AI pilot for industry: one line, one use case, clear result

Updated: 25 October 2026 · SIM Solutions

Short answer

Our AI pilot tests one use case, such as first-cause alarm analysis, predictive maintenance, energy monitoring, a plant-wide assistant or AI-assisted engineering, on one line or one project. Scope, success criteria and price are agreed in writing before we start. We connect read-only to your data, build a working proof of concept on a test or development system and measure it against the criteria with the people who will use it. At the end you get a report and a clear recommendation: scale, adjust or stop.

The six steps

Intake. We choose the use case with you, where the gain is clear and the data exists.
Data check. A read-only look at what is available: alarms, trends, PLC and SCADA projects, documents, work orders. Gaps are named, not hidden.
Plan. Success criteria, for example the time to find the first cause of a stop, plus scope, timeline and price, in writing.
Build. A working proof of concept on a test or development system, with your data. Our engineers review everything it does.
Test with users. Operators, technicians or engineers use it on real questions and tell us what works.
Decide. A report with results against the criteria, what scaling would take, and our recommendation.

What you get

A working proof of concept on your own data
Measured results against criteria you agreed up front
A plan and cost estimate to scale, or a clear reason to stop
A data and security set-up your IT and OT security have approved

Use cases we often start with

Operator Assistant: first cause of a stop, alarms explained
Predictive maintenance agent: drift spotted early, draft work orders
Energy and CO₂ monitoring: waste found per line and product
Factory Assistant: plant data in plain language
Engineering Assistant: read old PLC and SCADA projects, prepare migrations

What we need from you

A sponsor who decides, one contact on the line, read access to the data, a test system or a copy of the project, and the documents the AI should use.

Our rules

Read-only access by default: nothing writes to PLCs or SCADA
New work happens on development or test systems
An engineer approves every change; safety functions stay outside AI
We agree up front which data the AI may see, and where it runs: enterprise cloud services or local models on your own hardware

Questions we get

How long does a pilot take?

It depends on the use case and on how quickly data access is arranged. The timeline is part of the written plan before the build starts.

What does it cost?

The price is agreed in writing after the intake and data check, before the build starts.

What if the result is disappointing?

Then you know early, at the cost of one pilot, and the report explains why and what would be needed instead.

Does the pilot touch our running plant?

No. We read data and build on test or development systems. Nothing writes to your production PLCs or SCADA.

Can we start with something other than the listed use cases?

Yes. Tell us what costs you time or money in the plant; we check in the intake whether AI is the right tool for it.

Sources

Cyber.gov.au: Principles for the secure integration of AI in OT (3 Dec 2025)

AI pilot: one line, one use case, a clear result