MAINSTREAM Summit UK 2026 Brochure

20-21 October 2026

Birmingham, UK

Brilliant Content.

Capability Development.

Incredible Networking.

A platform for

Capability Development With 30 years of transforming Maintenance & Reliability practices across four continents, the MAINSTREAM Community is back in Birmingham.

Known for its forward-thinking and willingness to tackle brave topics, MAINSTREAM UK offers: 50 case studies & sessions; 5 specialised tracks; 6 workshops; hands-on tutorials; expo showcasing 40 partners; year-round membership to the MAINSTREAM Community online network; and access to all content post-conference.

Join us for two amazing days of learning, networking, & knowledge-sharing.

From factory floors to power stations, MAINSTREAM is here to supercharge your assets and celebrate the people, technology, and ideas transforming Maintenance & Reliability.

2

Topics 1

Developing and Retaining the Maintenance Workforce

2

Breaking Free from Reactive Maintenance Culture

3

Bridging the Divide Between Operations and Maintenance

4

Converting Data into Decisions That Stick

5

The Erosion of Work Management Fundamentals

6

Managing Ageing Assets and the Obsolescence Cliff

7

Securing Sustained Leadership Buy-in and Investment

8

Navigating AI Hype Without Losing Focus on Fundamentals

9

Building Change Management Capability in Maintenance Teams

10

Preventing the Loss of Critical Knowledge and Institutional Memory

11

Improving the Standing and Practice of Reliability Engineering

12

Embedding Long-Term Strategic Asset Management Thinking 3

“MAINSTREAM is the best Asset Management and Reliability Conference in the world.”

Drew Troyer Contributing Editor, Reliable

“If there is only one Maintenance event you can attend, it has to be MAINSTREAM.” Janvi Shah Head of Highways Asset Management, Arcadis 5

Who attends MAINSTREAM? ABB Accruent AESSEAL AECT AFRY Ailsa Reliability Solutions Airbus Amazon RME Amentum Anglo American Anomalyse Anthony Veder Aqua Operations AR Consulting Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) A&S International Asset One Asset Schools AstraZeneca ATS Automation Aurizon (AU) AVT Reliability BAE Systems Baker Hughes Baringa Bentley Motors Binnies BioMarin Pharmaceutical BMT BMW BP (United Kingdom) Catalent Pharma Solutions Charlotte Wilding Consulting Certus Digital Cogna Climeworks Iceland

6

CMMS Radio CNOOC International Collaborit Convatec Cytiva Delta-Xero Distribution Domtar DP World UK Drax Power Station Ecolab Egis Eindhoven University of Technology Eli Lilly and Company Emerson Enfinium Ensemble AI Engineering Maintenance Solutions Evora IT Expro Finsbury Food First Bus Forth Ports Frazer-Nash Consultancy Future Biogas GA Pet Food Partners Greater Anglia Haltermann Carless UK Harbour Energy Harsco Environmental Heidelberg Materials Heineken Group B.V. Hexagon I-care Reliability IDCON Isograph Ithaca Energy (UK)

JPS Reliability Krones UK Lenzing Group Lighthouse Consulting Liminai London Gateway Port Limited MAG Manchester Airport Group Maintain Reliability MaintMaster Systems Mars Inc (US) Maximo UK & Ireland User Group MC Global Solutions Mia Ilkko Utveckling AB MSD Dunboyne BioNX MultiSensor AI National Gas Transmission National Grid National Highways National Physical Laboratory (NPL) Naviam NTT Data Business Solutions OGV Energy OneRiver Oracle Management Consultancy Pete Morland Consulting PiLog Plant Engineering PowTechnology Digital Transformation Services Premier Foods Princes Food ProAIM Prometheus Group Pro-Reliability Solutions Prospecta Reliable Manufacturing rheon Insight

Rolls Royce Rizing - a Wipro Company Samotics UK SAP Science and Technology Facilities Council Scottish Water SD Guthrie Seize Systems Severn Trent Siemens Sigga SimpleMDG SKF Smurfit Westrock SolutionsPT South Western Railway SRCN Solutions Stantec Swizzels Matlow Tate & Lyle Thames Water Total Productivity Solutions Touchstone Two6 Services UE Systems Ultimo United Utilities University of Kentucky University of Manchester Warwick University Whitetree Group Woodside Energy (AU) Verdantix Visual Planner Yelo Enterprises Yorkshire Water MAINSTREAM Summit attendees 2025

• Pre-registration & badge collection

Tuesday 07:15 - 08:30 • Registration, Networking & Expo

17:30 - 19:00

08:30 - 17:30

• Keynote Session • JumpStart Networking

• Summit Sessions

21/10

17.00

20/10

19/10

Monday

17:30 - 19:00 • MAINSTREAM Networking Function

Agenda Overview 7

Wednesday O8:00 – 12:00 • Workshops and Xchange Sessions • Summit close 12.05

Brilliant Content.

Capability Development.

Incredible Networking.

Curated Content Across 5 Tracks plus Workshops Access to all Keynotes, Breakouts and Demos Lunch, Morning & Afternoon Teas The Networking Function Mobile App Year-round membership to MAINSTREAM Community Online Platform Searchable Attendee List Access to all Content After the Event

8

Everyone Learns MAINSTREAM offers you SIX different formats for learning, capability development, interactivity, and knowledge.

1

2

4

5

Keynotes 45 mins Strategic discussion on industry shaping challenges. Thought-provoking sessions that tackle broad issues.

Interactive Panels 60 mins

Panellists from different companies and industries collide with varied viewpoints and diverse perspectives and experiences.

Differently

Case Studies 35 mins Practitioners share their perspectives and battle-tested approaches to business challenges revealing triumphs, lessons learned, and tangible results.

Xchange Sessions 60 mins For deeper discussion around crowdsourced topics, these sessions are interactive and moderated by a facilitator.

3

Innovation Theatre 15 mins Rapid-fire demonstrations, new solutions showcasing the latest apps, products, and technologies poised to transform asset, equipment, and workforce management.

