Julian Knabe with Fluke
Industrial Talk is onsite at Xcelerate 2026 and talking to Julian Knabe, Senior Director with Fluke about “Adapt and Evolve to Markets”.
The conversation features Scott Mackenzie from the Industrial Talk podcast discussing the Fluke Xcelerate event in Austin, Texas, with Julian Knabe, a finance professional at Fluke. Julian shares his experience transitioning from cost-cutting to strategic finance, focusing on growth and customer impact. He highlights Fluke’s extensive product portfolio, including over 50,000 SKUs, and identifies high-growth markets like data centers, distributed energy, renewables, and defense. The discussion emphasizes the importance of AI and technology in enhancing efficiency and customer workflows, and the need for companies to adapt and innovate to meet evolving market demands.
Chris Napier with Augury
Industrial Talk is onsite at SMRP 2025 and talking to Chris Napier, Reliability Success Manager at Augury about “Predictive maintenance with AI”.
Chris Napier, a predictive maintenance technician with Augury, discussed the evolution of maintenance and reliability practices over 25 years. Augury’s predictive maintenance platform uses advanced sensors and AI algorithms to monitor machine health, integrating with CMMS systems via APIs. Napier emphasized the importance of a solid foundation in reliability practices, such as building a comprehensive Bill of Materials (BOM) in CMMS systems, to effectively utilize new technology. He highlighted the role of human expertise in refining algorithms and ensuring effective preventative maintenance. Napier also stressed the importance of trust and collaboration in implementing and optimizing maintenance strategies.
Vineet Thuvara with Fluke Corporation
Industrial Talk is onsite at Xcelerate 2026 and talking to Vineet Thuvara, Chief Product Officer with Fluke about “Busting the AI myths with reliability”.
Vineet Thuvara, Chief Product Officer at Fluke, discussed his journey from mechanical engineering to leading product development at Microsoft and Amazon, and his current role at Fluke. He emphasized the importance of breaking myths about AI, particularly in industrial reliability, and highlighted Fluke’s efforts to enhance technician efficiency using AI and AR. Thuvara shared that Fluke’s new sensors and software aim to reduce unplanned downtime, which costs $50 billion weekly, by providing real-time, accurate data and insights. He also discussed the potential of AR glasses to improve safety and efficiency in technical fields.
Jay Hack and Navin Kulkarni with Fluke
Industrial Talk is onsite at Xcelerate 2026 and talking to Jay Hack and Navin Kulkarni about “eMaint and the impact AI has on asset management”.
At Fluke’s Xcelerate 2026 event, Jay Hack and Navin Kulkarni introduced new AI features in eMaint, a maintenance management system. They highlighted four key features: AI-driven email data interaction, SOP generation from OEM manuals, natural language work order creation, and multilingual document translation. The AI features received significant interest, with 40 customers eager to join the beta test. The system ensures data quality, supports structured data ingestion, and allows for real-time updates. Future plans include enhancing work order management and leveraging historical data for better decision-making and asset management.
Martin Weber with SPARETECH
Industrial Talk is talking to Martin Weber, CEO at SPARETECH about “Tools to effectively manage spare parts inventory to reduce cost and improve optimization”.
Martin Weber from SPARETECH discussed their innovative spare parts management solution on the Industrial Talk podcast. Weber highlighted the challenges of managing spare parts, including high inventory levels and inefficient procurement. SPARETECH’s software integrates with ERP and CMMS systems to optimize inventory, reduce costs, and improve efficiency. They have a database of 40 million parts and use AI to standardize part descriptions. Weber emphasized the importance of manual data extraction for the first six months to achieve ROI within a year. The company successfully rolled out their solution in 300 factories globally in 2022.
