Process Automation on the Factory Floor Without the Hype
Exception queues, cycle-time KPIs, and operator trust matter more than pretty dashboards. Here is what actually ships.
Start with the workflow that costs money
- One defect family first; expand only after false-positive rate is acceptable
- Label guidelines with edge cases and photo examples
- Baseline: current human catch rate and cost of a miss
Design for the operator
Alerts need crops, confidence, and a way to dismiss noise. Assist mode before auto-stop builds trust. If the line hates the system, accuracy on paper will not save it.
Edge is a product constraint
A model that waits on a flaky plant network is a model that will be bypassed. Design for store-and-forward, local thresholds, and clear degraded modes.
Lighting, fixtures, and the unglamorous half
Treat camera health monitoring like machine health: blocked lens, focus drift, and swapped product SKUs should page someone before scrap piles up.
Ship one defect class operators trust, on hardware that survives the floor. Hype scales slides; trust scales lines.
