Best of LinkedIn: World Advanced Manufacturing Saudi 2026

00:00:00: This episode is provided by Thomas Allgaier and Freeness, based on the most relevant LinkedIn posts about world advanced manufacturing Saudi twenty-twenty six.

00:00:08: Freenes is a B to B market research company that supports enterprises across the smart manufacturing industry with the market customer and competitive insights they need to navigate dynamic markets and drive customers centric product development.

00:00:24: welcome back to The Deep Dive.

00:00:25: today we're taking a virtual trip to Riyadh but we aren't looking at oil And we, uh... We aren't looking at tourism.

00:00:32: No!

00:00:42: And signal of intent is really the perfect phrase for it.

00:00:44: You know, a lot.

00:00:45: these trade shows can just be.

00:00:46: well excuses to swap business cards right

00:00:48: drink bad coffee exactly.

00:00:50: But looking at the number tier over a hundred speakers three hundred and fifty exhibitors delegations from more than twenty countries This felt different.

00:00:57: this wasn't about.

00:00:57: what if that's not like bridging?

00:00:59: The gap between that high-level vision two thirty policy

00:01:02: which we hear about all the time

00:01:03: all the time.

00:01:04: And, uh... The actual concrete boots on-the-ground industrial execution.

00:01:09: Right and that's the lens we use for this deep dive.

00:01:11: We've sifted through I mean a mountain of LinkedIn insights posts from speakers Exhibitors to people actually walking the floor To figure out what real is just hype.

00:01:21: So where do we start?

00:01:23: I think we have to Start at the top!

00:01:24: The policy level Because you know when governments talk Industrial Revolution It usually just buzzwords in riven cuttings.

00:01:31: Was it any different?

00:01:32: It really seems so.

00:01:33: There was a very specific insight from Yazid Alabad that caught my eye, he said the ecosystem is shifting gears.

00:01:40: his phrase was From ambition to execution.

00:01:43: Okay

00:01:44: But it's...that's interesting.

00:01:46: He said The government isn't just asking investors To come and figure out.

00:01:49: They're using pre-feasibility studies To prepare upto forty percent Of critical project inputs Before an investor even signs A check.

00:01:57: Well hang on let stop there Forty percent.

00:01:59: What does that mean in practice?

00:02:00: They're doing the homework for the private sector, yeah

00:02:02: That's basically it.

00:02:03: Yeah I mean think about the friction of starting a factory.

00:02:06: you have to figure out energy Land tech infrastructure

00:02:10: supply lines

00:02:11: all of it.

00:02:12: Alba is saying this state is doing that heavy lifting up front.

00:02:15: It's a massive deristing strategy.

00:02:17: if you walk-in and almost half The work has done your time to market just plummets.

00:02:22: that Is a huge carrot to dangle.

00:02:24: its almost like a plug-and-play industrial model.

00:02:26: but as that Is that healthy?

00:02:29: or is it too much state interference?

00:02:31: I think its less about interference and more just removing the barriers.

00:02:36: Alibot also pointed out financial carats incentive schemes up to thirty five percent of project value.

00:02:41: Okay,

00:02:42: what are we talking in real money?

00:02:43: Captured around thirty million dollars.

00:02:45: Thirty million is real money.

00:02:46: but usually these things for shiny new green field projects right brand-new factories companies already there.

00:02:54: And that's where it gets really interesting, he highlighted a focus on grayfield factories.

00:02:58: so existing older factories.

00:03:00: they need an upgrade.

00:03:01: There is a program that offers around three hundred thousand SAR per factory to help SMEs integrate new tech

00:03:07: without shutting down their operations.

00:03:09: Exactly!

00:03:09: It's recognition.

00:03:11: you can't just build cities from scratch.

00:03:12: You have bring the existing industrial base along.

00:03:16: for

00:03:18: Christoph Herrmann from Fraunhofer was saying.

00:03:21: He gave a keynote on applied research and his whole point is that in this context, research can't just be an academic exercise.

00:03:28: Right the bridge-from lab to floor.

