Three innovative companies. One room full of industry experience. A day devoted to helping offsite construction move forward.
I have spent enough years around modular factories to know that the next good idea doesn’t always arrive when you need it. Sometimes it shows up during a conversation with another owner. Sometimes a production manager asks a question nobody else thought to ask. And sometimes you have to step away from your own operation long enough to see what others are doing.
That is why Jorie Wisnefski and I are hosting the East Coast Factory Innovation Roundtable on Wednesday, October 28, 2026, at the Inn at Lewisburg in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania.
We are bringing together speakers from 4Ward Solutions, Ground Up, and Uni-Frame Carriers for a day focused on the practical challenges and opportunities facing offsite construction. Breakfast will be available until 9:00 a.m., and lunch is included, giving everyone time to meet, talk, and continue conversations beyond the presentations.
October 28 is almost here. If you have been thinking about attending, now is the time to sign up.
REGISTER AT THE END OF THIS ARTICLE!
Three Companies Looking at Different Parts of the Same Business
Running a successful factory requires more than building a good module. You need projects that fit your capabilities, people and processes that work together, and a practical way to get the finished product to its destination.
Those responsibilities are connected. A decision made during project planning can create a problem on the production line. A transportation limitation can influence engineering. An operating improvement can lose its value if another department cannot support it.
Our speaker lineup brings those connections into the same conversation. Each company approaches innovation differently, giving attendees a chance to examine what happens before production, inside the factory, and when a module leaves the building.
Ben Hershey: Making Improvement Work Inside the Factory
Ben Hershey of 4Ward Solutions brings a manufacturing and management perspective to a question every factory should be asking: How do we turn good intentions into better daily performance?
4Ward’s work spans offsite manufacturing operations, workforce development, design, and business support. That breadth matters because a factory’s problems rarely stay inside one department. What looks like a production issue may begin with training, information, scheduling, or decisions made well before materials reach the floor.
For attendees, this is a chance to bring the questions they carry home after work. Why does the same bottleneck keep returning? Why do supervisors spend so much time reacting? What should management fix before investing in more equipment?
Those are the kinds of discussions that make a roundtable valuable. A presentation can introduce an idea, but questions help reveal whether it could work in your particular operation.
Ground Up: Bringing the Factory Into the Conversation Earlier
Max Quinn and Blaine Comeiore of Ground Up will bring another important perspective: how projects are evaluated and connected with manufacturing capabilities before expensive decisions become difficult to change.
Ground Up describes its platform as using AI to consider site conditions, zoning, design, economics, logistics, and factory capabilities together. It aims to help developers identify workable projects and connect manufacturers with opportunities that match what they can produce.
Anyone who has reviewed a project that was supposedly “ready for modular” knows why that matters. A drawing can look attractive while overlooking transportation limits, factory requirements, or the practical demands of installation. Discovering those conflicts late creates more questions, revisions, and delays.
The opportunity here is to examine how better preparation might improve the conversation between developers and factories. What information should be available before a quote is requested? How should factory capabilities influence early planning? Where can AI help organize the work, and where does experienced human judgment remain essential?
Bring those questions. This is your chance to explore the thinking behind the technology.
Uni-Frame Carriers: Rethinking What Carries the Home
Daryl Snader, Heath Satrini, and Eric Scott of Uni-Frame Carriers will address a part of modular construction that can quietly consume money, space, and management attention: transportation equipment.
The Uni-Frame concept integrates the shipping structure into the module itself. Instead of depending on a separate conventional carrier beneath the home, the system makes the permanent frame part of the transportation approach.
For factory leaders, that opens a much larger conversation than simply replacing one piece of equipment. Consider carrier availability, maintenance, storage, return trips, and the coordination needed to keep finished homes moving.
What would a different system mean for your operation? How would it affect engineering and production? What equipment and procedures would still be required? How should a factory evaluate the potential savings against implementation costs?
The Roundtable will also offer the chance to see Uni-Frame carrying a full module for the first time in public. Seeing the system and questioning the people behind it gives attendees something a photograph cannot provide: a closer look at how the idea fits the work.
Bring the People Who Ask Different Questions
I encourage companies to consider sending people from different parts of their business. An owner may focus on investment. A production manager may see workflow implications. Engineering may identify an integration issue, while sales recognizes a benefit customers need explained.
That variety improves the discussion and makes the conversation back at the factory more useful.
Breakfast and lunch also provide time to compare experiences with peers. Sometimes another attendee’s question helps you recognize something you have been overlooking in your own business.
Gary’s Observation
I don’t expect anyone to leave Lewisburg with every problem solved. I do hope you leave with sharper questions, useful contacts, and an idea worth examining when you return to work.
Our industry has plenty of people willing to talk about innovation. On October 28, we are bringing people together to ask what it means for an actual factory.
Jorie Wisnefski and I look forward to welcoming you. Register soon—October 28 is almost here. Click the event banner below to open the sign-up sheet.
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