Factory-floor knowledge assistant
A source-linked AI assistant for the factory floor
Help operators and maintenance supervisors find the right procedure or equipment reference for the current task. NeoBram scopes factory-floor assistants around asset context, approved sources and the expert who owns the next decision.
Begin with the question asked on shift
Choose a recurring question that causes repeated searching or interruptions: which procedure applies to this asset, where is the approved changeover instruction, or which manual section explains an alarm? Define the user, equipment and task boundary. The assistant should support the shift’s existing work process, including a clear route to the supervisor when the answer is uncertain.
Identify assets, revisions and permissions
Relevant inputs may include SOPs, work instructions, equipment manuals, approved troubleshooting guides and selected maintenance history. Establish asset model, configuration, document revision and applicability. Historical maintenance notes should remain distinguishable from an approved procedure, particularly when they describe temporary fixes or equipment that has since changed.
- Map the line, asset and product context needed to select an applicable source rather than a similarly named document.
- Confirm which roles may access procedures, maintenance records and restricted technical information.
- Define how updated manuals, withdrawn instructions and unresolved questions reach the responsible document owner.
Make answers checkable at the point of use
A response should show the relevant passage, source identity and revision, together with any assumptions about the asset or operating state. Ask for missing context instead of guessing. When sources conflict or do not answer the question, show the gap and an escalation route. Critical work still follows the approved procedure and authorized supervision.
Keep troubleshooting inside approved boundaries
The assistant may help retrieve an approved diagnostic sequence and assemble symptoms for a maintenance specialist. It must distinguish observation from a proposed explanation. No generated step should authorize isolation, energization, interlock bypass or a process adjustment. Site safety procedures and qualified personnel determine which checks and interventions may be carried out.
Evaluate with real shift questions
Build a reviewed question set covering common tasks, ambiguous asset names, outdated sources and unanswerable cases. Test citation support, permission boundaries, correct revisions and the ability to escalate. Include realistic user terminology and interrupted sessions. Tablet, HMI, voice and multilingual use require separate usability and accuracy evaluation under the actual operating conditions.
Agree the assistant and feedback handover
A useful output can include a scoped assistant, approved source map, evaluated questions, limitations and a queue of unresolved knowledge gaps. Shift feedback should reach someone who can verify and improve the underlying instructions. Handover defines update ownership, access, logs, retention and fallback. Any MES context or device interface is an assessed integration requirement, not an assumed feature.
An illustrative changeover question
An operator asks about a setup step for a packaging line. Two manuals cover different machine revisions, so the assistant first asks for the asset identifier. It then shows the applicable passage and directs an unresolved adjustment question to the supervisor. This is an illustrative workflow, not evidence of faster changeovers or a deployed voice assistant.
Start with one line and its experts
Bring representative operator questions, the approved documents and the people responsible for the task. Compare the proposed workflow with current searching and escalation, including time spent checking answers. Company Expert AI and retrieval-augmented generation are possible implementation approaches; the choice follows the knowledge boundary, deployment requirements and evaluation results.
More clarity
Questions and answers
Can it work without sending factory data to a public model?
Local or private deployment can be assessed against the selected models, hardware, licences and support requirements. The actual data flows must be agreed and verified before use.
Does it provide instant or always-correct answers?
No. Latency and answer quality are evaluated for the intended workflow. Citations help review, but do not guarantee that a retrieved passage is relevant or correctly interpreted.
Will it understand the current MES state automatically?
Only if a suitable, authorized connection is included and tested. A first scope can use explicit operator-selected context instead of assuming access to live production systems.
Can operators use voice or their preferred language?
Those are separate requirements to evaluate for terminology, noise, equipment and source-language accuracy. They should not be treated as available merely because the interface is conversational.
What should happen when no approved answer exists?
The assistant should state the gap, avoid inventing a procedure and route the question to the named supervisor or knowledge owner. Feedback can inform a later controlled document update.
Start with one business problem