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Aug 22, 2024

More efficient software for more efficient microchips

Andreas Kaldun

Agile software development is colliding with rigid manufacturing hardware. The physical machine is always right. Learn how shift-left testing safely bridges this Industry 4.0 culture gap.

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#1 about 3 min

Introduction to Zeiss and industrial manufacturing hardware

Background on Zeiss and its various industrial hardware sectors including highly specialized microchip manufacturing equipment.

#2 about 4 min

Evolution of industrial revolutions and digital factories

Industrial manufacturing transitions from automated assembly lines to utilizing real-time data and full digital twins.

#3 about 3 min

Bridging modern software with the automation pyramid

Developers must extract data stored in legacy formats using modern protocols like OPC-UA and MQTT to bridge old and new systems.

#4 about 2 min

Culture clash between hardware engineers and software developers

Integrating modern software practices into established hardware projects causes friction around work environments and varying technology dependencies.

#5 about 5 min

Contrasting product lifecycles and software update constraints

Modern software expects rapid deployment whereas manufacturing equipment has multi-decade lifespans and strictly restricted offline update protocols.

#6 about 3 min

Defining the source of truth in hardware projects

Software prioritizes flexible customer requirements, while industrial engineering dictates that the physical limitations of the hardware act as the absolute truth.

#7 about 4 min

Balancing agile practices with strict compliance standards

Development teams can strategically use automation tools to generate the vast amounts of documentation required by health and safety regulators.

#8 about 2 min

Integrating shift-left testing into manufacturing equipment validations

Shifting away from traditional end-of-production hardware validation to continuous shift-left testing introduces systemic workflow changes for engineering teams.

#9 about 3 min

Managing hardware dependencies for automated test pipelines

Lacking continuous access to physical testbed machines, software development teams must build and rely on realistic simulators to run continuous automated tests.

#10 about 4 min

Fostering cross-discipline communication and shared quality assurance

Bridging disparate domains requires mutual respect, a focus on holistic quality, and proactively teaching source control practices to hardware teams.

#11 about 3 min

Discussion on software-driven manufacturing and simulator costs

An audience discussion covers applying software-centric mindsets to large-scale automobile manufacturing and justifying high development costs for digital twin simulations.

Matching moments

3:32 min

Shifting the focus from hardware to complex systems

Réka Leisztner Réka Leisztner · WWC 2025

2:43 min

Aligning hardware ecosystems with industrial regulatory compliance mandates

Clemens Wasner Clemens Wasner +3 · WWC Europe 2026

3:07 min

Applying industrial factory management concepts to software developers

Johannes Hansen · WWC 2023

2:59 min

Introduction to cyber-physical systems and software

Hendrik Lösch Hendrik Lösch · WWC 2023

6:14 min

Modernizing deployment pipelines for embedded hardware devices

Chris Heilmann +2 · LIVE

8:07 min

Transitioning from web development to constrained hardware engineering

Philipp-Alexander Blum · LIVE

Upcoming sessions on this topic

Open session

World Congress 2026 North America

From Software Agents to Physical Devices: Inside the Agentic Hardware Stack

Vivian Hu, Michael Yuan

Vivian Hu
Michael Yuan
Open session

World Congress 2026 North America

You Can’t Re-Run Sunlight: Designing ML Data Architectures for Physical AI

An Phan

Senior Data Infrastructure Engineer @ Hippo Harvest

An Phan
Open session

World Congress 2026 North America

Reinventing Testing Practices in the AI Era

Eric Deandrea

Java Champion & Senior Principal Software Engineer, IBM

Eric Deandrea
Open session

World Congress 2026 North America

When Humans Stop Writing Code: Rethinking Languages, Compilers, and Responsibility

Simon Auer

Organizer of flutter vienna meetup and CEO of marqably

Simon Auer
Open session

World Congress 2026 North America

There's no dark factory without better software verifiers

Dexter Horthy

Co-Founder, HumanLayer

Dexter Horthy
Open session

World Congress 2026 North America

Offloading IoT State: Solving the Memory Crisis on Legacy Hardware

Pravin Nagare

Senior Software Engineer, Roku

Pravin Nagare

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