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How a Global Technology Company Built Defect Detection That Tells a Scratch From a Lens Smudge

Operations1
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Six-Step AI Workflow with Human Oversight

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Estimates are directional and based on stated assumptions. All names, organizations, and identifying details have been anonymized in accordance with our confidentiality agreements.

The Transformation

How a Global Technology Company Built Defect Detection That Tells a Scratch From a Lens Smudge

Before
A technician used to walk the line each shift checking camera aim by eye.
A person used to eyeball one device in ten, and the other nine shipped unseen.
A person used to walk to the device and re-check every machine flag by hand.
After
every device photographed, every frame judged usable or not
every device inspected, every finding named with its picture
the mark on the device told from the mark on the lens
released, reworked or scrapped, with the close calls yours
a run caught while it is still short
Executive Summary

Every device that comes down the line, from the moment it passes the cameras to the moment it is packed, reworked or scrapped. The agents photograph every device instead of one in ten, name what is wrong with the picture attached, tell a scratch on the device from a smudge on the lens, and hand a person only the close calls, the scrap signatures and the decision to stop a line. Six stations, run as a loop: the certainty floor a person sets at station 6 is the floor station 2 names defects against tomorrow.

What Was Broken

A technician used to walk the line each shift checking camera aim by eye
A person used to eyeball one device in ten, and the other nine shipped unseen
The real cost
A person used to walk to the device and re-check every machine flag by hand.

What We Built

Six stations and 12 subagents. Each subagent carries its own tasks and its own refusal.

A4
Frame Capture
Collect every frame off the four arch cameras as each device passes
A3
Capture Check
Check every frame for blur, glare and a blocked view against that camera's baseline
A4
Part Finder
Locate the device and every listed part of its model in each frame
A3
Defect Classifier
Classify every mark: scratch, dent, missing screw, misaligned connector
A4
Device Tracker
Follow each flagged device across the four arch cameras by its serial
A3
Finding Judge
Confirm a defect that shows from two angles or more
A3
Pull Desk
Route each device confirmed clean on to packing
A1
Rework Ticket
Draft the rework ticket: the defect, the picture, the fix the rework book gives
A4
Pattern Watch
Count each defect kind by station and hour against the line's own normal
A2
Alert Desk
Show the trend, the trace and the pictures behind every alert
A4
Shift Close
Check every device that entered the shift against where it ended
A2
Threshold Proposal
Propose the certainty floor or holding rule that would have stopped the shift's repeated wrong pulls

How It Runs

1

Line Capture

Nobody is asked anything here

Agents photograph every device from four angles as it passes the arch, re-shoot any frame the light spoiled while the device is still inside, and hold a lane whose camera has gone dark. Nothing waits on a person here. A device with no usable frames is marked unphotographed, never judged blind.

2

Defect Detection

Nobody is asked anything here

Agents read every frame of every device, find each listed part, name every mark with its size, its spot and the picture behind it, and mark a device unsure rather than force a call. Nothing waits on a person here. A call below the certainty floor travels as unsure, never rounded up to a defect or down to clean.

3

Finding Confirmation

Nobody is asked anything here

Agents follow each flagged device across all four cameras, confirm a mark that moves with the device, clear a mark that stays with a lens, and send anything seen once to a person undecided. Nothing waits on a person here. A finding with one frame behind it goes to the pull bench marked undecided.

4

Device Disposition

A person answers here

Agents release the devices confirmed clean, pull the confirmed defects to the rework bench with the ticket already written, and queue the close calls for the inspector, worst first. This is where a person works. Everything upstream exists so that six devices, not eighteen hundred, reach this bench.

5

Line Watch

A person answers here

Agents count every confirmed defect by station and hour against the line's own normal, catch the same defect repeating device after device, trace it upstream, and put the call to stop or slow in front of a person with the evidence attached. This is where a person decides. An alert can see the run; only a person can stop the line.

6

Shift Close

A person answers here

Agents check every device that entered the shift against where it ended, chart where the findings landed, propose the threshold and holding changes the shift's mistakes point at, and put each one in front of a person with its cost shown. A person accepts or rejects each change. The certainty floor decides what a person sees, so an agent never moves it quietly.

Where a Person Decides

Step 4, Device Disposition. Clear the 6 undecided devices, the pictures are on screen. Sign or refuse the 2 scrap tickets. scrap needs a signature, not a score.
Step 5, Line Watch. Say stop, slow, or run on. The trace and the pictures are on screen. Tell maintenance the pad change at 11:02 is where the trail starts. a line stops on a person's order.
Step 6, Shift Close. Accept or reject the two proposed changes. Decide what happens to the 7 devices still on the bench. the floor is yours to set.

Operating Model

This changes how work flows through the team.

Role
Responsibility
Device Disposition owner
Clear the 6 undecided devices, the pictures are on screen. Sign or refuse the 2 scrap tickets. scrap needs a signature, not a score.
Line Watch owner
Say stop, slow, or run on. The trace and the pictures are on screen. Tell maintenance the pad change at 11:02 is where the trail starts. a line stops on a person's order.
Shift Close owner
Accept or reject the two proposed changes. Decide what happens to the 7 devices still on the bench. the floor is yours to set.
Line Capture, when it goes wrong
Look here only if maintenance asks which camera raised the ticket.
Defect Detection, when it goes wrong
Look here only if a finding on the rework bench surprises you.
Finding Confirmation, when it goes wrong
Look here only if the rework bench disputes a confirmed finding.

