technological sovereignty.