Our mission? Enabling the understanding of the digital thread for every vehicle. We help manufacturers understand complex production data better, predict quality issues, and accelerate root cause analysis.
Who are we? With manufacturing operations becoming increasingly digitised, there is a growing treasure trove of data being generated that is becoming impossible to analyse manually. To help manufacturers get value out of the data they are already producing, we created a predictive quality platform called LinePulse that uses it to improve quality, automate root cause analysis, and get an early indication of any issues that may impact production.
By operationalising machine learning, LinePulse provides information and advanced analysis in real-time to line engineers and quality teams. LinePulse sends alerts before problems arise, identifies where process improvements should be implemented, and equips them with insights to understand complex processes and make better day-to-day decisions.
Acerta’s technology helps manufacturers and line engineers to…
- Predict quality issues to avoid problems downstream
- Reduce recall, retest, rework, and scrap rates
- Automate root cause analysis
- Avoid quality spills which could lead to costly warranty failures
- Make better, faster, and data-driven decisions
- Bring new products to market faster
- Reduce waste in factories and in the field
- Streamline and optimise electrical vehicle production
The lightbulb moment? During our time at the University of Waterloo, researching the applications of machine learning and AI for the large amounts of data being generated from industrial machinery (e.g., drones, cars, and planes), our observations sparked an idea. We noticed that whilst a lot of automation and complex systems were being built into vehicles, the process of demonstrating they work as expected was still very manual. We also noticed that a large amount of information was becoming available from these products and manufacturing processes. We aimed to combine the two, bringing that into the automotive lifecycle.
Why did we apply for Sixth Sense? Hexagon has a huge presence in manufacturing, including more traditional solutions around quality control and quality management, and Acerta brings machine-learning data techniques and cloud software to the factory. Our hope is that, in partnership together, we can create a more holistic, data-driven, and modern end-to-end quality solution for manufacturers – combining the strengths of both companies. It’s a partnership that can really create a lot more value for manufacturers.
Where do we hope to be in five years’ time? Right now, we’re focused on bringing our technology to the automotive and off-highway industries. However, our solutions are also broadly applicable to other manufacturing sectors, whether it be medical devices, electronics or other solutions. In the next three to five years, our goal is to broaden the reach and applicability of our platform to other industries in the broader discrete manufacturing space – especially with companies like Hexagon.
Which emerging technologies excite us? The most exciting for us is generative AI because these large language models open up opportunities to improve the way line engineers interact with human-machine interfaces. Instead of spending time clicking around and figuring out how to query data, ideally, engineers would just ask the system a question, and it would figure out how to provide them with the right information faster.