Maria Araujo is a seasoned Industry 4.0 senior executive with over 21 years of experience in digital transformation in Fortune 100 companies. Maria is the founder and CEO of Factory X Solutions, LLC, an executive consulting practice focused on Industry 4.0 and digital transformation. Prior to Factory X, Maria was Vice President, Global Innovation Engineering at McCain Foods. In this role, Maria led a global team focused on identifying, developing and deploying breakthrough and disruptive technologies to optimize and differentiate McCain’s manufacturing processes. Areas of focus include Sensing and IoT, advanced robotics, industry 4.0, smart factory technologies, to name a few. Prior to McCain, Maria was an Engineering Fellow and Director of the Advanced Technology Center of Excellence at Johnson & Johnson, where she led a team focused on supply chain innovation. Prior to J&J, Maria had various roles in R&D, product development and technology development at Honeywell Aerospace and Southwest Research Institute. Maria holds Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees in electrical engineering from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). She is the recipient of an R&D 100 Award, is one of Manufacturing USA’s Modern Makers and was named one of San Antonio’s Top 40 Under 40 by the San Antonio Business Journal.