We talk IoT – The Internet of Things Business Podcast

Industry 4.0 promises data-driven manufacturing. Reality delivers machines from the 1990s, mixed protocols, and no budget to replace everything. The gap between digital ambition and brownfield constraints, the challenge of retrofitting IoT into existing facilities with legacy equipment, stops most factories before they start. In this episode, Armin Vogelsang from WERMA explains how WeAssist bridges that gap by turning signal towers – those coloured status lights that factories already have – into wireless IIoT data collection points. No rewiring, no downtime, no requirement to understand machine protocols. We explore why going "from zero to 100" fails in manufacturing, how Lean Production's eight types of waste (Tim Woods) guide IoT implementation, and what happened when Hermes Einrichtungs Service eliminated the waste of unnecessary motion by letting warehouse workers press a button instead of running through the hall. This is about practical IoT adoption for manufacturers who can't afford to rip everything out and start again.   #IIoT #LeanProduction #Manufacturing #Logistics #Industry40 #WeTalkIoT   Summary of this week's episode: 01:45 The Problem With "Zero to 100" Digital Transformation 03:20 Why Signal Towers Make Perfect IoT Interfaces 05:15 Understanding Brownfield Constraints 07:40 The Eight Types of Waste in Lean Production (Tim Woods) 10:25 Hermes Case Study: From Chaos to Calm 14:30 Technical Architecture: Wireless, Cloud, No Rewiring 18:10 User Acceptance as Critical Success Factor 21:45 Beyond Manufacturing: Logistics Applications 24:20 The Platform Myth: Why One IoT Solution Won't Cover Everything   Show notes: Armin Vogelsang: https://www.linkedin.com/in/armin-vogelsang-3538a8177/ WERMA WeAssist: https://www.werma.com/us/weassist/ Hermes Einrichtungs Service case study: https://www.werma.com/us/knowledge/success-stories/hermes-einrichtungs-service/ Lean Production and the eight wastes: https://www.werma.com/en/knowledge/tech-talks/lean-production/   Listen to the "We Talk IoT" Soundtrack on: Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/05MOV4OV2MH2in2txsAGtG?si=ad08112cb8d443f4 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-NvQ6VJYtE&list=PLLqgVFfZhDRVYmpEqbgajzDvGL4kACRDp   About Avnet Silica: This podcast is brought to you by Avnet Silica – the Engineers of Evolution. Subscribe to our newsletters here: https://my.avnet.com/silica/resources/newsletter/ You can connect with us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/silica-an-avnet-company/. Or find us at www.avnet-silica.com.

The semiconductor industry has a pipeline problem. Women enter the field, but somewhere between mid-management and the executive level, they disappear. Emily Yang knows this from experience, and she’s doing something about it. In an industry where innovation is currency, Emily Yang has built a career on the belief that the best way to succeed is to lift others up. As Senior Vice President of Worldwide Sales and Marketing at Diodes Incorporated, she's not only driven transformative growth, but also championed mentorship and community impact, embodying perfectly this year's International Women's Day theme: give to gain. Emily discusses what effective leadership actually looks like across cultures. She explains how Diodes transformed from a discrete component supplier into a solutions-led organisation, why humanoid robotics is the emerging application she’s most excited about, and why geopolitical supply chain disruption is the challenge the industry isn’t talking about loudly enough. She also makes the case for mentorship as a structural fix, not a feel-good programme. #IWD2026 #GiveToGain #Leadership #Semiconductors #STEM #Mentorship #WeTalkIoT Summary of this week’s episode: 01:30 Emily’s career path: from customer service rep to SVP 04:30 How leadership style evolves when you’ve been on every rung 07:00 Transforming Diodes: from component sales to solution selling 09:30 Executive presence and communicating vision to a global team 11:30 Leadership philosophy: trust, advocacy, and the carrot approach 13:30 Diodes’ technology portfolio: MOSFETs, signal integrity, PCIe Gen 6 15:30 Humanoid robotics: the emerging application worth watching 18:00 Leading across cultures: what employee survey scores reveal 21:00 The Women in High Tech Mentoring Programme and why it works 24:00 On sponsors, self-doubt, and working your way up without a map 26:00 The geopolitical supply chain challenge no one discusses enough 27:30 Lessons learned: define your leadership style before someone else does 29:00 Work-life integration and closing advice to women in the industry   Show notes: Emily Yang: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emily-yang-153a69/ You can get in touch with her: [email protected] Global Semiconductor Alliance — Women’s Leadership Initiative: https://designthesolution.org/about-wli/   Listen to the “We Talk IoT” Soundtrack on: Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/05MOV4OV2MH2in2txsAGtG?si=ad08112cb8d443f4 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-NvQ6VJYtE&list=PLLqgVFfZhDRVYmpEqbgajzDvGL4kACRDp About Avnet Silica: This podcast is brought to you by Avnet Silica—the Engineers of Evolution. Subscribe to our newsletters here: https://my.avnet.com/silica/resources/newsletter/ You can connect with us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/silica-an-avnet-company/. Or find us at www.avnet-silica.com.

