This engaging, interactive session equips procurement professionals with practical tools and proven frameworks to secure value, manage risk, and strengthen supplier relationships. Participants will explore the top business challenges shaping today’s supplier chain relationships and learn how to plan strategically before diving into a hands-on negotiation exercise led by a sourcing expert turned negotiation trainer.

Design for Manufacturability (DFM) is critical to accelerating product timelines, ensuring quality, and minimizing costly redesigns. In this session, engineers will learn how to apply DFM principles early and effectively — from concept through validation and transfer to manufacturing.

AI is rapidly transforming how R&D teams design, test and validate new orthopedic devices. This session explores ways that leading organizations are integrating AI into their R&D workflows to accelerate innovation, optimize design decisions and uncover insights that lead to enhanced products and improved patient outcomes.

Audit intelligence bridges the gap between quality and supply chain by using AI to continuously analyze supplier documentation, turning static audit reports into dynamic risk signals. This session provides supply chain leaders with one example of how to implement AI into their work processes to offer better risk management and planning transparency.

Evolving tariff policies, geopolitical uncertainty, and inflationary pressures continue to challenge even the most resilient supply chains. This panel discussion examines how orthopedic device manufacturers and suppliers can adapt their sourcing, logistics, and pricing strategies to remain competitive in today’s environment.

Orthopedic R&D is more intricate than ever, blending diverse disciplines, dispersed teams, rapid technology change and business acumen. This panel discussion explores the pressing challenges engineering teams face and offers practical strategies for leading and collaborating effectively in sophisticated environments.