Reinventing Industrial Operations: Digital Twins, Agentic Intelligence, and What 2025 Clarified
Thu Jan 22 2026
An important lesson emerged in 2025: incremental transformation is no longer enough. In this episode of Bold Agendas, Mimi Brooks is joined by Pieter van Schalkwyk—CEO of XMPRO, author of Building Industrial Digital Twins, and a leader in the Digital Twin Consortium—to explore why today’s operating models are reaching a breaking point.
Together, they unpack the systemic pressures reshaping operations—aging infrastructure, rising complexity, talent loss, and unsustainable work models—and why technology alone can’t fix them. From the cognitive burden on frontline workers to the fragility of legacy systems, Pieter makes the case for agentic intelligence, human-centered design, and rethinking productivity itself. It’s a conversation that spans intelligent digital twins, organizational modeling, decision intelligence, and the call to move from experimentation to action.
Read Pieter’s article with co-author Michael Carroll, “Obituary for 2025: The Year We Buried the Copilot Dream and Discovered What Intelligence Actually Requires”
Timestamps:
00:00 – Introduction: The Strategic Case for Reinventing Operations
03:15 – Why Operational Models Need Reinvention, Not Incremental Fixes
08:20 – People as the Point of Rationalization in Complex Systems
15:53 – Leadership’s Awareness and Urgency Gap
18:34 – System Experts and the Knowledge Gap in Industrial Transformation
21:48 – Common Mistakes Leaders Make in Transformation
29:00 – Priorities for Redesigning Your Ops Model
35:05 – The Value of Digital Twins in Future Operating Models
39:51 – A Practical Roadmap to Operational Autonomy
45:18 – The Real Transformation Challenge: People, Not Tech
47:34 – Digital Twins of the Organization: Modeling Culture, Strategy, and Decision-Making
51:33 – Relational Dynamics: A New Lens on Organizational Context
56:15 – Lessons from 2025: Letting Go, Designing for Humans, and Looking Ahead
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An important lesson emerged in 2025: incremental transformation is no longer enough. In this episode of Bold Agendas, Mimi Brooks is joined by Pieter van Schalkwyk—CEO of XMPRO, author of Building Industrial Digital Twins, and a leader in the Digital Twin Consortium—to explore why today’s operating models are reaching a breaking point. Together, they unpack the systemic pressures reshaping operations—aging infrastructure, rising complexity, talent loss, and unsustainable work models—and why technology alone can’t fix them. From the cognitive burden on frontline workers to the fragility of legacy systems, Pieter makes the case for agentic intelligence, human-centered design, and rethinking productivity itself. It’s a conversation that spans intelligent digital twins, organizational modeling, decision intelligence, and the call to move from experimentation to action. Read Pieter’s article with co-author Michael Carroll, “Obituary for 2025: The Year We Buried the Copilot Dream and Discovered What Intelligence Actually Requires” Timestamps: 00:00 – Introduction: The Strategic Case for Reinventing Operations 03:15 – Why Operational Models Need Reinvention, Not Incremental Fixes 08:20 – People as the Point of Rationalization in Complex Systems 15:53 – Leadership’s Awareness and Urgency Gap 18:34 – System Experts and the Knowledge Gap in Industrial Transformation 21:48 – Common Mistakes Leaders Make in Transformation 29:00 – Priorities for Redesigning Your Ops Model 35:05 – The Value of Digital Twins in Future Operating Models 39:51 – A Practical Roadmap to Operational Autonomy 45:18 – The Real Transformation Challenge: People, Not Tech 47:34 – Digital Twins of the Organization: Modeling Culture, Strategy, and Decision-Making 51:33 – Relational Dynamics: A New Lens on Organizational Context 56:15 – Lessons from 2025: Letting Go, Designing for Humans, and Looking Ahead