6

Workshops 90 mins Presented by thought-leaders in their fields, these 90 minute sessions are handson allowing deeper engagement.

9

Keynote Session

The Nature of Success Drawing on lessons from iconic African animals, Ian Schubach reveals how maintenance leaders can build adaptable, proactive cultures that strengthen collaboration, improve reliability and thrive amid complexity, pressure and change.

Ian Schubach African Safari Guide and Adventurer

Ian Schubach is CEO of leadership consultancy Red Leaf and co-founder of Tracking Success. For three decades, he has delivered keynotes, leadership programmes and facilitated team meetings across Asia Pacific, Europe, South Africa and the United States. A former safari guide and experienced storyteller, Ian uses nature's universal truths to illuminate business challenges. He pioneered the Indoor Teaming Adventure methodology, creating immersive experiences that accelerate leadership development,

MAINSTREAM Summit

strengthen collaboration and help organisations achieve their priorities.

10

Keynote Session

Moon Base: The Role of Maintenance and Reliability on the Surface of the Moon In addition to returning humans to the surface of the Moon, NASA has begun the creation of a permanent base at the Moon’s south pole. In the coming years, this Moon Base will establish a permanent human presence on the lunar surface. With a city on the Moon’s surface, what maintenance and reliability challenges await and how will NASA handle them?

Ed Van Cise NASA Gateway Program's Integration Manager First Element Launch (US)

This keynote will provide an overview of NASA’s plans to return humans to the lunar surface with the Artemis program and explain NASA’s plans for establishing a permanent human presence with the Moon Base program. Establishing an outpost in the hostile and rugged lunar environment poses a number of maintenance and reliability challenges, many of which are identical to those being faced by industry today on Earth.

As an experiment to conclude the first day of the MAINSTREAM Conference, consider the potential for applying industry’s approaches to addressing Earth-based maintenance and reliability challenges to lunar

MAINSTREAM Summit

applications.

11

Keynote Session

Stop With the Strategy, Start With the Power of Ambition Your plans don't fail because your strategy is flawed; they fail because your team lacks the conviction to execute them. Welcome to the paradox plaguing all but the very best teams: organizations invest millions in the master plan, but nothing in the "structural ambition" required to bring it to life.

Based on rigorous research into 200+ transformative leaders, Russell Raath introduces The Science of

Russell Raath Founder, The Ambition Company (US)

Ambition™. We will explore the science and learn how leaders can apply these lessons to their own teams - systematically engineering the three true drivers of competitive advantage: Conviction, Audacity, and Energy.

Most organizations have a strategy. Very few have the conviction to execute it. Russell Raath has spent his career understanding why. After a decade leading Harvard Professor John Kotter's global consulting business and earlier years in industry and consulting, Russell founded The Ambition Company to tackle what he calls The Strategy Paradox: teams invest heavily in planning but lack the foundational belief, boldness, and energy required to follow through when it gets hard. His research into over 200

MAINSTREAM Summit

transformative individuals throughout history explored The Science of Ambition™, a framework that identifies the measurable, developable characteristics behind breakthrough execution. Today, Russell works with corporate leadership teams to unlock the conviction and competitive energy required to make bold strategic moves and sustain them. His clients are leaders who are tired of strategies that stall and teams that default to safe when the moment demands something bolder. He brings a direct, nononsense approach shaped by experience across six continents and a deep respect for the people who do the real work.

12

Keynote Session

From Ambition to Reliability: Building Teams that Deliver In this keynote conversation, Maintenance & Reliability expert Drew Troyer takes the ideas explored in Russell Raath’s session and brings them firmly into the world of Maintenance & Reliability – examining what they mean for the people responsible for making reliability happen every day. The discussion will explore some of the biggest challenges facing our community: building the right culture, getting the

Russell Raath Founder, The Ambition Company (US)

fundamentals right, addressing skills and capability gaps, developing strong teams, and turning organisational intent into action on the ground.

Drawing on Drew’s extensive experience across the Maintenance & Reliability community, this session

Drew Troyer Contributing Editor, Reliable (US)

will challenge us to think beyond strategy and consider the environment we create for our people.

What enables teams to perform? What gets in their way? And how can Maintenance & Reliability leaders build organisations where people have the capability, mindset and support to deliver lasting improvement?

A practical, industry-focused conversation designed to take the themes of ambition and translate

MAINSTREAM Summit

them into the realities of Maintenance & Reliability

13

Perspective Session

Permission to Fail: Avoiding the Risk of Never Being Wrong Mature, asset-intensive organisations often say they want innovation, but govern every kind of uncertainty as though it carries the same risk. That is appropriate where failure is physical, safety-critical or irreversible. It becomes limiting when applied to data, digital tools and process experiments, where small failures can create useful learning. This session explores how leaders can distinguish catastrophic

Dan Everest Fleet Information Systems Manager, Greater Anglia

failure from intelligent learning failure, avoid sunk-cost commitments, and ask better questions before scaling ideas. The remedy is not less discipline, but more proportionate risk: protecting what must not fail while creating space to learn safely.

Recognise when safety discipline becomes blanket caution.

Distinguish catastrophic failure from useful learning failure.

MAINSTREAM Summit

Ask better questions before scaling digital ideas.

14

Perspective Session

Back to Basics: Rebuilding the Foundations That Drive Reliability Following a period of rapid growth through acquisition, the business faced increasing operational

Sam Smith

complexity across its manufacturing network. Multiple legacy information systems, an ageing asset base,

Head of Asset Reliability, The Compleat Food Group

inconsistent engineering capability, and historically tactical capital investment were driving reliability issues, rising maintenance costs, and variable production performance.

As Head of Asset Reliability, my role was to develop a group-wide reliability strategy that standardised maintenance practices, improved asset criticality and lifecycle management, and established a more data-driven approach to investment prioritisation.

This included aligning engineering standards across sites, strengthening capability within local teams, and creating a roadmap to improve equipment reliability, operational resilience, and long-term manufacturing efficiency.

