Executive Growth Movers & Shakers Interview with Chaiitanya Bulusu, SVP & Business Head – Americas, Infinite Uptime

Frost & Sullivan’s Sebastián Trolli, Head of Research for Industrial Automation & Software, spoke with Chaiitanya Bulusu, SVP & Business Head – Americas at Infinite Uptime, to discuss how the company is transforming industrial manufacturing. With its Production Reliability-as-a- Service (PRaaS) model leveraging PlantOS™ manufacturing intelligence platform, Infinite Uptime delivers measurable outcomes—such as 99.97% equipment availability and 2% energy reduction per unit produced—for heavy industries like cement, steel, and mining. This interview explores Infinite Uptime’s technological innovation, mission-driven approach, global expansion, and vision for autonomous operations by 2030.

Transforming Industrial Operations in a Volatile World

Sebastián Trolli: What key trends are driving change in industrial manufacturing today, and how is Infinite Uptime positioned to address them?

Chaiitanya Bulusu: Manufacturers face a perfect storm: fluctuating demand, supply chain shocks, escalating energy prices, aging assets, and workforce shortages, all amplified by the energy transition. These pressures demand a shift from reactive or predictive maintenance to outcome-centric production reliability—guaranteed performance and cost certainty. Infinite Uptime’s PRaaS value delivery model, powered by our PlantOS™ manufacturing intelligence platform, delivers this through vertical-specific AI, device-agnostic sensing, and human expertise. We help clients achieve 99.97% equipment availability and up to 2% energy reduction per unit produced, turning volatility into opportunity.

Sebastián Trolli: Why is production reliability becoming a strategic priority for manufacturers?

Chaiitanya Bulusu: Production reliability means achieving and sustaining maximum availability, efficiency, and performance from both equipment and processes. It’s not just about predicting failures; it’s about preventing them, optimizing output, and ensuring every production hour counts. It’s the difference between monitoring data and delivering plant-level business outcomes.

“It’s the difference between monitoring data and delivering plant-level business outcomes.” — Chaiitanya Bulusu

Sebastián Trolli: How are manufacturers’ expectations evolving in the face of these market dynamics?

Chaiitanya Bulusu: Manufacturers no longer want tools or dashboards— they demand partners who guarantee results. They’re seeking rapid ROI, scalability, and solutions that integrate with existing systems like SAP/ERP or Maximo/CMMS. Our outcome-based contracts align our success with theirs, fostering trust and delivering measurable value within 6–12 months, whether it’s higher uptime or lower energy costs.

PlantOS™: The Engine of Reliability

Sebastián Trolli: What sets PlantOS™ apart as a platform for industrial reliability?

Chaiitanya Bulusu: PlantOS™ is a modular, AI-native platform that unifies five functions: Sense & Ingest, Administer & Configure, Diagnose & Analyze, Act & Resolve, and Collaborate & Integrate. It captures data from any sensor—vibration, acoustics, temperature—using piezoelectric and MEMS technology, even in extreme conditions like 150°C or 2 rpm. Our vertical AI models, tailored for industries like cement and steel, deliver 99.97% fault prediction accuracy. The collaborative Outcome Assistant then routes persona-specific insights—diagnostic alerts for engineers, ROI metrics for CFOs—ensuring insights lead to action.

Sebastián Trolli: How do your sensors and AI perform in challenging industrial environments?

Chaiitanya Bulusu: Our proprietary piezoelectric sensors operate reliably at high temperatures and low speeds, monitoring assets like cement kilns or steel rollers that traditional sensors can’t handle. This enables early fault detection in previously unmonitorable equipment, reducing downtime and enhancing safety. Our vertical AI, trained on industry- specific failure modes, ensures predictions are relevant and actionable, with a 0.03% false-negative rate validated across 53,026 installations.

Sebastián Trolli: How does the Outcome Assistant drive actionable outcomes across plant teams?

Chaiitanya Bulusu: Unlike static dashboards, the Outcome Assistant delivers real-time, conversational insights. For example, if it detects a fan imbalance, it alerts the maintenance engineer with a diagnosis and recommends specific actions—like lubrication or replacement—integrated into their workflow. For executives, it provides financial impacts, like energy reduction per unit produced. This persona-based approach ensures every stakeholder, from shop floor to boardroom, acts on insights effectively.