00:03:30: Herrmann's argument is that research has to translate directly into industrial value for Vision twenty thirty.

00:03:36: it's not about publishing papers It's about making a production line five percent more efficient.

00:03:41: And Just To Give You A Sense Of The Scale Here Halil Badevi shared some numbers That Are Frankly Mind-boggling.

00:03:48: Plans for thirty six thousand factories by twenty three five

00:03:52: Thirty six thousand with a planned investment of what was it?

00:03:55: two hundred and sixty six billion dollars?

00:03:58: That's

00:03:58: not just growth that is terraforming an economy.

00:04:01: But in here's my skepticism.

00:04:03: you can build thirty six Thousand buildings, but if you don't have the ecosystem around them They're just

00:04:07: empty shells

00:04:08: exactly.

00:04:08: Gabriel Carinano from Kearney raised this very point didn't he?

00:04:11: He did.

00:04:12: he called it territorial alignment.

00:04:15: It's a fancy term, but basically do you have the skills?

00:04:18: The logistics.

00:04:19: The governance.

00:04:20: His point was that manufacturing isn't just about the product it's a systemic thing That creates local wealth

00:04:26: if you get it right

00:04:27: If you got it Right.

00:04:28: otherwise the factory becomes an island and it fails.

00:04:31: Which brings us to the human element.

00:04:33: Tayfun can cuckoo had A really practical note for anyone listening who wants To-do business there.

00:04:38: yeah

00:04:39: his advice Was blunt.

00:04:40: its relationship game.

00:04:41: You can have the best tech stack in the world, but in KSA you need to build trust.

00:04:45: It's about long-term alignment.

00:04:46: You can't just email a proposal.

00:04:48: it's human game.

00:04:49: So the environment is set.

00:04:51: The money is there.

00:04:51: the handshake matters.

00:04:53: Let's get to the tech because everyone at these summits loves to scream AI.

00:04:57: But we saw a bit of a reality check this time

00:04:59: A massive one.

00:05:01: Ernest Nedek dropped a stat that I think every CTR needs here.

00:05:03: He talked about the AI value gap he said.

00:05:06: while eighty eight percent Of companies have adopted AI and some form okay Only six percent have actually delivered measurable business impact.

00:05:14: That is a brutal ratio.

00:05:15: Eighty-eight percent adoption, six percent success.

00:05:18: so what's going wrong?

00:05:20: Is the tech just not ready?

00:05:21: Oh!

00:05:21: The tech is fine it's the implementation.

00:05:24: NETIC calls it pilot purgatory.

00:05:26: companies treat AI like a software.

00:05:28: install they run a pilot looks great

00:05:30: and then hits real world

00:05:31: exactly legacy systems messy data SAP integration And it breaks.

00:05:37: You just get a fancy dashboard nobody uses.

00:05:40: So who's actually breaking out of purgatory?

00:05:42: Did we see anyone getting it right?

00:05:43: We

00:05:43: did new fall B from land war solutions.

00:05:47: They showcased something called Mercio AI and their whole focus is moving beyond Just visibility, you know a dashcode that says machine A is broken.

00:05:56: Right they're pushing for what they call autonomous context aware decision support

00:06:00: Context Aware unpacked at a bit

00:06:02: It means the system understands why The Machine Is Broken.

00:06:06: it's about being predictive.

00:06:07: It is the difference between a smoke alarm and fire marshal telling you how to get out of.

00:06:20: He argued that AI doesn't need to be big, we don't need a huge language model for everything.

00:06:26: He introduced INSAFE which is a Saudi made industrial safety sauce.

00:06:30: So very targeted Extremely!

00:06:32: It solves one specific problem-safety and does it really well?

00:06:36: His point as you get much higher returns solving specific pain points than trying boil the ocean with massive AI overhaul.

00:06:43: That makes perfect sense.

00:06:44: But even best AI needs good data And Lama Baraka raised bit of red flag there.

00:06:49: She did.

