Industrial DataOps #10 with Celebal Technologies - Anupam Gupta on ERP, AI, and Lake Houses in Manufacturing

Welcome to Episode 10 of the IT/OT Insider Podcast. Today, we're pleased to feature Anupam Gupta, Co-Founder & President North Americas at Celebal Technologies, to discuss how enterprise systems, AI, and modern data architectures are converging in manufacturing.

Celebal Technologies is a key partner of SAP, Microsoft, and Databricks, specializing in bridging traditional enterprise IT systems with modern cloud data and AI innovations. Unlike many of our past guests who come from a manufacturing-first perspective, Celebal Technologies approaches the challenge from the enterprise side—starting with ERP and extending into industrial data, AI, and automation.

Anupam's journey began as a developer at SAP, later moving into consulting and enterprise data solutions. Now, with Celebal Technologies, he is helping manufacturers combine ERP data, OT data, and AI-driven insights into scalable Lakehouse architectures that support automation, analytics, and business transformation.

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ERP as the Brain of the Enterprise

One of the most interesting points in our conversation was the role of ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) systems in manufacturing.

"ERP is the brain of the enterprise. You can replace individual body parts, but you can't transplant the brain. The same applies to ERP—it integrates finance, logistics, inventory, HR, and supply chain into a single system of record."

While ERP is critical, it doesn't cover everything. The biggest gap? Manufacturing execution and OT data.

* ERP handles business transactions → orders, invoices, inventory, financials.

* MES and OT systems handle operations → machine status, process execution, real-time sensor data.

Traditionally, these two have been separated, but modern manufacturers need both worlds to work together. That's where integrated data platforms come in.

Bridging Enterprise IT and Manufacturing OT

Celebal Technologies specializes in merging enterprise and industrial data, bringing IT and OT together in a structured, scalable way.

Anupam explains: "When we talk about Celebal Tech, we say we sit at the right intersection of traditional enterprise IT and modern cloud innovation. We understand ERP, but we also know how to integrate it with IoT, AI, and automation."

Key focus areas include:

* Unifying ERP, MES, and OT data into a central Lakehouse architecture.

* Applying AI to optimize operations, logistics, and supply chain decisions.

* Enabling real-time data processing at the edge while leveraging cloud for scalability.

This requires a shift from traditional data warehouses to modern Lakehouse architectures—which brings us to the next big topic.

What is a Lakehouse and Why Does It Matter?

Most people are familiar with data lakes and data warehouses, but a Lakehouse combines the best of both.

Traditional Approaches:

* Data warehouses → Structured, governed, and optimized for business analytics, but not flexible for AI or IoT data.

* Data lakes → Can store raw data from many sources but often become data swamps—difficult to manage and analyze.

Lakehouse Benefits:

* Combines structured and unstructured data → Supports ERP transactions, sensor data, IoT streams, and documents in a single system.

* High performance analytics → Real-time queries, machine learning, and AI workloads.

* Governance and security → Ensures data quality, lineage, and access control.

"A Lakehouse lets you store IoT and ERP data in the same environment while enabling AI and automation on top of it. That's a game-changer for manufacturing."

Celebal Tech is a top partner for Databricks and Microsoft in this space, helping companies migrate from legacy ERP systems to modern AI-powered data platforms.

There's More to AI Than GenAI

With all the hype around Generative AI (GenAI), it's important to remember that AI in manufacturing goes far beyond chatbots and text generation.

"Many companies are getting caught up in the GenAI hype, but the real value in manufacturing AI comes from structured, industrial data models and automation."

Celebal Tech is seeing two major AI trends:

* AI for predictive maintenance and real-time analytics → Using sensor and operational data to predict failures, optimize production, and automate decisions.

* AI-driven automation with agent-based models → AI is moving from just providing recommendations to executing complex tasks in ERP and MES environments.

GenAI has a role to play, but:

* Many companies are converting structured data into unstructured text just to apply GenAI—which doesn't always make sense.

* Enterprises need explainability and trust before AI can take over critical operations.

"Think of AI in manufacturing like self-driving cars—we're not fully autonomous yet, but we're moving toward AI-assisted automation."

The key to success? Good data governance, well-structured industrial data, and AI models that operators can trust.

Final Thoughts: Scaling DataOps and AI in Manufacturing

For manufacturers looking to modernize their data strategy, Anupam offers three key takeaways:

* Unify ERP and OT data → AI and analytics only work when data is structured and connected across systems.

* Invest in a Lakehouse approach → It's the best way to combine structured business data with real-time industrial data.

* AI needs governance→ Without trust, transparency, and explainability, AI won't be adopted at scale.

"You don't have to replace your ERP or MES, but you do need a data strategy that enables AI, automation, and better decision-making."

If you want to learn more about Celebal Technologies and how they're bridging AI, ERP, and manufacturing data, visit www.celebaltech.com.

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