What Transfers, What Must Be True

What transfers
A person is in the loop wherever a device is scrapped, a line is stopped, or the floor that decides what a person sees is moved. Three stations refuse to proceed on their own, Device Disposition, Line Watch and Shift Close, and those are the three a person carries. Everywhere else the agents photograph, inspect, confirm and route, and reach you only when the call is yours to make.
Device Disposition stops for a person, and scrap needs a signature, not a score.
Line Watch stops for a person, and a line stops on a person's order.
Shift Close stops for a person, and the floor is yours to set.
Every subagent says what it will not do. 12 of them do.
What must be true in your environment
The agent can read the systems your records already live in. This one reads 21.
Somebody owns Device Disposition and has time for it.
Somebody owns Line Watch and has time for it.
Somebody owns Shift Close and has time for it.

Failure Modes

What breaks this pattern:

✗ Bad frames pass as evidence

When nobody refuses a frame too poor to judge, the device still gets a verdict. The log shows a clean pass built on pictures that show nothing.

✗ Unsure calls become certain calls

Without a floor, an unsure call gets rounded up to a defect or down to clean. Good devices leave the line as scrap, and bad ones ship, under a record that says the system was sure.

✗ One smudge, eleven scrapped devices

A dirty lens puts the same mark on every device that passes it. When nobody connects the repeats, each mark counts as a real defect, and the line throws away good hardware all shift.

✗ Scrap decided by a score

A device gets scrapped because a number crossed a line, and no person signed. Scrap is money off the line, and now nobody owns the loss.

Directional Outcomes

What the agent counts, and the station that counts it.

These counts are the tallies from one monitored run of the agents. They are not monthly or annual totals.

Frames checked
Counted at Line Capture
4,800,000
Devices judged off frames too poor to judge
Counted at Line Capture
0
Camera faults handed to maintenance
Counted at Line Capture
23
Devices inspected
Counted at Defect Detection
212,000
Defects found later in devices it passed
Counted at Defect Detection
0
Unsure calls sent on for a second angle
Counted at Defect Detection
1,860
Findings checked from a second angle
Counted at Finding Confirmation
9,400
Good devices reworked on a camera smudge
Counted at Finding Confirmation
0
Undecided calls handed to the inspector
Counted at Finding Confirmation
610
Our measurement policy: We do not publish precise ROI without baseline methodology. Every figure above carries its basis.

What Runs Where

Every step names the subagent that does the work, the record it writes, the thing that raises a question for a person, and what it is allowed to touch. This is drawn from the source, not from a diagram somebody kept in sync by hand.

1Line Capture
subagentframe-intake
writesframes/<serial>/<camera>.json
raisescamera-dark
may touchframes/**, tickets/maintenance/**, the camera feeds read-only
2Defect Detection
subagentdetect-classify
writesfindings/<serial>.json
raiseslisted-part-not-found
may touchfindings/**, frames/** read-only
3Finding Confirmation
subagentconfirm-findings
writesconfirmed/<serial>.json
raisesone-frame-only
may touchconfirmed/**, tickets/maintenance/**, findings/** and frames/** read-only
4Device Disposition
GATE
subagentpull-and-ticket
writesdisposition/<serial>.json, tickets/rework/<serial>.md
raisesawait-scrap-signature
may touchdisposition/**, tickets/rework/**, everything else read-only
5Line Watch
GATE
subagentline-watch
writesalerts/<alert-id>.json
raisesline-stop-proposed
may touchalerts/**, confirmed/** and disposition/** read-only
6Shift Close
GATE
subagentshift-close
writesrules/proposed/<rule-id>.json, reports/shift-<date>.json
raisesaccept-threshold-change
may touchrules/proposed/**, reports/**, the shift record read-only

Stack

Every system this agent reads or writes.

System
Read at
Stations
the alert rule book
Line Watch
1 of 6
the barcode scanner
Line Capture
1 of 6
the certainty floor and alert rule book
Shift Close
1 of 6
the confirmed-findings record
Finding Confirmation
3 of 6
the findings record
Defect Detection
2 of 6
the four arch cameras
Line Capture
1 of 6
the frame store
Line Capture
3 of 6
the line gate
Device Disposition
1 of 6
the line routing record
Line Capture
1 of 6
the line stations map
Line Watch
1 of 6
the maintenance ticket queue
Line Capture
3 of 6
the model parts lists
Defect Detection
1 of 6
the model tolerance sheets
Defect Detection
1 of 6
the pull bench log
Shift Close
1 of 6
the rework bench log
Shift Close
1 of 6
the rework bench queue
Device Disposition
1 of 6
the rework book
Device Disposition
1 of 6
the scrap register
Device Disposition
1 of 6
the shift dashboard
Shift Close
1 of 6
the shift record
Shift Close
1 of 6
the shift supervisor's screen
Line Watch
1 of 6
Next Step

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