Cameras have been deployed in factories for over a decade - so why, Franz Tschimben wondered, hasn't automated visual inspection yet become the worldwide standard?
This question motivated Tschimben and his colleagues to found Covision Quality, an AI-based visual-inspection software startup that uses NVIDIA technology to transform end-of-line defect detection for the manufacturing industry.
The simple answer is that these systems are hard to scale, said Tschimben, the northern Italy-based company's CEO. Material defects, like burrs, holes or scratches, have varying geometric shapes and colors that make identifying them cumbersome. That meant quality-control specialists had to program inspection systems by hand to fine-tune their defect parameters.
Covision's software allows users to train AI models for visual inspection without needing to code. It quadruples accuracy for defect detection and reduces false-negative rates by up to 90% compared with traditional rule-based methods, according to Tschimben.
The software relies on unsupervised machine learning that's trained on NVIDIA RTX A5000 GPUs. This technique allows the AI in just one hour to teach itself, based on hundreds of example images, what qualifies as a defect for a specific customer. It removes the extensive labeling of thousands of images that's typically required for a supervised learning pipeline.
The startup is a member of NVIDIA Metropolis - a partner ecosystem centered on vision AI that includes a suite of GPU-accelerated software development kits, pretrained models and the TAO toolkit to supercharge a range of automation applications. Covision is also part of NVIDIA Inception, a free, global program that nurtures cutting-edge startups.
In June, Covision was chosen from hundreds of emerging companies as the winner of a startup award at Automate, a flagship conference on all things automation.
Reducing Pseudo-Scrap Rates In manufacturing, the pseudo-scrap rate - or the frequency at which products are falsely identified as defective - is a key indicator of a visual-inspection system's efficiency.
Covision's software, which is hardware agnostic, reduces pseudo-scrap rates by up to 90%, according to Tschimben.
As an item passes through a production line, a camera captures an image of it. Then, Covision's real-time AI model analyzes it. Finally, it sends the information to a simple user interface that displays image frames: green for good pieces and red for defective ones.
For GKN Powder Metallurgy, a global producer of 13 million metal parts each day, the above steps can occur in as quick as 200 milliseconds per piece - enabled by Covision software and NVIDIA GPUs deployed at the production line.
Two to six cameras usually inspect one production line at a factory, Tschimben said. And one NVIDIA A5000 GPU on premises can process the images from four production lines in real time.
NVIDIA GPUs are robust and reliable, he added. The TensorRT SDK and CUDA toolkit enable our developers to use the latest resources to build our platform, and the Metropolis program helps us with go-to-market strategy - NVIDIA is a one-stop solution for us.
Plus, being an Inception member gives Covision access to free credits for NVIDIA Deep Learning Institute courses, which Tschimben said are very helpful hands-on resources for the company's engineers to stay up to date on the latest NVIDIA tech.
Increasing Efficiency, Sustainability in Industrial Production In addition to identifying defective pieces at production lines, Covision software offers a management panel that displays AI-based data analyses of improvements in a production site's quality of outputs over time - and more.
It can show, for example, which site out of a company's many across the world is producing the best metal pieces with the highest production-line uptime, or which production line within a factory needs attention at a given moment, Tschimben said.
This feature can help managers make high-level decisions to optimize factory efficiency, globally.
There's also a sustainability factor, Tschimben said. Companies want to reduce waste. Our software reduces production inefficiencies, increasing sustainability and making the work more streamlined.
Reducing pseudo-scrap rates using Covision software means that companies can produce materials at higher efficiency and profitability levels, and ultimately waste less.
Covision software is deployed at production sites across the U.S. and Europe for customers including Alupress Group and Aluflexpack, in addition to GKN Powder Metallurgy.
Learn more about NVIDIA Metropolis and apply to join NVIDIA Inception.
Attend NVIDIA GTC, running online Sept.19-22, to discover how vision AI and other groundbreaking technologies are shaping the world.
Most recent headlines
25/12/2025
Holiday lights are twinkling, hot cocoa's on the stove and gamers are settling in for a well-earned break.
Whether staying in or heading on a winter getawa...
24/12/2025
What is AI good for? Posted by MTI Film on December 24, 2025
What is AI good for?
What is AI good for?
It's been three years since ChatGPT first cap...
