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Factory Assistant: ask your plant in plain language
One assistant for operators, maintenance, production and quality. Ask about alarms, trends, production and procedures in your own language, and get an answer with the data behind it.
The Factory Assistant is an AI assistant that answers questions about your plant in plain language. It reads alarms, trends and production data from systems such as Ignition, WinCC and your Siemens PLCs, plus the procedures and manuals you choose, and shows the data it used for each answer. It is read-only by default and runs on enterprise AI services or, where data may not leave the site, on local models on your own hardware.
Questions people ask it
Some examples:
- “Why did line 2 stop at 14:32?”
- “Which alarms came back most often this week?”
- “Compare the dryer temperature today with last Tuesday.”
- “What is the procedure to restart the extruder after a power dip?”
- “Summarise the night shift for the morning meeting.”
- “Which instruments look unreliable?”
One assistant, every team
- Operators: first cause of a stop, alarm explanations and procedures step by step. See the Operator Assistant.
- Maintenance: likely causes, checks in order and draft work orders. See the Maintenance Assistant and the predictive maintenance agent.
- Production management: shift and day summaries, stops and their causes, trends across lines.
- Engineering: where a tag is used, what a block does, how a screen is built. See the Engineering Assistant.
How it connects
Read-only to the SCADA and historian, selected PLC tags through OPC UA, exports from MES or CMMS, and the documents you choose. Access follows roles: an operator sees what an operator may see. Every question and every data source it used is logged.
Where it runs
On enterprise AI services, for example from Anthropic or OpenAI, also in EU regions, or on local models on your own hardware when data may not leave the site. Local models are usually less capable, so we test which tasks they handle well before you rely on them.
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
Start with an AI pilot on one line.
Questions we get
Can it change setpoints or start machines?
No. It reads and explains. Any write action would be a separate decision with its own safeguards and approval.
Which languages does it speak?
The models handle many languages, including Dutch, French, English and German. People ask in their own language and get the answer in the same language.
How do we know an answer is right?
We set it up to answer from your data and show the sources it used, so every answer can be checked. For important decisions, people check.
Can it run without the cloud?
Yes, on local models on your own hardware, with fewer capabilities than the largest cloud models. We choose per use case with your IT and OT security.
How do we start?
With an AI pilot: one line, the questions that matter most, read-only data.
Sources
A new line, an upgrade, or AI for your plant?
Tell us about your project and we will set up a technical call.
2800 Mechelen, Belgium E-mail: info@simsolutions.be Enterprise no. / VAT: BE 0680.932.773