Your Factory Is Already Full of AI’s Next Frontier: SDA & FluxionSystem

AI in manufacturing doesn’t have to begin with a humanoid robot or a greenfield “factory of the future.” Some of the most consequential work is happening inside the factories we already have. In this episode of **AI Across the Product Lifecycle**, Michael Finocchiaro sits down with **Dr. Josef Waltl, Founder & CEO of Software Defined Automation (SDA), and Albert Klein, CEO & CFO of FluxionSystem**, to explore what happens when modern software practices and AI reach the machines, controllers and processes actually running production. SDA is bringing Industrial DevOps to automation, treating PLC code more like modern software: versioned, traceable, secure, recoverable and manageable across heterogeneous controller environments. FluxionSystem attacks the problem from another direction. Its DenkWare platform adds a physics-validated AI layer to existing manufacturing equipment, capturing process knowledge and helping operators continuously improve how machines and materials are used. Together, we’ll dig into some uncomfortable questions: Can decades-old factory equipment become genuinely AI-enabled without ripping it out? Why is PLC software still managed so differently from almost every other critical software asset? Can AI capture the tribal knowledge disappearing as experienced operators retire? Where should the human engineer remain in the loop? And what separates useful Industrial AI from another impressive factory demo? This is a conversation about the less glamorous, and arguably more important, side of industrial AI: making the installed base smarter. **AI Across the Product Lifecycle**, hosted by Michael Finocchiaro of ThreadMoat.