The challenge
Factory systems run around the clock, and unplanned downtime is measured in thousands per minute. The leadership team wanted AI-driven quality inspection, but the OT environment was deliberately isolated, documentation was sparse, and any change carried production risk.
The approach
We treated security and stability as design constraints, not afterthoughts. The approach: observe first (passive data collection, no changes to production systems), prove value on historical data, then introduce a human-in-the-loop inspection assistant on a single line with a full rollback plan.
Every stage included the plant's own engineers, so the capability — and the confidence — stayed in-house after the engagement ended.
The outcome
The inspection assistant now flags likely defects for human review on the pilot line, catching issues earlier without a single minute of unplanned downtime during rollout. The same staged, security-first pattern is now being applied to maintenance planning.