Siemens and Procter & Gamble (P&G) are expanding the use of an artificial intelligence-based quality inspection system across P&G’s manufacturing operations worldwide. The Visual Inspection Cockpit (VIC) inspects products in real time during production and is designed to provide continuous inspection coverage at full production speed.
The system is being used in high-speed consumer goods manufacturing, where products and packaging can include delicate or textured materials that shift, stretch or wrinkle during production. Depending on the product and application, the technology has helped reduce scrap rates by 10 to 20 per cent. New deployments can also be commissioned five to ten times faster than traditional customised vision inspection systems.
VIC was jointly developed by Siemens and P&G. The solution combines P&G’s deep learning models with Siemens’ Industrial Edge computing platform, industrial PCs powered by Nvidia GPUs and AI hardware and software. Traditional machine vision systems can require extensive reconfiguration when materials, packaging designs or production conditions change. VIC uses Industrial AI to adapt to such variations and maintain inspection performance across different products and production environments.
“Our Industrial AI and Industrial Edge capabilities deliver what high-speed production demands: full inspection accuracy for thousands of products per minute, scalable from a single line to a global footprint. This collaboration demonstrates what we mean when we say we’re making industrial AI real,” said Rainer Brehm, COO for Automation and CTO at Siemens Digital Industries.
Paul Thomas, Director of Machine Vision and Applied AI at Procter & Gamble, said the system was developed to address challenges including the inspection of overlapping components, low-contrast defects, decorated products and packaging, precise timing and real-time programmable logic controller integration.
Inspection results are processed close to production equipment through Siemens’ Industrial Edge platform and integrated into manufacturing operations. The system can automatically generate alerts and initiate actions such as removing defective products from the production line. Inspection data can also be collected and analysed over time. This allows production teams to identify recurring trends, assess quality performance and support process improvement.
Siemens provides the industrial computing infrastructure, software scaling capabilities and support for long-term operation of the system across manufacturing sites. The combination of AI models, industrial computing and production-line integration is intended to allow the inspection system to be deployed across multiple facilities and product lines.
Siemens AG is headquartered in Berlin and Munich and operates across industry, infrastructure, mobility and healthcare. The company combines digital and physical technologies and develops industrial AI applications for manufacturing and other sectors. Siemens also holds a majority stake in Siemens Healthineers. In fiscal 2025, which ended on September 30, 2025, Siemens reported revenue of €78.9 billion and net income of €10.4 billion. As of September 30, 2025, the company employed around 318,000 people worldwide based on continuing operations.