“Our Outcome Assistant replaces static reports with real-time conversations that lead to decisions.” — Chaiitanya Bulusu

Delivering Measurable Impact

Sebastián Trolli: Can you share examples of Infinite Uptime’s impact on client operations?

Chaiitanya Bulusu: At JSW Steel, we addressed unplanned failures on critical rotating equipment like mills and fans, yielding 22,446 hours of additional production uptime. Similarly, Vedanta gained over 2,000 hours, and a leading Asian metals, cement & textile conglomerate group added 1,500 hours. These gains boosted throughput, reduced maintenance and insurance costs, and improved process stability. Beyond direct uptime, clients achieve better cost efficiency and sustainability reporting through lower energy use and enhanced compliance, translating to millions in revenue and operational resilience.

Sebastián Trolli: How do you ensure plant teams trust and validate these results?

Chaiitanya Bulusu: Every alert is tracked, timestamped, and verified by plant personnel. For instance, if PlantOS™ flags a bearing issue, the engineer logs the inspection and resolution. This closed-loop feedback validates our 81,791 hours of added uptime across clients and refines our AI models, building trust and credibility with users on the ground.

Mission-Driven Growth

Sebastián Trolli: How is Infinite Uptime leveraging its $35 million funding to drive growth?

Chaiitanya Bulusu: We’re investing in R&D to strengthen PlantOS™ and Outcome Assistant AI, hiring talent in North America, EMEA, and Japan, and expanding in sectors like cement, steel, and mining. Our “show-and- grow” model proves value in flagship plants, driving enterprise adoption. In North America, we’re meeting demands for scalability, cybersecurity, and integration with systems like SAP. We’re also educating markets to prioritize outcomes over data visibility, scaling talent to maintain agility, and exploring M&A to enhance vertical AI and edge sensing capabilities.

Sebastián Trolli: How does Infinite Uptime’s mission to redefine reliability shape its approach to industrial transformation?

Chaiitanya Bulusu: Our mission is to empower industries to deliver efficient and reliable production outcomes, ensuring every production hour counts. We combine vertical AI-driven insights with human expertise to prevent downtime and optimize efficiency. Guided by our values— fostering growth, inspiring innovation, valuing people, promoting work-life balance, rewarding excellence, and building connections—we drive user- validated outcomes in industries like steel and cement, transforming manufacturing for profitability and sustainability.

“U.S. manufacturers demand scalability and ROI clarity. We meet that bar with proven outcomes.” — Chaiitanya Bulusu

Sebastián Trolli: How does your mission extend to creating broader social or environmental impact?

Chaiitanya Bulusu: Beyond adding user-validated production time, we deliver secondary benefits: improved process stability, lower energy per unit, reduced maintenance costs, and better compliance and ESG reporting. By reducing energy consumption by up to 2% per unit produced, we help clients lower emissions and costs. Our multilingual training and intuitive tools bridge skills gaps, empowering workers across 26 countries to thrive in a digital era, fostering sustainable, inclusive growth.

The Human Element and Future Vision

Sebastián Trolli: How do you drive user adoption in complex industrial settings?

Chaiitanya Bulusu: We embed on-site experts, provide multilingual training, and offer 24/7 remote support to guide plant teams. Our intuitive interfaces and clear recommendations simplify adoption, even for teams with skills gaps. By aligning AI with human expertise, we ensure operators trust and act on insights, fostering cultural acceptance.

Sebastián Trolli: What’s your vision for industrial operations by 2030?

Chaiitanya Bulusu: By 2030, industrial operations will be run by autonomous agents that detect, decide, and act in real time—across assets and processes. PlantOS™ is evolving to enable this, moving from predictive maintenance to autonomous production outcomes.

“By 2030, autonomous agents will drive production outcomes in real time. We’re building that future.” — Chaiitanya Bulusu

Sebastián Trolli: What advice would you offer industry leaders navigating this transformation?

Chaiitanya Bulusu: Don’t chase dashboard subscriptions—chase delivering outcomes. Go deep into the customer’s problem, build trust, and solve something they can’t ignore. Industrial tech is hard, but impact here lasts decades.