The ongoing efforts of AEM’s Futures Council to tackle changes impacting the non-road equipment manufacturing industry is beginning to pay dividends.
The council and its five Vision Teams met earlier this month in Milwaukee to discuss specific disruption topics (Autonomy & Automation, Data & AI, Economic & Geopolitical, Power & Emissions, and Workforce Empowerment), along with potential content and deliverables they could bring to the AEM membership and beyond in the weeks and months ahead.
“Our recent meetings served as a great opportunity for AEM staff and member leaders to pulse-check the progress we’ve made in the last several months spent working toward the development of thought leadership that will shape the future of our industry,” said AEM Senior Director of Industry Sectors John Rozum, who serves as the staff liaison for AEM’s Futures Council.
“We’re very excited at how far we’ve come in such a short time, and we look forward to rolling out disruption outlook content as early as next month’s AEM Annual Conference in Tucson,” added Rozum.
Late last year, the Council established three main goals to drive its work for the better part of 2026 and into 2027:
- Identify a prioritized list of disruption topics that AEM would bring to its membership through content, committees, or its Sector Boards; disruptions within its trades of construction, agriculture, utility, forestry, or mining, or disruptions in its operations of channel to market, manufacturing, or supply channel.
- Deliver ideas or changes in suggested approach to support membership to the AEM Education and Content Team, membership, or boards. In addition, it would contribute to a “watch list” of items likely to disrupt the association’s service and financial model.
- Establish a regular cadence of disruption outlook content delivered to AEM members and other industry stakeholders.
With the balance of that work either completed or very much underway, AEM’s Futures Council Chair Dr. Ray Gallant of Volvo CE and several member leaders will share some of the findings and outline what association members can expect next during a special panel discussion held next month during day two of AEM’s Annual Conference.
That same week, AEM will unveil a newly constructed microsite that will house all the Futures Council-related content and share relevant information and context about how all connects with AEM’s Strategic Goals and Objectives. Throughout the remainder of the year and into 2027, additional Futures Council-related content will be added periodically to the ever-growing and evolving website.
“We're incredibly thankful for the input and contributions of our Future Vision Team members, as they have shouldered the tall task of identifying the signals that point to how the futures of AEM, its members, and the customers they serve, will evolve,” said Rozum. “So much work has been done already, but now we’re excited to start sharing our findings far and wide.”
For more information on upcoming deliverables, or on AEM’s Futures Council, contact AEM’s John Rozum at jrozum@aem.org.