Two billion people worldwide lack access to safe drinking water. Traditional pH monitoring relies on slow, manual lab testing – often too late to prevent contamination. In this episode, Fabrizio Librizzi, Senior Product Marketing Manager at NXP Semiconductors, explains how edge AI and analogue front-end technology are transforming water quality monitoring. Fabrizio discusses how NXP’s AI-assisted pH sensors provide real-time, rugged, and reliable data at the source – eliminating cloud dependency and enabling equity for remote communities. We explore real-world applications in agriculture (protecting crops from pH damage), municipal water systems (transparency for citizens), and industrial processes (cost savings through precise chemical dosing). Tune in to learn why edge AI is moving beyond vision and voice into environmental monitoring, and how this technology can genuinely improve lives.   #AI #EdgeAI #WaterQuality #IoT #NXP #WeTalkIoT #Sustainability   Summary of this week's episode: 01:30 The global water crisis and the limitations of traditional pH monitoring 03:45 How analogue front ends convert delicate sensor signals into robust digital data 06:20 Why edge AI is critical for remote areas with intermittent connectivity 08:10 Real-world use cases: Agriculture, municipal water, and industrial applications 10:30 The role of machine learning in spotting pollution patterns and anomalies 12:45 Technical challenges: Surge protection, probe maintenance, and multi-sensor integration 15:00 Advice for water authorities: Start small, validate data, and scale with connectivity 17:30 The future of AI in environmental monitoring—beyond pH levels   Show notes: Fabrizio Librizzi: https://www.linkedin.com/in/fabrizio-librizzi/ Enhancing water quality with AI-assisted pH monitoring: https://www.nxp.com/company/about-nxp/smarter-world-blog/BL-MGZN-ENH-WAT-QUAL-AI-PH-MON   Listen to the "We Talk IoT" Soundtrack on: Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/05MOV4OV2MH2in2txsAGtG?si=ad08112cb8d443f4 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-NvQ6VJYtE&list=PLLqgVFfZhDRVYmpEqbgajzDvGL4kACRDp   About Avnet Silica: This podcast is brought to you by Avnet Silica—the Engineers of Evolution. Subscribe to our newsletters here: https://my.avnet.com/silica/resources/newsletter/ You can connect with us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/silica-an-avnet-company/ Or find us at www.avnet-silica.com

