Munich · 29 September 2026 · BMW Welt

The factory
is code.

Founders, operators, investors, press — the people rebuilding Western manufacturing. One day, one room: the state layer for physical AI, shown by the plants already running it.

Date29 Sep 2026
VenueBMW Welt, Munich
FormatInvitation only
Request Seat See the day
On stage and in the room
BMWBoehringer IngelheimHenkelSEW-EURODRIVECytivaSanmina 42Q Concept ReplyAWSATS Global ClevertechGropyusFLECSAutonomy / OpenPLCFrost & Sullivan
Why this day exists

For the first time in two centuries, the West is the underdog in manufacturing.

Somewhere in every plant, a line runs on code written in 1998 by someone who retired in 2011 — and nobody left can read it. Multiply by fifty million controllers. That is the software estate the next decade of manufacturing stands on.

2000
75%
of everything made on earth — made by the high-income world
United States25%
Japan11%
Germany8%
China6%
2030 · projected
45%
of global manufacturing — made by China alone
United States11%
Japan5%
Germany3%
High-income world38%

We will not reinvent manufacturing with more hands — there are no more hands. We reinvent with AI and software, or not at all.

Source: UNIDO, The Future of Industrialization (2024); UN Statistics Division.

Three acts. One argument.

Every engineer knows the two truths of a factory: the target — what the code commands — and the actual — what the machines did. For the first time, one layer holds both, across every vendor ecosystem.

Act IThe Layer, Proven08:00 – 11:40
08:00
Arrival & Breakfast
08:30
Opening Keynote — The Factory Is Code: The State Layer for Physical AI
Dr. Josef Waltl · Founder & CEO · Software Defined Automation
08:55
BMW Presentation
09:20
What’s Reshaping Factory Automation — and Who’s Actually Winning
Sebastian Trolli · Head of Research, Industrial Automation & Software · Frost & Sullivan
The independent view, right after the keynote: the decoupling of software from hardware, where the talent crisis is heading — and what separates the winners from the companies still waiting.
09:45
Coffee Break
10:00
Closing the Loop — Henkel
Erik Stauvermann · Digital Transformation Manager · Henkel
Concrete results from SDA in production — and the new AI-based IIoT data mapping: tags extracted from controller code, feeding the digital thread at fleet scale.
10:30
Innovation Needs Open: The Drive Maker’s Case for Open APIs and Open Ecosystems
Milan Licina & Senior SEW leadership · SEW-EURODRIVE
Two SEW voices: why the machine side bets on open APIs and open ecosystems — and the proof from SEW’s own plants, where the layer already runs in production.
11:00
Live: The Loop, Closed on Stage
Thomas Mühlegger & Michael Frey · Software Defined Automation
Real code, live values, the delta, the approved action — performed, not claimed.
11:40
Lunch
Act IIThe Loop, Across the Industry12:40 – 14:55
12:40
Completely Software Defined — Rebuilding Global Production as One Stack
Manesh Patel · SVP & CIO, Sanmina — with Wellington Giolo · 42Q, and AWS
Sixty factories, one software stack — and the agentic chain from CVE to approved downtime.
13:00
The Machine Builder’s Stack — Machines Born as Software
David Tabacco · Stefano Bolognesi — Clevertech
The author of the code takes the stage: machines shipped as software, readable from day one.
13:20
Software Governance and Resilience from a Client’s Perspective
Chris McComb · ATS Global UK&I
A hundred brownfields later: what separates the plants that scale from the plants that stall.
13:40
Open Source at the Control Layer
Thiago Alves · Autonomy / OpenPLC
The commons reaches the machine.
14:00
Software-Defined Controls Management
Jesús H. Carrero · Cytiva
In regulated production: validated environments, versioned code — every change controlled.
14:20
Panel: Beyond the Pilot — Software-Defined Across Fleets of Factories
Henkel · Cytiva · Gropyus
What actually broke between the pilot and the fleet — and what carried.
14:55
Break
Act IIIThe Stack, Opened15:05 – 16:30
15:05
Once the Factory Is Code, You Must Defend It
Carlo Pacifico & Rohit Verma · Software Defined Automation
Why security stopped being compliance and became the precondition for letting AI act.
15:25
Breaking the Legacy Barrier: Scaling OT Services Globally
Frank Maurer · Boehringer Ingelheim
Integrating local OT silos into globally scalable services — without disruptive system replacements.
15:45
Software on Edge Devices: Who’s Actually in Control?
Patric Scholz · FLECS
16:00
Closing Keynote: The Self-Optimizing Factory — What Comes Next
Dr. Josef Waltl · Founder & CEO · Software Defined Automation
16:30
Evening at the Oktoberfest — reserved tables, one long evening
The people on stage

Operators, not observers.

The people who run real plants, real fleets, and real stacks — the people who run some of the most important production lines in our society.

Dr. Josef Waltl
Dr. Josef Waltl
Founder & CEO
Software Defined Automation
Sebastian Trolli
Sebastian Trolli
Head of Research, Industrial Automation & Software
Frost & Sullivan
Erik Stauvermann
Erik Stauvermann
Digital Transformation Manager — AI on running lines
Henkel
Milan Licina
Milan Licina
Business Development Manager — four rules for autonomy
SEW-EURODRIVE
Manesh Patel
Manesh Patel
SVP & Chief Information Officer — global production as one stack
Sanmina
Wellington Giolo
Wellington Giolo
VP Business Development & Strategic Alliances
42Q
David Tabacco
David Tabacco
Machines born as software — the builder’s stack
Clevertech
Stefano Bolognesi
Stefano Bolognesi
The super-user view — building on the state layer
Clevertech
Frank Maurer
Frank Maurer
Global Head of Automation Strategy & Technology
Boehringer Ingelheim
Chris McComb
Chris McComb
Head of Commercial
ATS Global UK&I
Thiago Alves
Thiago Alves
Founder & CEO
Autonomy / OpenPLC
Jesús H. Carrero
Jesús H. Carrero
Senior Field Service Engineer Automation
Cytiva
Michael Dürgner
Michael Dürgner
Head of Engineering
Gropyus
Patric Scholz
Patric Scholz
Managing Director Sales & Finances
FLECS
Thomas Mühlegger
Thomas Mühlegger
Head of Engineering — the loop, closed live
Software Defined Automation
Michael Frey
Michael Frey
Senior Industrial Full Stack Developer
Software Defined Automation
Carlo Pacifico
Carlo Pacifico
Chief Revenue Officer
Software Defined Automation
Rohit Verma
Rohit Verma
Director of Architecture & Cloud Development
Software Defined Automation
Further speakers
To be announced
Join the room

One day. One room.
Come see what normal looks like now.

Attendance is by application — we curate the room deliberately. Tell us who you are and what you run. Operators first, builders second, observers last.

DateTuesday, 29 September 2026
Doors08:00 · program 08:30 – 16:30
VenueBMW Welt · Am Olympiapark 1 · Munich
Evening16:30 · Oktoberfest, reserved tables
Hosted bySoftware Defined Automation