Andre Marino of Schneider Electric warns humanoids distract from core manufacturing needs. He urges focus on task-specific robotics instead. Marino sees software-defined automation as the next manufacturing inflection point. He notes agentic AI requires structured, proprietary industrial data. Schneider’s own plants cut paper use by 90% and energy costs by 25%. The shift also improves supply chain digitization and forecasting. Software-defined automation decouples hardware from software layers. It enables better coordination across plant silos. Smaller manufacturers need more exposure to this approach. Water and power generator sectors are adopting it fastest.
What it unlocks
Focusing on task-specific automation over humanoid form factors for manufacturing efficiency.
- 90% reduction in paper use
- 25% energy cost savings
- 150+ factories globally
Sources