Factory automation has traditionally been expensive, fragmented, and heavily dependent on specialized system integrators. Vention is challenging that model by turning automation into something closer to a software platform, where manufacturers can design, simulate, program, order, deploy, and operate industrial equipment within a connected digital ecosystem.

Etienne Lacroix, founder and CEO of Vention, joins Greg to share how his early experience as a teenage system integrator exposed him to the inefficiencies of traditional automation and ultimately inspired a different approach. From modular hardware and browser-based 3D design to software-defined controls and physical AI, Etienne has spent the last decade building a platform designed to dramatically reduce the time, cost, and engineering complexity required to automate a factory.

In this conversation, Greg and Etienne explore:

How Etienne went from designing machines and selling automation cells at 19 to identifying the fundamental problems behind traditional system integration
Why approximately 40% of traditional automation costs can come from engineering and integration, and how a platform-based approach can dramatically reduce that burden
The technological breakthrough that made Vention possible: bringing engineering-grade 3D design into the web browser and connecting design directly with purchasing and deployment
Etienne’s simple mental model for Vention: combining 3D design software, industrial Lego, and Amazon Prime into one automation ecosystem
How Vention connects machine specification, 3D design, programming, simulation, ordering, deployment, monitoring, and support within a single digital workflow
Why reducing integration complexity can make automation accessible to mid-market manufacturers that historically could not justify the economics
How Vention customers are achieving automation payback periods averaging around 1.3 years, while cutting deployment timelines by three to six times in some cases
Why a new generation of manufacturers, particularly in defense, could be a leading indicator for the future factory, with engineers bringing Python, AI, and modern software practices directly onto the shop floor
What software-defined automation really means, and how separating hardware installation from programming could fundamentally change the role of system integrators
Why Etienne believes the industry is already moving beyond software-defined automation toward AI-defined automation
How Vention’s MachineMotion AI controller, built with NVIDIA technology, is becoming the bridge between cloud-based digital twins and physical machines on the factory floor
A real-world example of a complex 300-motor conveyor system that was largely vibe-coded and programmed in roughly three weeks instead of several months
Where physical AI is genuinely production-ready today, including perception, pose estimation, segmentation, and collision-free path planning, and where generalized vision-language-action models still fall short
Why application-specific field data and teleoperation data may matter more than the underlying foundation model when bringing physical AI into industrial environments
Vention’s practical approach to AI validation, including letting manufacturers send in their own parts and proving cycle time and reliability before deeper commercial discussions
The hidden challenge of industrial robotics: no matter how sophisticated the simulation becomes, real-world physics will always introduce edge cases engineers did not anticipate
Why Vention partners with established robot manufacturers such as Universal Robots and FANUC rather than building robot arms itself, choosing instead to focus on the deployment platform surrounding them
How Vention is gradually opening its ecosystem through developer tools while maintaining enough control to preserve a fast, seamless user experience
Why manufacturing is becoming attractive again to top software, robotics, and AI talent as technology makes the industry increasingly scalable
The performance culture inside Vention, and how transparency, meaningful work, and professional development help the company grow engineers into future business leaders

Etienne also shares his long-term ambition for Vention: having already helped shift automation from a system integrator-led model toward a platform-based one, the next challenge is building a company that permanently changes how factories around the world automate.

Learn more about Vention: https://vention.com/

Connect with Etienne on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/etiennelacroix/

Connect with Greg on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregtoroosian/

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