MAINSTREAM Summit

1.Reliability is everyone’s job 2.Prioritising long-term strategy objectives whilst managing short-term challenges 3.Understanding your target audience when delivering the message

15

Perspective Session

Capital Project Turnover Effectiveness Provides the Foundation for Life Cycle Reliability Capital project turnover effectiveness serves as the cornerstone for life cycle reliability within asset management. Capital project turnover refers to the process of transitioning assets from the construction

Jim Kelly Senior Director, Project Management Johnson & Johnson

and commissioning phase to operational use; a critical hand off point that can significantly impact an asset's long-term performance. Best practices will be discussed, ranging from thorough documentation processes, robust commissioning, maintenance function build and seamless communication between project teams and operations staff. Effective turnover lays the groundwork for optimised maintenance strategies, accurate asset data management and proactive reliability engineering.

Through case studies and practical frameworks of early integration of reliability principles during turnover will be shown to prevent future failures, reduce unplanned downtime and increase asset productivity. Key themes include the importance of setting up maintenance technicians for success, so they can hit the ground running as systems are handed over to them from the project team. The role of

MAINSTREAM Summit

digital tools in facilitating data transfer and standardising turnover processes will also be emphasised.

Recommendations for organisations seeking to strengthen their turnover protocols, highlighting the link between meticulous project completion and sustained asset value will be shown.

16

Perspecctive Session

Built for Zero Failure: NASA's Blueprint for Reliability-Led Leadership Implementation and operation of human spaceflight missions is challenging and complex requiring support from the crews in space and Earth-based operations and engineering teams. Responding to the dynamically changing environment and mission in and beyond Earth orbit, as well as managing the risks inherent in those missions, requires high performing, highly reliable teams.

Ed Van Cise NASA Gateway Program's Integration Manager First Element Launch (US)

This becomes even more crucial, and complex, as NASA expands its focus to include rapid development of a permanent human presence on the surface of the Moon.

This discussion will explore the subject of leadership within the context of NASA’s Mission Control and Program Management based on personal experiences of the presenter with the International Space Station, Commercial Crew Program, the lunar Gateway, and NASA’s future Moon Base.

Learn to anticipate failures, build organisational excellence through intentional culture, empower

MAINSTREAM Summit

leadership at every level, adapt to paradigm change, and transform potential problems into pathways for success. When failure isn't an option, preparation becomes the mission.

17

Perspective Session

The 4 KPIs That Sustain Reliability Results: From Reactive Firefighting to Executive Buy-In Many organisations begin a reliability journey with energy, but struggle to sustain momentum once

Walter Nijsen

leadership changes, budgets tighten, or operational pressure returns.

Sr Director Capital Engineering and Reliability Excellence, Cargill Food

This session shows how Cargill has kept Maintenance & Reliability visible, relevant, and supported across multiple locations for more than two decades.

Using real examples, Walter will explain how four simple plant-level indicators help translate maintenance performance into business language, engage senior leaders, and move sites from reactive firefighting toward proactive reliability.

Attendees will leave with a practical approach they can apply in their own business.

1.How to secure and sustain senior leadership support for reliability 2.How to measure plant reliability with four practical indicators

MAINSTREAM Summit

3.How to use KPIs to shift culture from reactive to proactive

18

Perspective Session

Lilly Kinsale’s Condition Based Maintenance Journey, Ensuring Appropriate Asset Monitoring We’ll explore how combining the right techniques and technologies can improve monitoring of critical

Garrett Fitzgerald

assets. In batch-based manufacturing environments, significant gaps in monitoring data can emerge for

Sr Principal Engineer, Maintenance & Reliability, Eli Lilly and Company (IRE)

some of the most critical assets.

We’ll discuss how traditional condition-based monitoring (CBM) approaches fell short in addressing these gaps, leading to the development of hybrid solution that integrates both online and route-based monitoring.

By layering in complementary technologies, coverage was extended across all stages of operation, effectively eliminating blind spots. With these gaps closed, higher-quality data enabled timely interventions that align with business needs and schedules.

1.Online monitoring systems are one tool in the solution, not the complete answer.

MAINSTREAM Summit

2.Good data strengthens engineering decisions but cannot substitute for sound first principles.

3.Reliability is a continuous journey of improvement, not a fixed destination to reach.

19

Perspective Session

From Walking in Circles to Continuous Improvement A Reliability Transformation Journey in Pet Food Manufacturing This presentation explores the transformation of a maintenance organisation from a reactive, breakdowndriven culture to a structured reliability-focused operation. The journey included CMMS enhancement,

Maciej Janowski Head of Reliability and Machine Safety, GA Pet Food Partners

planning and scheduling, in-house condition monitoring, defect elimination, precision maintenance, FMEA application, and restructuring of maintenance and reliability functions.

The session will demonstrate how reliability principles were progressively embedded as organisational maturity and culture evolved. Attendees will gain practical insight into using reliability maturity

Will Bracewell Engineering and Procurement Director, GA Pet Food Partners

assessments, structured roadmaps, and cross-functional engagement to reduce reactive maintenance, improve operational performance, and build sustainable reliability excellence.

3 Key Learnings:

Gary Tyne Founder, Pro-Reliability Solutions

1.Key lessons and challenges encountered during five years of implementing reliability principles and

MAINSTREAM Summit

driving continuous improvement 2.The value gained from clearly separating maintenance execution and reliability engineering responsibilities 3.The critical importance of maintaining strong feedback loops and engagement with frontline and shop floor engineers

20

Perspective Session

How Harsco Started Fixing Spare Parts Data at Scale Harsco Environmental and Ensemble AI will share how they approached one of the most persistent

Vicki Orman

maintenance problems in industry: spare parts data that is duplicated, inconsistent and difficult to trust

Vice President Information Technology, Harsco Environmental

across sites and systems.

This session will walk through the practical steps taken to analyse real ERP and CMMS data, identify duplicate and low-quality records, and apply AI to support maintenance, procurement and engineering teams with clearer decision-making.

