Inside the 2026 Lehigh Valley Manufacturing Forum

We photographed the Chamber and MRC's biggest manufacturing morning of the year at SteelStacks, and the first 150 edited photos were in their inbox before most of the room made it back to the office.

By Tony Ellis Martinez · TM Productions

A full house at the Musikfest Café at SteelStacks during the 2026 Lehigh Valley Manufacturing Forum, speaker on stage under the orange steel trusses — The Musikfest Café at SteelStacks halfway through the program, with every table full.

On October 1 the Greater Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce and the Manufacturers Resource Center filled the Musikfest Café at SteelStacks for the 2026 Lehigh Valley Manufacturing Forum, with ESSA Bank presenting, and for one morning it put manufacturers, bankers, educators, workforce people and a few elected officials in the same room. We were there with cameras for MRC and the Chamber, from the sandwich board on Founders Way to the last handshake on stage.

The venue at SteelStacks

Holding a manufacturing forum with the old Bethlehem Steel blast furnaces right outside the window is pretty hard to beat. The Musikfest Café sits on the old Bethlehem Steel site, and from the exhibitor row you look straight out at the stacks. We used that all morning, shooting the exhibitors with the furnaces behind them and the speakers under the orange steel trusses.

The Bethlehem Steel blast furnaces seen through the glass of the ArtsQuest building — The blast furnaces as seen from the exhibitor row.

An exhibitor at his table with the Bethlehem Steel blast furnaces visible through the windows behind him — Exhibitor tables ran along the windows with the stacks right behind them.

Doors opened at 8:30 for breakfast, name tags, a row of exhibitors along the glass (ESSA Bank, FASTSIGNS of Easton, LCTI and Alvernia University among them), exhibitor passports getting stamped, and an hour of the kind of networking that only happens when a few hundred people who buy from each other end up in the same place, and then the program ran from 9:30 to noon.

Welcome to the Lehigh Valley Manufacturing Forum sign, presented by the Chamber, ESSA Bank and MRC — The welcome sign, presented by the Chamber, ESSA Bank and MRC.

Attendees networking in the lobby before the program — Networking in the lobby during the hour before the program started.

The speakers

There were ten names on the program and it moved quickly. Northampton County Executive Tara Zrinski opened with a welcome to the county, and her line, as WFMZ reported it, was "The Lehigh Valley succeeds when we work together." From there ESSA Bank president Joseph Bonsick talked about financing growth, LVEDC's Kristin Cahayla-Hoffman covered manufacturing trends in the Valley, Sarah Lutz of Workforce Board Lehigh Valley gave the workforce update, CLA's Andrea Brady went through 2026 tax and efficiency, Chris Rawlings of BlueCloud Consultants talked about managing AI on the shop floor, and Congressman Ryan Mackenzie gave the legislative update.

There were two keynotes. MRC's Shawn Furman spoke on trends in AI for manufacturing and kept it practical, focused on what's already useful on a shop floor right now, and WFMZ pulled him aside for an interview as soon as he stepped off stage. Thomas Ripsam, president and CEO of C.F. Martin & Co., talked about how a 193-year-old guitar company from Nazareth runs a modern shop floor.

Thomas Ripsam, President and CEO of C.F. Martin & Co., giving the keynote at the podium — Thomas Ripsam of C.F. Martin & Co. during his keynote.

Northampton County Executive Tara Zrinski speaking at the podium — Northampton County Executive Tara Zrinski welcoming the room.

U.S. Congressman Ryan Mackenzie speaking at the podium — Congressman Ryan Mackenzie giving the legislative update.

Manufacturing in the Lehigh Valley

Manufacturing is the second-largest industry in the region, and the manufacturing workforce here grew 17 percent from 2014 to 2024, per WFMZ's coverage of the forum. Last year's forum put the bigger picture on the table: roughly 700 manufacturers, about $9 billion a year in output, and something like 16 percent of the Valley's GDP, with average wages north of $83,000. New names like Eli Lilly and Chobani keep showing up in that conversation. That's a big part of what the Lehigh Valley runs on, so it's good to see it get a room like this once a year.

#2INDUSTRY IN THE REGION

+17%MANUFACTURING WORKFORCE, 2014 TO 2024

~700MANUFACTURERS IN THE VALLEY

$9BA YEAR IN OUTPUT

Manufacturer of the Year

The 2026 Lehigh Valley Manufacturer of the Year went to Human Active Technology, presented by MRC's Diane Lewis, VP of Manufacturing Solutions, with HAT president and CEO Chad Hammerly accepting on stage. We shot the handoff, the award itself and Chad with the trophy afterward, because that's the frame a company hangs in the lobby and puts on the careers page for the next ten years.

Close-up of the 2026 Lehigh Valley Manufacturer of the Year award for Human Active Technology — The 2026 Manufacturer of the Year award for Human Active Technology.

How fast the photos went out

The last speaker wrapped at noon, and less than two hours later the Chamber and MRC had more than 150 edited, color-corrected images in their inbox covering every speaker, the award, the exhibitors and the room. That wasn't a rushed preview set either, those were the finished photos, ready to post.

The turnaround matters because WFMZ had a crew in the room and a story up that afternoon, the Chamber's LinkedIn post needs to go out while people are still tagging themselves, MRC wants the Manufacturer of the Year photo in front of its members the same day, and sponsors want to see their logo on that stage while the event is still fresh. By the time a gallery shows up a week later, everybody's already moved on to the next thing.

The full edited gallery followed the same day, and every frame in it is theirs to use.

MRC's Shawn Furman being interviewed by WFMZ 69 News — MRC's Shawn Furman with WFMZ after his AI keynote.

A WFMZ camera crew interviewing attendees in the lobby — WFMZ interviewing attendees in the lobby, which made for a good behind-the-scenes frame of its own.

How the Chamber and MRC use the photos

The forum was over by lunch, but these photos are going to get used all year, since the Chamber's going to use them to sell next year's sponsorships, MRC will drop them into its annual report, every speaker is going to repost theirs, and honestly they're the easiest way to show a manufacturer who skipped it what they missed. For a membership group, showing a packed room is a big part of how they sell, and a recap email just doesn't do that the way one good photo of a full house does.

On a day like this we get the establishing shots before the crowd arrives, cover every exhibitor so every sponsor gets a frame, and shoot every speaker from two angles, one with their name on the screen so the social post is easy to make. During the breaks we go after the candids people actually share, and then we get everything edited and out the door the same day.

Attendees at their tables laughing during a talk, faces to the camera — Attendees at their tables, shot from the front corner of the room so you see faces.

Tony Iannelli, President and CEO of the Greater Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce, smiling at his table during the forum — Tony Iannelli, President & CEO of the Greater Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce.

Diane Lewis, VP of Manufacturing Solutions at MRC, at the podium — Diane Lewis, MRC, presenting Manufacturer of the Year.

Aerial view of the ArtsQuest Center at SteelStacks and the surrounding Bethlehem neighborhood — The ArtsQuest Center at SteelStacks, Bethlehem.

Thanks to the Greater Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce, the Manufacturers Resource Center and ESSA Bank for having us in the room, congratulations to Human Active Technology, and we'll see you at next year's forum.

Figures and quotes via WFMZ 69 News and Lehigh Valley Business coverage of the 2025 and 2026 forums. Photos by TM Productions.