The EU Cybersecurity Resilience Act is keeping OEMs awake at night. How do you use free and open-source software whilst complying with new obligations around vulnerability management, supply chain transparency, and continuous support? In this episode, Pierre Gal (Head of Product) from Witekio and Michael Röder (Senior Manager, Software and Services EMEA) from Avnet Silica tackle the urgent questions facing manufacturers: Who counts as a manufacturer under the CRA? What documentation must you maintain? And how do you manage vulnerabilities in components you didn't create? Pierre explains how Witekio's Embedded Kit provides off-the-shelf solutions based on open-source software like Yocto Linux, helping customers navigate composition, integration, and compliance. Michael shares what he's hearing from customers struggling to interpret regulatory requirements and implement risk-based approaches. From SBOM (Software Bill of Materials) to supply chain attacks, from secure by default to continuous vulnerability management, we explore the practical realities of making compliance work. The conversation cuts through the confusion to deliver actionable advice: understand your responsibilities, think in terms of composition, and don't wait for a magic bullet. Tune in to learn how to leverage the power of open-source software whilst meeting your CRA obligations – because "free as in freedom" doesn't mean free from responsibility. #CRA #cybersecurity #opensource #FOSS #compliance #IoT #wetalkiot   Summary of this week's episode: 04:14 Key Dates and Obligations of the CRA 05:27 Challenges Faced by Manufacturers 10:10 The Role of Open Source in CRA Compliance 19:58 The Concept of Software Bill of Materials (SBOM) 22:14 Real-World Example: Casino Attack Case Study 23:28 Documentation and Configuration Issues 24:04 Cybersecurity Layers and CRA Methodology 24:25 Secure by Default and Advanced Concepts 26:50 Implementation and Standard Processes 29:45 Quality, Testing, and Automation 31:53 Vulnerability Management Methodology 37:18 Critical Mistakes to Avoid with CRA 39:36 Supply Chain Attacks   Show notes: Pierre Gal (Witekio): https://www.linkedin.com/in/pierre-gal/ Michael Röder (Avnet Silica): https://www.linkedin.com/in/roednix/ Securing the Future: Understanding the Cyber Resilience Act - We talk IoT #55: https://www.podbean.eu/ew/pb-8kkkd-d4ddfc   EU Cybersecurity Resilience Act: https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/policies/cyber-resilience-act National Vulnerability Database (NVD): https://nvd.nist.gov/   OWASP Top 10: https://owasp.org/www-project-top-ten/   Listen to the "We Talk IoT" Soundtrack on: Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/05MOV4OV2MH2in2txsAGtG?si=ad08112cb8d443f4 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-NvQ6VJYtE&list=PLLqgVFfZhDRVYmpEqbgajzDvGL4kACRDp   About Avnet Silica: This podcast is brought to you by Avnet Silica—the Engineers of Evolution. Subscribe to our newsletters here: https://my.avnet.com/silica/resources/newsletter/   You can connect with us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/silica-an-avnet-company/. Or find us at www.avnet-silica.com.

In this episode, we explore how an Emmy Award-winning video codec is transforming industries far beyond the silver screen. Dr. Siegfried Fößel from Fraunhofer IIS explains how JPEG XS – a compression standard designed for broadcast production – now enables breakthrough applications in autonomous vehicles, industrial automation, and remote healthcare. With a latency of just 32 lines end-to-end and visual lossless quality, JPEG XS solves a critical challenge: how to process high-resolution video in real time without introducing delay. When autonomous cars need to analyse multiple camera feeds in real time, when factory robots require split-second reactions, or when surgeons control remote instruments, every millisecond matters. Siegfried discusses the journey from keyboard-video-mouse extenders to ISO standardisation, the technology's adoption in sports broadcasting, and why tier-one automotive suppliers are testing it for sensor fusion. We explore how the codec integrates into FPGAs for embedded cameras, its constant bitrate advantage for IP transmission, and the future of AI-based video compression. Tune in to discover how low-latency video compression unlocks applications that weren't possible before – and what's coming next in the race to process visual data faster. #jpegxs #automotive #machinevinevision #healthcare #compression #fraunhofer #iot #wetalkiot   Summary of this week's episode: 01:30 What is JPEG XS and why it matters beyond broadcast 02:53 How JPEG XS differs from other codecs 03:39 The origin story: From KVM extender to ISO standard 05:00 The trade-off: Compression ratio vs latency 06:47 Autonomous vehicles: Processing 10 cameras without loss 08:27 Beyond self-driving: Electronic mirrors and driver monitoring 09:42 Industrial automation: Real-time quality control and robotics 11:25 Factory integration: FPGA IP cores and embedded cameras 12:53 ISO standardisation and software development kits 14:14 Healthcare applications: Edition 3's lossless approach 15:49 Remote surgery possibilities 18:50 Implementation advice: When to choose JPEG XS 20:33 Looking ahead: AI-based video codecs at 10 kbit/s 22:43 The constant bitrate advantage   Show notes: Dr. Siegfried Fößel: https://www.linkedin.com/in/siegfried-foessel-a158574/ JPEG XS: https://www.iis.fraunhofer.de/en/ff/amm/content-production/jpegxs.html Emmy Award announcement: https://www.iis.fraunhofer.de/en/pr/2025/pressrelease-emmy-jpegxs.html   Listen to the "We Talk IoT" Soundtrack on: Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/05MOV4OV2MH2in2txsAGtG?si=ad08112cb8d443f4 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-NvQ6VJYtE&list=PLLqgVFfZhDRVYmpEqbgajzDvGL4kACRDp   About Avnet Silica: This podcast is brought to you by Avnet Silica—the Engineers of Evolution. Subscribe to our newsletters here: https://my.avnet.com/silica/resources/newsletter/ You can connect with us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/silica-an-avnet-company/. Or find us at www.avnet-silica.com.