Rather than focusing on AI hype, the session focuses on practical implementation, lessons learned, and how organisations can begin improving reliability and inventory decisions using the data they already have.

How to identify duplicate spare parts at scale

MAINSTREAM Summit

How to improve trust in ERP and CMMS data How to combine AI with engineering judgement How to align maintenance and procurement teams How to start without replacing existing systems Lessons learned from a live industrial deployment

21

Perspective Session

Fixing the DRIP: From Data Rich, Information Poor to Value-Driven Asset Intelligence Many asset-intensive organisations are DRIP: Data Rich, Information Poor. Across the asset lifecycle — design, commissioning, operation, condition monitoring, maintenance, and renewal — data is abundant and increasingly inexpensive to collect. As a result, “more data” has quietly become the default objective.

Drew Troyer Contributing Editor, Reliable (US)

Yet cost volatility, reactive work, unstable planning, and investment misalignment persist. Data accumulation is not value creation.

The core issue is architectural. Asset data is rarely structured around the economic outcomes it is meant to support. Instead, organisations move forward from data and hope insight emerges.

This session introduces a reverse, value-driven logic for fixing the DRIP. Rather than starting with data, we begin by defining the value desired: cost stability, uptime reliability, capital efficiency, and controlled risk exposure. From there, we work backward through the chain: the actions required to deliver that value; the decisions required to enable those actions; the insights required to support those decisions; the

MAINSTREAM Summit

information required to generate those insights; and finally, the data required to produce that information.

This disciplined inversion — the foundation of the Data to Dollars (D2$) framework — shifts the objective from data expansion to economic alignment. It clarifies which data matters, which KPIs predict value, and which analytics roles must exist to convert asset performance into financial predictability.

22

Perspective Session

Sprinting to Reliability – Accelerating Asset Health Transformation Traditional approaches to improving asset reliability in the water sector are often slow, complex, and reliant on extended programmes that struggle to translate theory into operational practice. They get bogged down in FMEA and RCM analysis. This session presents a different approach: a pragmatic,

Emily-Jo Howarth Asset Reliability Manager (Wastewater), Southern Water

condensed, sprint based model for rapidly implementing reliability improvements at scale.

Delivered through a collaborative partnership between Southern Water and Binnies, a six month “Reliability Sprint” redefined how reliability frameworks can be developed, tested, and embedded within operational environments.

The initiative combined executive sponsorship, specialist reliability expertise, and frontline operational involvement to co create a practical, ISO 55001 aligned framework.

At the core of the approach was the use of agile sprint principles and digitisation - tools such as asset

MAINSTREAM Summit

criticality models, failure mode analysis, and optimised maintenance strategies to be deployed in real time alongside those responsible for their delivery. This ensured immediate applicability, strong ownership, and sustained adoption.

This presentation explores how sprint-based delivery and pragmatism can accelerate reliability maturity, bridge the gap between strategy and operations, and provide a scalable model for utilities facing increasing performance, regulatory, and environmental pressures. It offers a practical blueprint for organisations seeking to move from reactive maintenance to proactive, resilience focused asset management—at pace.

23

Perspective Session

Building the Skills of the Future - a Competence Focused Approach As skilled technicians retire from a successful career, the challenge of recruiting new employees, transferring knowledge and assuring competence is real for asset centric organisations. United Utilities took a long term view of the skills challenge and invested resources and effort in driving sector wide

Phil White Chief Maintenance Officer, United Utilities (UK)

change and establishing their own technical training centre to meet the challenge head on. The presentation will showcase the approach taken and the results that can be achieved.

How to review your current approach to understand how effective your development plans are Why competence really matters and the impact on performance

MAINSTREAM Summit

Technology is changing the way we work so agility in learning approaches is essential

24

Perspective Session

From Reactive Maintenance to Reliability at Scale: The West Fraser Journey West Fraser Limited, (formerly Norbord) is one of the world's largest manufacturers of engineered woodbased panel products, supplying the construction, furniture and interior fit-out sectors across North America, Europe and Asia. Operating large-scale, 24/7 manufacturing facilities where downtime directly impacts production performance, the business recognised the need to move beyond reactive maintenance and strengthen its reliability strategy.

Przemyslaw Cwioro Automation Development Engineer West Fraser Europe Limited

This session explores West Fraser's ongoing journey to improve asset availability, reduce unplanned downtime and make better maintenance decisions through greater visibility of asset condition and operational performance. Attendees will hear practical lessons learned, the challenges encountered, and how reliability-focused thinking is helping drive operational improvements across the site.

1.Setting the Scene - Who is West Fraser Limited (formerly Norbord), the scale of operations and the importance of uptime in continuous manufacturing

MAINSTREAM Summit

2.The Challenge - the existing reactive maintenance culture and reliance on tribal knowledge 3.Building a Reliability Strategy - identifying critical assets while creating visibility of asset condition 4.Turning Data into Action - illustrating examples of maintenance interventions and improving confidence in decision-making 5.Measuring Success - Improvements in asset availability and showcasing examples of reducing downtime 6.What's Next? - expanding into additional process areas and continuing the journey towards predictive maintenance

25

Perspective Session

Doing It Once vs Doing It Every Time: Asset Health at Scale Northumbrian Water is a mature asset management organisation with ISO 55001 accreditation, advanced

Matt Wilson

risk management capabilities, and its largest-ever investment programme underway. As its asset

Asset Risk Manager, Northumbrian Water

management approach continued to evolve, the organisation identified the need for a single, scalable, and governed asset health measure embedded within its enterprise asset management system. Working with Cohesive, Northumbrian Water developed a proof of concept to test how asset health could be measured consistently, automated across asset classes, and made visible to operational teams. The initiative also uncovered a critical relationship between asset health scoring and the quality of underlying asset data.

Damien de Gouveia Innovations & Solutions Specialist, Cohesive

The case for a single, governed asset health measure Turning asset risk into actionable health insights Embedding asset health where operational teams need it most Why data quality became the unexpected story

MAINSTREAM Summit

What the proof of concept proved and challenged The path towards trusted operational and investment decisions

26

Perspective Session

Application of Technology – Data Fusion and Drone Enabled Inspections with the Asset Management Strategy at Grain LNG With over 70,000 physical assets, with different vintages and like many industries, we faced growing pressure to find better, safer, and more efficient ways of working.