00:06:50: She pointed out that despite all this industry four point oh talk, fifty percent of businesses are still using manual processes.

00:06:58: her formula for success was eighty percent data twenty-percent application garbage

00:07:02: and garbage out

00:07:02: pretty much.

00:07:03: if you don't manage your data Your AI is dead in the water.

00:07:06: And speaking to The Physical Factory says again You Muck brought up something That sounds mundane but it's actually a huge shift the hardware Specifically, the control cabinet.

00:07:16: This is where engineers get excited.

00:07:18: Youmuk's argument that big metal box full of spaghetti wiring becomes obsolete.

00:07:22: He's pushing for decentralization

00:07:24: Which means putting brains on a machine itself?

00:07:27: Exactly!

00:07:27: Modular architecture right at the machine level.

00:07:30: Less wiring faster.

00:07:31: commissioning If you want to build thirty six thousand factories... ...you can't spend months wiring custom cabinets For every single machine.

00:07:39: It has to be scalable.

00:07:40: Speed requires modularity.

00:07:42: That makes total sense.

00:07:44: Okay, let's zoom out.

00:07:44: we have the factories The AI running them but Saudi Arabia is huge and it wants to be a global hub.

00:07:50: so logistics.

00:07:53: But there was a fascinating debate about whether all this automation actually saves money.

00:07:57: Yeah, Haasam El Tawil raised This the economics of resilient supply chains.

00:08:02: And It's A bit counterintuitive.

00:08:04: He's Asking Do these new hubs and all this automation actually improve your margins?

00:08:09: Or do they just shift the costs in risks

00:08:11: somewhere else.

00:08:11: Precisely, building a highly automated hub is an enormous capital expense.

00:08:16: if the market shifts you're stuck with that fixed cost.

00:08:18: so he's questioning if the efficiency payoff justifies the rigidity.

00:08:22: But then you have someone like Abdulmanazer, a procurement manager.

00:08:26: He's on the trenches And he seems to think the shift isn't necessary.

00:08:29: anyway

00:08:29: He does!

00:08:34: It's not just about buying a tool to fix the shipping bottleneck, it is about integrating systems.

00:08:40: Procurement as part of the whole production life cycle.

00:08:42: And Abdulrahman Al-Sultan from Silky Systems took that extreme.

00:08:47: He was talking about an operating system for this thing.

00:08:49: One brain running production warehousing fleet finance... The whole show!

00:08:56: But here comes a philosophical question that came from Muhammad Abbas.

00:08:59: He saw these smart inspection systems cameras spotting defects with a hundred percent accuracy and he asked, is one-hundred percent accuracy actually a good

00:09:08: thing?

00:09:09: That sounds like a trick question.

00:09:10: Isn't zero defects the

00:09:12: goal?"?

00:09:12: You'd think so.

00:09:13: but Abbas asks what if a defect isn't visible to the customer and doesn't affect performance?

00:09:18: should you scrap the product

00:09:20: then create waste?

00:09:21: Exactly, you're creating waste.

00:09:23: Sometimes perfect is the enemy of sustainable.

00:09:25: He's questioning if the AI is becoming too strict.

00:09:28: That's a really nuanced point.

00:09:29: It's easy to let the AI be ruthless But maybe the human part is knowing when good enough Is well...good enough.

00:09:35: And If we are talking future logistics

00:09:38: In

00:09:39: Hamoud Ramon threw a curveball in Quantum computing.

00:09:43: I thought that was still science fiction.

00:09:45: It's getting closer, he says it starting to enter the conversation for really complex supply chain optimization when you have millions of variables routes weather fuel classic computers just choke.

00:09:56: quantum could solve that in seconds.

00:09:58: okay let's shift gears pun intended too.

00:10:02: EV and mobility because this is where things got really radical.

00:10:05: We're not just optimizing here, we were talking about reinventing how a vehicle was even made.

00:10:10: Hori

00:10:10: Vasudevan from Veduthi Mobility This one of the most striking insights for me.

00:10:15: He's not only making electric vehicles he's rethinking it.

