For edition #107 of #therobotindustrypodcast I invited Etienne Lacroix, the Founder and CEO at Vention. If you don't know the company, Vention is part Ikea and part Amazon for the automation industry and is aimed at the "Do it Yourself" or DIY part of the industry. But Vention is much more, the company has is a mix of CAD software, PLM software, motion control and programming software, e-commerce and an industry-leading user interface with thousands of modular hardware components: from robots and cobots to table bases and complete systems for palletizing, for example. This conversation took place in August 2023.



Here are some of the questions that I posed to Etienne:



Can you tell our audience about Vention and what inspired the creation of Vention's Manufacturing Automation Platform?



Vention offers a DIY approach to automation that has never been seen before. Can you provide insights on Vention's unique approach?



Building a cloud-based manufacturing automation platform must come with unique challenges. What are some of the major obstacles you faced during Vention's development, and how did you overcome them?



Vention published a DIY automation report a few weeks ago. Could you share any insights on the level of adoption of DIY across manufacturers?



What were the most surprising findings from the DIY report?



Automation has traditionally been more leveraged by large corporations. How do you see DIY automation disrupting this landscape?



Could you share a DIY success story or two with our audience?



Where do you see the future of manufacturing heading, and how does Vention plan to stay at the forefront of innovation?



Can you share any exciting upcoming features or development that Vention users can look forward to?



Etienne, anything else you want to share with our audience?



How can people find out more about Vention?



Enjoy the podcast. Thanks for subscribing, thanks for listening.



Regards,



Jim



Jim Beretta
Customer Attraction Industrial Marketing & The Robot Industry Podcast



Note that Vention has their upcoming Demo Day in Montreal very soon, Thursday Oct 5th, 2023 https://vention.io/demo-day



If you would like to get involved with The Robot Industry Podcast, would like to become a guest or nominate someone, you can find me, Jim Beretta on LinkedIn or send me an email to therobotindustry at gmail dot com, no spaces.



Ehrhardt Automation is our sponsor for this episode. Ehrhardt builds and commissions robotic turnkey automated solutions for their worldwide clients. With over 80 years of precision manufacturing they understand the complex world of automated manufacturing, project management, supply chain and delivering world-class custom automation on-time and on-budget. Contact one of their sales engineers to see what Ehrhardt can build for you at info@ehrhardtautomation.com



Keywords and terms for this podcast: Vention, Etienne Lacroix, The Robot Industry Podcast, Ehrhardt Automation System