Nicole Robertson Asset Lifecycle Manager Grain LNG

We hear a lot of familiar terms and buzzwords within the industry: digital roadmaps AI digital twins big data It can become a bit overwhelming and lead you down multiple different paths…The real challenge isn’t availability of the systems out there — it’s relevance.

MAINSTREAM Summit

So rather than asking “What technology should we adopt?”, we asked: What problems are we trying to solve — today and in the future? What was right for our business. What was right for our Asset Management Strategy and long term strategic thinking?

3 Key Learnings: 1.Bring the people within the business along the AM and technology journey with you – do not do it in isolation 2.Some systems will fail – it’s what you learn from these failings that will enhance your future strategy 3.Treat your data as Assets!

27

Perspective Session

Plugging the STEM Skills Gap The STEM skills shortage is costing the UK economy approximately £1.5bn every year and is expected to

Alex Knight

grow. There is an urgent need to attract, recruit and retain a larger and more diverse STEM talent pool to

Founder & CEO, STEMAZING

meet the needs of our community and to ensure innovation can thrive.

In this session Alex will discuss how award winning STEMAZING was set up to raise the STEM awareness and aspirations of young people. Hear how our non-profit initiatives are not only inspiring the next generation but also empowering our current STEM workforce with improved communication skills, confidence and purpose through social value.

Over the last 5 years since our inception we have led over 200,000 STEM engagements with young

MAINSTREAM Summit

children led by diverse STEM role models that we train to maximise their effectiveness.

28

Perspective Session

From Instability to more Predictable Operations: How Reliability, Maintenance and Compliance Engineering Transformation Delivers Results

Wayne Swanepoel Independent (AU)

Asset-intensive organisations often struggle with a common challenge: unpredictable equipment performance, growing compliance risk and Engineering teams that are expected to solve increasingly complex problems while operating within structures not designed to deliver reliability outcomes.

This presentation shares the transformation journey of a global industrial operation that fundamentally redefined its Engineering function to address these challenges. A new organisational vision was established, deliberately separating Engineering into three complementary disciplines: Reliability Engineering, Maintenance Engineering and Compliance Engineering. This clear delineation of purpose, accountability and governance enabled focused decision-making, improved execution and stronger alignment between asset strategy and operational outcomes.

More than an organisational redesign, the transformation created a new way of working. Through the

MAINSTREAM Summit

development of a clear operating model, defined accountabilities, structured governance and active workforce involvement in the design process, the business built ownership, reduced resistance to change and established a sustainable foundation for long-term improvement.

The results demonstrated the power of aligning Engineering activities to business outcomes. Over a twoyear period, the operation achieved a 51% reduction in Loss of Containment events, significantly reducing exposure to safety hazards and operational risk. Critical overdue asset strategy work reduced by approximately 44%.

This session will explore the practical lessons, leadership decisions and implementation challenges encountered throughout the transformation. Attendees will gain insights into how organisational design, governance and engineering clarity can work together to create safer, more reliable operations where stable assets support safer people, stronger compliance and more predictable business performance.

29

Perspective Session

Building a Culture of Resilience – How to Keep More Women in Technical Spaces For many women in technical spaces (engineering or construction), they have been the first to enter these fields. Being the first is simply holding the door open but others must walk into the room and cultivate more changes.

Sanya Mathura CEO and Founder, Strategic Reliability Solutions (TTO)

This session takes a look at the work that must be done by management, and employees to help progress these changes and build a culture of resilience to encourage more women to remain in these fields. We will talk about ways new cultures can be built to accommodate both men and women in the workforce.

3 Key Learnings: 1.Build a guide to understand your workplace culture especially with female hires in predominantly male spaces.

2.Learn ways to start the culture shift within the organization.

MAINSTREAM Summit

3.Develop strategies to keep women in these technical spaces.

30

Perspective Session

Is it My Oil or Equipment?

Which is failing?

In the field, we are faced with quick decisions especially when the equipment fails. We need to troubleshoot and determine if something is inherently wrong with the equipment or if there is another factor. Typically, the lubricant gets blamed as this is the most common element to the system.

In this session, we will diagnose early warning signs of oils failing, some basic tests which can be done to

Sanya Mathura CEO and Founder, Strategic Reliability Solutions (TTO)

monitor the health of the oils and other preventive measures which can be implemented to keep your oils clean and your equipment running.

1.Easy tips and tricks which can be implemented in the field to diagnose lubricant failures.

2.Basic understanding of an oil analysis report and the importance of condition monitoring.

MAINSTREAM Summit

3.Storage and Handling techniques which can be implemented immediately.

31

Perspective Session

A Blended Approach to Asset Condition Management to Improve Asset Health and Performance United Utilities (UU) are on a Maintenance Excellence journey moving from a reactive maintenance

Mike Rooney

environment to a more proactive and preventative way of working. This is to align more closely with an

Maintenance & Reliability Manager, United Utilities

Industry Best Practice model.

UU undertook an independent maintenance & reliability assessment of the organisation’s operations, maintenance and reliability practices relating to the assets within the water, wastewater treatment, and bioresources facilities.

The outcomes and recommendations are part of our Maintenance Excellence strategy and plan, and we have delivered a blended approach to Asset Condition Management (ACM) to achieve two of our objectives: Increase our use of asset condition management techniques to deliver proactive ways of working.

MAINSTREAM Summit

Visualise asset health and performance of our critical assets and use data to determine when to proactively repair or replace assets.

New technologies and capabilities have been implemented, along with improving knowledge and competence of our people across multiple roles in the organisation.

32

Perspective Session

Commissioning After Plant Outages, Getting It Right First Time The presentation addresses a common and costly issue in maintenance and reliability. The lack of a

Richard Gray

structured, accountable process for commissioning equipment back into service after a plant outage.

