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.
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.
Curt Chamberlain with Utility Performance Consultants
Industrial Talk is onsite at Xcelerate 2025 and talking to Curt Chamberlain, Managing Consultant at Utility Performance Consultants about “Leveraging the EMaint solution for the Utility Market”.
Scott Mackenzie hosts an industrial podcast featuring Curt Chamberlain, a consultant with extensive experience in the energy and utility sectors. Chamberlain discusses his work with utilities like OG&E and a large Northeast utility, focusing on SAP implementations to cut OPEX by a billion dollars. He also details his projects with EMaint and Deep Blue, including a tight five-month implementation of EMaint for a pipeline company and a subsequent 18-month transition to EMaint’s X5. Chamberlain highlights the challenges of regulatory compliance and the potential of AI in maintenance, emphasizing the need for substantial data to drive AI effectiveness.
Michael Mills with Fluke Reliability
Industrial Talk is onsite at Xcelerate 2025 and talking to Michael Mills, Technical Sales Manager at Fluke Reliability about “Connected Reliability with EMaint”.
Scott MacKenzie interviews Michael Mills, Technical Sales Manager at Fluke Reliability, about the eMaint X5 system. X5, the third version in three years, is a scalable, cloud-based system designed for global deployment, integrating data from various locations and currencies. It supports standardized benchmarking and offers a unified dashboard for executive views. X5 also includes a spare parts inventory section and integrates with Azima’s vibration analysis for automated work order generation. Future developments focus on standardization, mobile enhancements, and AI/machine learning to improve data accuracy and user experience.