WARSAW, Poland — KSM Vision, a start up based in Poland, offers an AI-driven optical system for quality control for industries including lumber.

Designed to automate quality control of defects as minor as a pinhead, it can save companies over EUR 0.5 million on salaries alone in the span of the year while significantly improving the safety of the workers, the company said. 

Backed by a EUR 1.9 million investment from Aper Ventures, VIGO Ventures, and co-investors, KSM Vision aims to augment efficiency and reduce waste in the lumber industry as well as in the pharmaceutical, beauty, and food industries.

The financial burden of quality control weighs heavily on large-scale manufacturers. The cost of manual labor in that area has been significantly increasing - with 0.5M being spent solely on the salaries of quality controllers. Simultaneously, workers work in dangerous conditions risking their health. Reports indicate that companies lose a significant amount of products needing to be scrapped due to undetected flaws.

KSM Vision’s system can scan up to 36,000 items per hour. Early identification of these defects saves manufacturers from the cost of discarding an entire batch, prevents the market from receiving flawed products, and ultimately contributes to a more sustainable and efficient manufacturing process.

"We can support quality control in different industries — from lumber to pharmaceuticals. Our advantage lies in our proficiency in both hardware and software. This allows our AI solutions to easily merge with existing technologies, whether production lines or machines. Five minutes is how long it takes to adapt to a new product. Solutions without neural network embedded take significantly longer: efficiency and accuracy are in the DNA of our system," said Dr Krzysztof Malowany, CEO of KSM Vision.

The startup is eager to replace manual product inspections, notorious for high costs, poor repeatability, and frequent inaccuracies. Crafted by engineers, this detection system can precisely pinpoint production anomalies, requiring only a few dozen examples of perfectly manufactured products. That's a stark difference from rival models that demand extensive databases of correct and incorrect examples.

"Investing in KSM Vision is a strategic step towards harnessing deep tech for sustainable industrial transformation. Its AI drives efficiency, scrutinizes the minute details, and directly bolsters the bottom line," said Jacek Błoński, managing partner of Aper Ventures.