National Maintenance and Reliability Manager, Heidelberg Materials UK

Based on experience across Heidelberg Materials sites within the UK, it sets out a practical case study showing how a repeatable commissioning standard was developed and introduced across three cement works and three grinding plants.

The session explains how accountability is set across three phases which are commissioning checks, snagging repairs, and final production sign-off. With clear ownership at each stage. It shows how Machine Sentry is used as the single source of truth for commissioning data, capturing asset-level checks, tracking defects through to closure, and maintaining a full audit trail.

It also covers how vibration and oil analysis are built into the commissioning process, helping to identify issues missed during shutdown before they develop into failures. A hard quality gate is applied so no

MAINSTREAM Summit

asset is handed back to production until all statuses are green, and the reality of maintaining this under restart pressure is discussed. The content focuses on practical application rather than theory, including the people, process, and technical challenges of standardising across multiple sites.

33

Perspective Session

How Heidelberg Materials Rebuilt Planning, Scheduling, and Backlog Discipline Worldwide Across a global network of plants: inconsistent planning and scheduling practices, limited backlog visibility, unclear prioritization, and uneven work management maturity were holding back reliability.

Digital tools existed, but inconsistent maintenance processes kept the organization from capturing their full value. Heidelberg Materials relaunched its global Maintenance Improvement Program to rebuild the

Tiago Rodrigues Global Maintenance Excellence Manager, Heidelberg Materials AG

fundamentals of planning, scheduling, backlog management, and reliability governance across every site - creating a consistent foundation before scaling advanced digital solutions such as Prometheus GWOSAI to standardize and sustain these gains worldwide.

Establishing a global maintenance excellence foundation through a corporate program Standardizing planning and scheduling across 5 SAP landscapes, Infor Hexagon, and Maximo Engaging plants through leadership, capability building, and change management Using Prometheus GWOS-AI to standardize and scale best practices globally Converting maintenance data into actionable operational decisions

MAINSTREAM Summit

Scaling AI only after maintenance fundamentals are stable

34

Panel Session

The Execution Gap: Why Reliability Still Breaks Down on the Shop Floor Most organisations have documented maintenance strategies, sophisticated systems and well-defined processes. Yet on the shop floor, the reality often looks very different.

James Ayre Maintenance teams continue to lose significant time waiting for parts, chasing information, responding reactively and working around broken processes. In many cases, leaders know exactly what needs to happen — but struggle to create the operational discipline required to sustain it.

This panel discussion examines why execution remains one of the biggest unresolved challenges in maintenance and reliability. Why do organisations continue to compromise planning disciplines under pressure? Why are accountability structures often unclear? And why do so many digital transformation programs fail to improve frontline execution?

Drawing on real operational experience, panelists will debate the cultural, behavioural and leadership factors driving the execution discipline gap — and explore what it actually takes to build organisations

MAINSTREAM Summit

where reliability practices are not just documented, but consistently lived every day.

Asset Management Director, East Midlands Airport

Garrett Fitzgerald Sr Principal Engineer, Maintenance & Reliability Eli Lilly and Company (IRE)

Drew Troyer Contributing Editor, Reliable (US)

35

Panel Session

The Data Paradox: Why More Isn’t Better Across industries, maintenance and reliability leaders are navigating a growing paradox: organisations have more operational data than ever before, yet confidence in decision-making continues to decline.

Even with advanced systems in place, teams often find themselves spending more time validating and

Phil White Chief Maintenance Officer, United Utilities (UK)

reconciling data than actually using it to drive insights. This panel will explore the widening gap between data collection and effective utilisation across sectors such as mining, energy, utilities, and infrastructure.

Rapid digitisation hasn’t just increased the volume of data—it has also introduced fragmentation, inconsistency, and a loss of historical context. Field technicians and engineers are feeling the impact, with increasing demands around data entry and quality checks. In many cases, technology risks overshadowing experience and intuition, while poor data quality begins to undermine trust in analytics and maintenance decisions.

Our panel will examine the root causes behind this “data quality versus quantity” challenge. Drawing on real-world experiences, they’ll discuss how clearer governance, stronger alignment to purpose, and

MAINSTREAM Summit

improved data standards can transform raw data into meaningful, actionable intelligence. The conversation will also look at how aligning data strategies with operational and business priorities can rebuild trust and ensure data genuinely supports better outcomes.

By challenging common assumptions about digital maturity, this session reframes what it really means to be “data-driven”—shifting the focus from accumulation to relevance, and ultimately helping organisations regain confidence and clarity in their maintenance data ecosystems.

36

Panel Session

The People Behind Reliability: Rebuilding Maintenance Culture for the Future Maintenance organisations pride themselves on data-driven decision making. But while we monitor

Damien O'Neill

equipment condition down to the smallest detail, many organisations still have no visibility over workload

Group Head of Engineering, Biffa

sustainability or team wellbeing.

The result is a silent crisis unfolding across the industry. Experienced workers are leaving. Younger generations are questioning whether the profession offers a sustainable future. At the same time, maintenance teams are being asked to deliver more with fewer resources, under increasing operational pressure.

Sven Brown Asset Care and HV Business Lead, Severn Trent

This panel session explores one of the most confronting questions facing maintenance leaders today: what happens when the workforce becomes the unmeasured critical asset?

Combining industry research, operational insights and real-world examples, this session examines the

MAINSTREAM Summit

direct relationship between workforce, competencies, reliability and performance. It argues that the future of maintenance excellence will not simply depend on better technology or systems — but on whether organisations are prepared to finally measure, value and invest in the humans behind the work.

Audrey Kelleher Senior Maintenance & Reliability Engineer BioMarin Pharmaceuticals

Alex Knight Founder & CEO, STEMAZING

37

Panel Session

The AI Reality Check – From Hype to Operational Value AI is rapidly reshaping maintenance and reliability, but most organisations are struggling to translate

Richard Jeffers

ambition into measurable results.