24/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
24/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
24/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
24/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
24/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
24/12/2025
Back to All News
Love, Fights, and Everything in Between: Badly in Love' Returns for Season 2
Entertainment
24 December 2025
GlobalJapan
Link copied t...
24/12/2025
Scripps Research study links sleep variability with sleep apnea and hypertension How consumers' digital activity trackers could enable personalized health s...
23/12/2025
How guilas Cibae as Dominican Winter League Games Are Locally Produced for Glob...
23/12/2025
BitFire's Jim Akimchuk on Supplying Scalability and Customization in the Clo...
23/12/2025
CAMB.AI Enables European Athletics to Offer Multi-Language SupportPlan is to eventually offer translation into all languages spoken in EuropeBy Ken Kerschbaumer...
23/12/2025
Analysis: As sports media values trend negative, scarcity and quality are king By Callum McCarthy, Editor-at-Large
Monday, December 22, 2025 - 14:08
Print ...
23/12/2025
ESPN, Disney, and NBA Return to the Animated Altcast Fray With Second Edition of...
23/12/2025
End the Year on a High Note and Donate to the Sports Broadcasting Fund Today! By Ken Kerschbaumer, Editorial Director
Tuesday, December 23, 2025 - 12:25 pm
...
23/12/2025
The year is winding down, the weather outside is frightful, and it's the perfect time to escape into a story that warms the heart. For listeners looking for...
23/12/2025
A Zeus motor is hot fire tested at L3Harris' Camden, Arkansas, solid rocket ...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Lightware will exhibit several major product innovations at ISE 2026, including the new USB-C BOOSTER-V1, Google Meet. integration for various Taurus UCX models...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Taking the Stage at Carnegie Hall-On a Global Scale Boston Conservatory Orchestra students reflect on their epic concert marking the 80th session of the UN Gene...
23/12/2025
Back to All News
Netflix's The Great Flood and Culinary Class Wars 2 Top Gl...
23/12/2025
Back to All News
Stranger Things By the Numbers: How the Global Phenomenon Shap...
23/12/2025
Experience the power of WO Automation for Radio's newest service, the System Effectiveness Review. Designed to help you achieve more, a System Effectiveness...
23/12/2025
23 Dec 2025
VEON's Beeline Kazakhstan and Rakuten Symphony Collaborate to A...
23/12/2025
Back to All News
How Steamy Can It Get? Single's Inferno' Season 5 Pre...
23/12/2025
Back to All News
33 Million Global Viewers on Netflix Watched Jake Paul vs. Ant...
23/12/2025
New technique lights up where drugs go in the body, cell by cell Scripps Research scientists developed a technique that maps drug binding in individual cells th...
22/12/2025
SVG New Sponsor Spotlight: Presidio's Neerav Shah on the Role of Its Captiva...
22/12/2025
Hitting the bullseye: Sky Sports readies itself for the biggest PDC World Darts ...
22/12/2025
Unique skillset: Bringing new directors to the world of darts at The Worlds with...
22/12/2025
Gravity Media prepares for a flight of fancy with the PDC World Darts Championsh...
22/12/2025
One hundred and eighty: Gravity Media on hitting the production bullseye at the ...
22/12/2025
The Famous Group's Jon Slusser on Fascinating Fans Through Immersive Content...
22/12/2025
ESPN's Meg Aronowitz on Continuing High-Quality Broadcasts of Collegiate Spo...
22/12/2025
ESPN Takes Data-Driven Storytelling to New Heights with MNF Playbook with Next ...
22/12/2025
For a decade, popular German podcast Fest & Flauschig has hosted an annual Chris...
22/12/2025
Paramount Scores Largest Share Increase Among Distributors as Paramount and CBS...
22/12/2025
New multi-year deal integrates Roku's data to fuel Nielsen's measurement suite
Roku gains access to Nielsen's streaming ratings, showing The Roku C...
22/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
22/12/2025
Berklee Wrapped 2025: Our Top News and Stories A look back at a year highlighted by faculty milestones, major film and television projects, Bob Dylan's ho...
22/12/2025
The works of Plato state that when humans have an experience, some level of change occurs in their brain, which is powered by memory - specifically long-term me...
22/12/2025
Partnership integrates complementary satellite data and AI analytics to enhance security, infrastructure, and environmental monitoring solutions for global cust...
Cameras have been deployed in factories for over a decade - so why, Franz Tschimben wondered, hasn't automated visual inspection yet become the worldwide standard?
