In today’s rapidly evolving industrial landscape, data has become the cornerstone of operational excellence and competitive advantage. Despite advances in smart factories and Industry 5.0, many manufacturing facilities still rely heavily on legacy machinery and equipment that are robust and reliable but disconnected from modern digital ecosystems. These machines most often produce valuable operational data, yet in formats not optimal for automation and analytics.
So, how do industries bridge the gap between analog equipment and digital intelligence? How can plant managers unlock real-time insights and improve productivity when their core machines cannot “speak” digital? Infoveave came up with a solution to process images into digital data using AI. From there, this data can drive workflow automation, support workflow orchestration, and seamlessly integrate with enterprise systems to deliver real-time updates, alerts and actionable insights for operational staff and decision makers.
Legacy industrial machines form the backbone of many manufacturing plants but present a fundamental challenge: they rely on analog interfaces such as dials, gauges, mechanical counters, and status lights. Unlike modern IoT-enabled devices that generate real-time digital datasets, these machines depend on manual data capture, which is prone to delays and inaccuracies and incompatible with modern workflow automation software and tools.
While sensor retrofits and equipment upgrades are options, they can be cost-prohibitive, complex, or infeasible at scale. As operational data is already visually available on machine surfaces—these analog signals can spell critical insights about machine health, production status, and faults, if only they could be electronically “read.”
Industrial cameras and video systems offer a promising way forward by continuously capturing images of machinery. These raw images, with the right processing mechanisms convert images into meaningful data that can be harnessed for scheduling automated workflows to trigger useful updates and alerts about the manufacturing status.
Automated Image Analysis: Extracting What Matters
Infoveave employs GenAI to analyze images captured periodically or continuously from machines, accurately identifying and extracting vital data points:
Meter & Gauge Readings: Reads the positions of analog pointers, digital displays, and mechanical counters to capture key parameters like temperature, pressure, RPM, or flow rate, eliminating manual note-taking.
Status Indicator Detection: Detects the on/off states of signal lights and alarms, such as green lights indicating normal operation or red warning signals highlighting faults.
Defect and Anomaly Identification: Uses image segmentation and anomaly detection to spot surface defects, wear, corrosion, or unexpected changes that might signal impending failure.
Production Count Extraction: Reads mechanical counters or displays to track batch numbers, production volumes, or cycle timings.
From Visuals to Structured Data: The Image-to-JSON Pipeline
Infoveave’s Workflow Automation suite, uses its Image Processing activity to convert all extracted readings into well-structured, standardized formats like JSON. This transformation ensures:
Consistent Data Format: Every data point, from every machine, is represented uniformly, overcoming inconsistencies inherent in manual records or disparate systems.
Seamless Integration: JSON is widely supported across all software platforms, making it easy to store image-derived data onto datamarts and datawarehouses for further processing by , analytics engines, MES, or ERP systems.
Customizable Data Schemas: Infoveave tailors the data format and attributes to specific factory needs, ensuring relevant and meaningful data capture.
Scalable & Flexible: As enterprises add new imagery sources or adjust monitoring needs, the platform evolves without disruption.
This structured approach creates a unified data foundation that integrates image data with other operational datasets for improved efficiency and deeper insights.
Real-Time Monitoring, Alerts, and Visualization
Once data is curated and stored, Infoveave enables users to leverage it in actionable ways:
Live Dashboards: Continuous visualization of machine health indicators, production metrics, and operational states empowers frontline workers and managers with instant insights.
Workflow Automation: Image-driven insights can initiate follow-up actions such as creating service tickets, updating logs, or modifying production settings to reduce downtime and enhance safety.
Automated Alerts: If certain metrics breach safety or operational thresholds—like overheating or warning lights activating—Infoveave triggers notifications to maintenance teams or supervisors automatically.
This level of real-time responsiveness transforms plants from reactive environments into proactive and optimized operations.
Creating a Unified Industrial Data Ecosystem
Infoveave shines by integrating image-derived data with multiple additional sources to provide a holistic operational view:
Manual Records: Digital versions of paper logs or operator notes synchronize with image data for richer context.
Sensor and IoT Feeds: Where available, data from smart sensors complement image analysis, creating a comprehensive view of machine and process states.
Enterprise Systems: Infoveave’s outputs merge seamlessly with ERP, MES, or quality management systems to inform scheduling, supply chain, maintenance planning, and compliance. Breaking down traditional data silos arms businesses with end-to-end visibility across assets and processes.
Supporting Traceability, Audits, and Knowledge Management
Industrial operations require rigorous traceability and auditing—areas where Infoveave adds distinct value:
Comprehensive Digital Records: Every image, along with extracted data points, is time stamped and archived, creating an auditable history of equipment conditions and events.
Simplified Compliance: Digital logs ease reporting requirements for regulatory bodies and internal quality checks.
Aids Knowledge Management: As experienced operators retire, Infoveave retains invaluable knowledge through accumulated data and diagnostic insights, supporting training and operational continuity.
Infoveave’s unified data platform adapts to a vast range of industrial contexts:
Capable of handling various environments, from automotive and electronics to pharma and food processing.
Continuously improves accuracy with feedback loops and model retraining, adapting to new machines and changing factory conditions.
Maintains performance at scale for global enterprises with complex, high-volume data needs.
Learn how Infoveave can help automate your industrial systems
Despite the rise of digital manufacturing technologies, legacy machines remain integral to many production lines—holding vast, untapped operational data in their analog displays and indicators. Infoveave transforms this visual information into a powerful digital resource through advanced image processing and AI, bridging the gap between old machinery and modern analytics.
Rather than replacing costly equipment or undertaking extensive retrofitting, manufacturers can retrofit their visibility—automatically reading gauges, detecting anomalies, and monitoring asset health—at scale and with confidence. By seamlessly integrating this structured visual data into unified enterprise platforms, Infoveave preserves critical institutional knowledge and drives proactive, data-driven decisions.
As the industrial sector accelerates towards Industry 5.0, Infoveave serves as an essential enabler, ensuring no machine is left behind—regardless of age or connectivity. With its powerfully inter-connected suite of Automation, Insights, Governance and Security features, Infoveave empowers organizations to harness every visual cue from their assets as a source of insight, innovation, and competitive advantage.
The journey towards smarter, more agile, and resilient manufacturing begins with clearer vision. Infoveave not only opens the eyes of legacy machines but also illuminates the path towards a more connected, data-proficient future—today and beyond.