Owner, Two6 Services

Why do so many AI initiatives fail to deliver, and what does this reveal about gaps in infrastructure, data readiness, and governance?

Vicki Orman How can organisations strengthen the foundations needed to support AI without disrupting existing operations?

Vice President Information Technology, Harsco Environmental

What role do trust, culture, and human judgement play when algorithmic insights challenge decades of experience?

How do we design human–AI collaboration models that enhance, rather than undermine, engineering

MAINSTREAM Summit

decision-making?

What practical lessons can be learned from real-world successes and failures to move from experimentation to sustainable value?

This panel brings together industry experts who are navigating both the promise and pitfalls of AI in maintenance, sharing their experiences of case studies, some that succeed and some that stall. Looking at the cultural, technical, and ethical enablers required to make AI work in real operational environments.

38

Workshop

Tracking Success Teaming Adventure In this story-driven session, participants form teams and through video and stories are transported into

Ian Schubach

even changing world of a wildlife tracker deep in the Kruger National Park. They will need to evaluate

African Safari Guide and Adventurer

incomplete evidence, solve problems and make decisions together. Leader are exposed to what it takes to be a Master Tracker – discernment, curiosity, adaptability, practical imagination and reverence. They will need to rely on collective judgement while experiencing how silos, assumptions and reactive thinking undermine performance. The shared challenge helps maintenance leaders bridge operational divides, convert information into trusted decisions and strengthen a proactive reliability mindset. It creates practical insights for building trust, sharing critical knowledge and sustaining coordinated action when pressure, priorities and leadership change.

Ian Schubach is CEO of leadership consultancy Red Leaf and co-founder of Tracking Success. For three decades, he has delivered keynotes, leadership programmes and facilitated team meetings across Asia Pacific, Europe, South Africa and the United States. A former safari guide and experienced storyteller, Ian

MAINSTREAM Summit

uses nature's universal truths to illuminate business challenges. He pioneered the Indoor Teaming Adventure methodology, creating immersive experiences that accelerate leadership development, strengthen collaboration and help organisations achieve their priorities.

39

Workshop

Data to Dollars – Converting Data into Verified Value Many organizations are data rich but information poor, collecting vast amounts of operational data

Drew Troyer

without extracting meaningful insights or converting it into financial returns. This framework transforms

Contributing Editor Reliable (US)

raw data into actionable insights, informed decisions, targeted actions, and verified value, turning data into dollars.

By ensuring data integrity, leveraging predictive analytics, and implementing precision maintenance strategies, businesses can shift from reactive problem-solving to proactive asset optimization—enhancing reliability, reducing costs, increasing safety, improving sustainability, and protecting organizational reputation.

Embedding this data-to-value methodology enables organizations to make evidence-based decisions

MAINSTREAM Summit

that drive profitability and long-term resilience.

40

Workshop

WORKSHOP: AI Without Context Is Just Automation of Confusion Many organisations are rushing to deploy AI into maintenance and asset management while still

Richard Jeffers

operating with fragmented data, disconnected systems, inconsistent asset structures, and reactive

Owner, Two6 Services

cultures. The result is often more noise, more dashboards, and greater confusion rather than better decisions.

Yet the barriers to successful AI adoption are not only technical. Trust, organisational culture, decision ownership, workforce anxiety, poor cross-functional alignment, and weak change management capability frequently undermine adoption long before technical limitations appear.

Drawing on practical asset management experience and current research into AI adoption barriers, this session explores how lifecycle thinking, contextualised information, and organisational readiness must be

MAINSTREAM Summit

established before AI can deliver sustainable operational value.

41

Workshop

The Journey Towards Reliability Excellence Many organisations aspire to achieve world-class reliability, yet remain trapped in reactive maintenance,

Gary Tyne

recurring failures, and short-term firefighting. The challenge is rarely a lack of tools; it is understanding

Founder, Pro-Reliability Solutions

where to begin, how the various reliability disciplines fit together, and how to build a sustainable improvement journey.

This 90-minute masterclass provides a practical roadmap for organisations seeking to improve asset performance, reduce unplanned downtime, lower maintenance costs, and create a culture of reliability.

Drawing upon more than 40 years of industry experience across manufacturing, mining, energy, infrastructure, food, pharmaceutical, and process industries, Gary Tyne will share the key stages of the reliability journey and the proven methods used by leading organisations.

Participants will gain an overview of the essential reliability tools and methodologies, including Asset Criticality Analysis, FMEA/FMECA, Reliability Centred Maintenance (RCM), Root Cause Analysis (RCA),

MAINSTREAM Summit

Planning & Scheduling, Condition Monitoring, Precision Maintenance, Defect Elimination, and Reliability Engineering. The session will demonstrate how these tools work together as part of a structured reliability improvement programme rather than isolated initiatives.

The masterclass will conclude with an introduction to the Reliability Maturity Assessment, providing attendees with a practical approach to benchmarking their current state, identifying improvement opportunities, and developing a roadmap towards Reliability Excellence.

Whether you are an operations leader, engineering manager, maintenance professional, reliability engineer, or business executive, this session will provide valuable insights into building a more reliable, resilient, and profitable organisation.

42

Workshop

Going Beyond Lubricant Failure Modes to Identify the Real Root Causes We are familiar with various lubricant failure modes which exist but how often do we take the time to

Sanya Mathura

really dive into how these failures occurred. In this session, we will do a deep dive into the oxidation

CEO and Founder, Strategic Reliability Solutions (TTO)

failure mode, how it is caused, ways of identifying its presence and some of the real root causes behind this mechanism. We go beyond just identifying the failure mode but developing some measures

MAINSTREAM Summit

(physical, human and systematic) which can be implemented to prevent its occurrence in the future.

43

Xchange Sessions

Xchange sessions are designed and curated for deeper discussion around crowd-sourced topics.

They are 60-minute, interactive and moderated by a facilitator.

All are limited in numbers to ensure maximum engagement, learning and exchange.