00:10:18: first principles His slogan zero welding, zero painting, zero wiring.

00:10:22: Okay I have to play skeptic.

00:10:24: How do you build a vehicle with zero welding and zero wiring?

00:10:27: Does it just stay together with hope.

00:10:29: It's not magic, its chemistry in geometry.

00:10:31: he is talking about advanced composites an industrial bonding instead of welding steel.

00:10:35: And for wiring You can use bus bars or integrated conductive structures Instead these heavy complex wiring harnesses.

00:10:42: But why I mean his welding that bad?

00:10:45: Its expensive.

00:10:46: A traditional auto plant the paint shop alone Is huge energy intensive.

00:10:50: The welding robots cost millions.

00:10:52: If you eliminate those, you slash the capex needed to start a factory.

00:10:56: You make it lighter cheaper and faster to build.

00:10:59: It's game changer And Raj Kumar VK connected this specifically To The Region.

00:11:04: Yes!

00:11:05: This is crucial.

00:11:06: He argued that goal shouldn't be just import A Tesla design.

00:11:09: The Mene region needs new category of vehicle Something built for heat, dust

00:11:14: Ultra low cost Rugged locally made

00:11:17: Precisely.

00:11:18: That brings us back to territorial alignment.

00:11:21: If you simplify the design, like getting rid of complex wiring harnesses it's much easier to manufacture those components locally in Saudi Arabia.

00:11:29: You don't have to import them.

00:11:30: It all connects policy.

00:11:31: simplified tech local manufacturing.

00:11:34: okay we can't finish without touching on the environment and the risks because building thirty six thousand factories in a desert has implications.

00:11:42: Norman McComb had a quote of this summit.

00:11:44: for me industry four point oh is quietly becoming sustainability two-point.

00:11:48: Oh

00:11:48: That's a good line.

00:11:49: Is it just the slogan though?

00:11:50: I don't think it can be, not in the Saudi context.

00:11:53: you have serious water constraints extreme heat.

00:11:56: McComb argues sustainability isn't a PR move there.

00:11:59: It is a competitiveness requirement.

00:12:01: If you do'nt price your carbon risk You won't survive.

00:12:04: But theres another threat.

00:12:06: We've talked about connecting everything into one big digital brain.

00:12:09: David S pointed out an obvious problem with that

00:12:12: the attack surface.

00:12:13: With five G and hyper connected factories, you're opening thousands of new doors for hackers.

00:12:19: it's not just data theft anymore.

00:12:20: a hacker gets in.

00:12:22: they can cause physical damage.

00:12:23: no what's

00:12:23: the solution?

00:12:24: Just don't connect anything!

00:12:26: Not an option.

00:12:26: he emphasized red teaming basically, hiring ethical hackers to attack your own systems.

00:12:32: To find the holes first.

00:12:33: security has to be built in from day one and

00:12:36: there's a human fear here too right?

00:12:37: We've talked about efficiency automation.

00:12:40: semi-benjama was very candid about The workforce

00:12:42: he was.

00:12:43: it was a somber point.

00:12:44: He talked about the AI divide And the genuine fear that fifty percent of the work force could be laid off.

00:12:50: You can't have this conversation without acknowledging the tension.

00:12:53: they're

00:12:55: true.

00:12:56: But to end on a slightly more optimistic note, Rafiq Ahmed highlighted some of the start-up pitch winners and innovation.

00:13:02: there seems to be creating new kinds

00:13:16: enlightened machines focusing on modular robotics.

00:13:20: It shows that while the giants are building mega factories, there's this vibrant grassroots innovation bubbling up too.

00:13:27: it really

00:13:27: does feel like that ambition to execution theme wasn't just a tagline from printing homes two zero welding cars.

00:13:33: The focus was definitely undoing

00:13:35: Absolutely.

00:13:36: The policies are there, the tech is being reality-checked brutally in some cases and the focus on sustainable secure local growth...the rubber's finally meeting.

00:13:59: See

00:14:03: you next time!