Episode 155: Transforming Manufacturing: Industrial AI at Hannover Messe 2026 with SAP's Matthias Deindl

Discover industrial AI at Hannover Messe with SAP’s Matthias Deindl, covering embodied AI, productivity-boosting agents, and demos like ginger-shot packaging, digital twins, warehouse robots and partner integrations.

Download the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠episode transcript⁠⁠⁠⁠

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This episode explores industrial AI at Hannover Messe (20–24 April) with SAP’s Matthias Deindl. Key topics include embodied AI (robots in production, logistics, asset management) and AI agents that enhance productivity and reduce errors. The SAP booth at HMI features a ginger-shot packaging demonstrator, digital twins, humanoid warehouse handling, CNC machining, and partner integrations.

Matthias emphasises the importance of accurate, timely data, using SAP Business Data Cloud to enable autonomous tasks like AI-assisted tendering and robot-led inspections. The SAP booth at HMI features a ginger-shot packaging demonstrator, digital twins, humanoid warehouse handling, CNC machining, and partner integrations.

The episode envisions seamless disturbance response, improved productivity for an ageing workforce, and stronger human–AI collaboration.

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Guest: Matthias Deindl Matthias Deindl is a digital transformation leader focused on discrete industries and supply chains, with more than 17 years of leadership in dynamic, cross-functional environments. At SAP, he currently leads end-to-end product management for Discrete Industries. Previously, he headed supply chain management initiatives across the global SAP Experience Centers network and oversaw the SAP S.Factory Walldorf, helping customers in process and discrete industries accelerate their digital transformation. Before joining SAP, Matthias served as a Group Leader and Product Owner in a corporate IoT startup at Bosch and worked as an Innovation Manager in Corporate Logistics. Earlier in his career, he was a Project Lead and Head of Department in R&D at RWTH Aachen. He has collaborated with customers across automotive, aviation, pharmaceuticals, mechanical engineering, and logistics. Matthias holds a Diplom in industrial engineering from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology and a doctorate in mechanical engineering from RWTH Aachen.

Host 1: Richard Howells

⁠⁠⁠⁠Richard Howells⁠⁠⁠⁠ has been working in the Supply Chain Management and Manufacturing space for over 30 years. He is responsible for driving the thought leadership and awareness of SAP’s ERP, Finance, and Supply Chain solutions and is an active writer, podcaster, and thought leader on the topics of supply chain, Industry 4.0, digitization, and sustainability.

Host 2: Sin To

Sin brings over 15 years of experience in the digital media and technology industry – primarily in marketing, business development, thought leadership, and editorial. At SAP, they ensure that SAP's supply chain solutions are properly visible with a focus on future trends and sustainable innovations as part of the Thought Leadership & Awareness Supply Chain Team.

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Show Links: SAP Digital Supply Chain: www.sap.com/scm

Visit us at Hannover Messe (HMI): Hall 15, Booth F08

Follow Us on Social Media : Matthias Deindl: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mdeindl/

Richard Howells: LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/richardjhowells

Sin To: LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/sin-to-5334208

SAP Digital Supply Chain: LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/showcase/sapdsc/

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Chapters:

00:00:00 Vision for AI Supply Chains 00:01:51 Meet Matthias and Industrial AI Today 00:02:14 Two AI Tracks Robots and Assistants 00:03:30 Data Foundations and Business Data Cloud 00:05:04 Deployment Challenges and Quick Win Use Cases 00:06:46 Embodied AI Inspection Robots 00:09:51 Resilience Roadmap Transparency to Agents 00:12:25 Human Machine Collaboration at the SAP Booth 00:15:41 Ecosystems and Partner Integration 00:19:17 Closing and How to Find SAP at Hannover Messe