1

Capturing Institutional Knowledge: Chaired by Ruth Rollings, AETC

2

From Data Rich to Decision Ready: Chaired by Ross McCorrisken, Scottish Water

3

From Pilot to Production: What Scaled AI Actually Looks Like: Chaired by Simon Brown, Cargill UK

4

From Supervisor to Leader: Building the Capability Your Frontline Needs: Chaired by Jo Gillard, Finsbury Foods

5

Speaking the CFO's Language: Turning Reliability into a Business Conversation

6

Precision Maintenance: The Discipline Behind Repeatable Reliability

7

The Art and Science of Great Planning and Scheduling: Chaired by Gary Tyne, Pro-Reliability Solutions

8

Preparing Maintenance Teams for Assets That Don't Exist Yet: Chaired by Richard McDermott, Heidelberg Materials

9

Building a Workforce That Reflects the Future, Not the Past: Chaired by Jonathan Watkinson, Babcock International Group

10

Operational Readiness: Commissioning Assets That Are Ready to Maintain From Day 1: Chaired by Gerald Doocey, Affinity Water

11

People Metrics on the Dashboard: Measuring What Actually Matters: Chaired by Richard Barber, Drax Group

12

Rebuilding the Trades Pipeline: Structural Solutions That Are Working: Chaired by Sanya Mathura, Strategic Reliability Solutions

13

Making Maintenance a Destination Career: Chaired by David Stephens, Premier Foods

14

Predictive Analytics in Practice: Chaired by Richard Jeffers, Two6 Services

15

Designing Teams for Shorter Tenures: Building Capability at Speed

16

Analytics-Ready: How to Know When Your Data Can Support the Dashboards

Who sponsors MAINSTREAM?

47

Diamond Partner

2026 Partners

Get Your Tickets 49

MAINSTREAM Summit Birmingham 20-21 October 2026 *Standard Rate is £700 per person. With the Super Saver it works out at £500 per person.

Special Offer

Super Saver

Standard Rate

Until 18 September

£500

£700

Per person +GST

Per person +GST

Get your tickets

50

Advisory Team

Sam Jemmett

Doug Chan

Head of Asset Planning & Systems, Transport for London

Chief Operating Officer Climeworks

Aaron Storey

Phil White

Phil Davies

Philippe Jacquetin

Independent

Chief Maintenance Officer United Utilities

Engineering Manager Smurfit Westrock

Nick Evans

Jo Gillard

Jonathan Watkinson

Ben Botwright

Kieran Dodds

Global Head - M&R , Ipsen

Audrey Kelleher

Ashley Morris

James Baker

Sr Maintenance & Reliability Engineer, BioMarin Pharma

Asset Manager, Airbus

Asset Maintenance Director London Stansted Airport

Thomas Reeves

Richard Jeffers

Dan Everest

Head of Maintenance Services Thames Water

Owner, Two6 Services

Fleet Information Systems Manager, Greater Anglia

Ruth Rollings

Jonathan Peedell

Ross McCorrisken

Mark Trotter

Vicki Orman

Luke Oates

Product Owner (Maintenance Strategy & Optimisation) Scottish Water

Director Global Assets Harsco Environmental

ViP Information Technology Harsco Environmental

Reliability Engineer DP World

Maintenance Engineering Mgr, AETC

Head of Production Maintenance, Bentley Motors

GM Maintenance, Process Improvement, Innovation, BMW

Andrew Needham

Global Director Org Capability & Leadership, Harsco Env

Global Head of Workplace Group Excellence Director, Finsbury Foods Maintenance & Reliability Babcock Int

Engineering Manager Warburtons

Head of Op Engineering National Highways

David Stephens

Richard McDermott

Chief Engineer, Premier Foods

Head of Project Mgt & Engineering, Heidelberg Materials

2026

Advisory Team

Gary Tyne

Richard Barber

Director Pro-Reliability Solutions

Maintenance Systems Lead Engineer, Drax Group

Maciej Janowski

Sven Brown

Laura Trevarthen

Head of Dept Reliability and Machine Safety, GA Pet Food Partners

Asset Care and HV Business Lead, Severn Trent

Barry Heeps

Gerald Doocey

Jeff Tyson

Head of Engineering, Forth Ports Limited

Head of Asset Planning, Asset Strategy, Affinity Water

Engineering Manager Shotton Mill

Sam Smith

Simon Brown

Nicole Robertson Asset Technical Manager Grain LNG

Group Reliability Manager, The Compleat Food Group

Global Reliability Leader Animal Nutrition and Health Cargill UK

Jamie McGowan Maintenance Manager Future Biogas

Stephen Conway

Director, Global Manufacturing Reliability, Cytiva

Technical Manager – Processing, SUEZ Env

Richard Cousins

James Ayre

Sophia Coleman

Stephen Johnston

Liam Drury

Head of Manufacturing Services, Rolls-Royce plc

Asset Management Director Manchester Airport

Asset Health & Performance Manager, Yorkshire Water

Asset Maintenance Director, MAG

Group Eng Director & Capex Director, The Compleat Food Group

Watch MAINSTREAM Summit in 2 minutes

The State of Maintenance & Reliability in UK & Ireland Download your report to understand best practices, compare your companies’ performance and working environment to those inside and outside your industry, and make informed and effective decisions around your assets and your people.

Go to: https://www.mainstreamcommunity.com/uksummit/topics

53

Get in touch with

Our team Steve Morris

Meike Paternotte

Managing Director MAINSTREAM UK

Community Engagement Manager

steve@mainstreamcommunity.com

meike@mainstreamcommunity.com

+61 403 809 312

+44 7874 439451

Ian Collier

Ansumi De Bruin

Program Director

Community Manager

ian@mainstreamcommunity.com

ansumi@mainstreamcommunity.com

+44 7901 150 405

+27 837 002 282

Guy Freebody

Val McMullan

Director of Partnerships

Speaker Care Manager

guy@mainstreamcommunity.com

val@mainstreamcommunity.com

+61 433 755 653

+61 418 876 286

54

20-21 October 2026 Millennium Point, Birmingham

www.mainstreamcommunity.com/uk-summit/home