Scoping a line pilot
How to pick the KPI, the line and the baseline window, and what the data review needs from your historian and inspection systems.
Resources
Material for the people who have to justify this internally.
Guides, checklists and the figures the site uses, with their status stated. Nothing here needs a sales call to read.
Guides
Evaluation guides
Material for the people who have to justify this internally: the plant director, the technologist and the quality engineer.
Autonomy levels for OT teams
What L1 to L4 mean on a furnace, a forming line and a lehr, and how the allow-list and limits are set.
Attribution: from a defect to a setpoint
Why a seed is a melt problem and a check is a forming or lehr problem, and how Seedscan feeds the control agents.
The glass-line twin, explained
What Glastwin simulates, how it is corrected against the real line, and why candidate recipes are discarded.
Security and data review
Deployment options, what leaves the plant, the audit schema and the questions your IT and OT reviewers will ask.
Reading a pilot report
The fields, the exclusions and how to reproduce every figure from your own genealogy.
Tools
Checklists and calculators
Short, practical, and yours to keep whether or not you run a pilot.
Pilot readiness
Tag access, inspection record formats, MES exports, a named technologist and a KPI with a baseline window.
Integration survey
The systems, protocols and vendors on your line, and which tags an agent could ever be allowed to write.
Cullet and energy baseline
A sheet that turns your cullet tonnes, reject counts and furnace energy into the baseline the pilot will be scored against. Your numbers, not ours.
Data-rights terms
The clauses that cover telemetry, recommendations, approvals and rejections, control changes, downstream quality and final grade.
Run timeline · scenario
The worked example
Every Glasent run is an ordered, inspectable sequence. This is scenario_fl2_01 on FL-2 · float line · clear soda-lime: Thickness change FL-2 · 6 mm to 4 mm clear float, residual stress inside spec, zero escaped seeds. It is a worked scenario that shows the shape of a run, not a measured customer result.
scenario_fl2_01
FL-2 · float line · clear soda-lime
scenario
SUCCEEDED
-
01
ingest.order
SUCCEEDED
0.9 s
Plant Orchestrator · Pulled the 4 mm clear float spec, optical-grade tolerances and the standing energy window from plant MES; locked the target envelope for the run.
-
02
twin.simulate
SUCCEEDED
41 s
Glastwin · Simulated 36 candidate transition recipes across furnace pull, tin-bath ribbon speed and lehr curve; ranked them on seed risk, residual stress and energy per tonne.
-
03
melt.pull
SUCCEEDED
6 m 20 s
Meltrix · Stepped furnace pull toward the new ribbon mass flow while holding melt temperature and fining; chemistry stayed inside the composition window.
-
04
form.ribbon
SUCCEEDED
4 m 05 s
Formeon · Raised ribbon speed and re-angled the top rollers to thin the ribbon toward 4 mm; thickness converged inside the design tolerance.
-
05
anneal.curve
SUCCEEDED
3 m 12 s
Anneon · Re-shaped the lehr cooling curve for the thinner, faster ribbon so residual stress stays inside spec at the higher speed.
-
06
inspect.ribbon
SUCCEEDED
continuous
Seedscan · 8 camera, optical and stress stations streaming; a seed cluster flagged at the ribbon edge and attributed to the pull transient, routed to cullet.
-
07
yield.balance
SUCCEEDED
2.4 s
Plant Orchestrator · Re-sequenced cut sizes so transition ribbon routes to cullet recovery and good ribbon to the highest-value open order.
-
08
approve.human
APPROVAL
48 s
Plant Orchestrator · The second pull step exceeded the site autonomy threshold. Held for the glass technologist on shift; approved and written to the audit log.
-
09
handle.stack
SUCCEEDED
1 m 10 s
Panebot · Re-planned pick and stack paths for the thinner panes; plates flagged by Seedscan diverted to cullet, good plates stacked to rack A3.
-
10
ware.qualify
SUCCEEDED
1 m 02 s
Plant Orchestrator · Lot released with full genealogy: batch, melt, forming, lehr curve, defect map, stress map and the technologist's approval.
Tool calls · scenario
The agent shows its work
Every tool invocation, argument and result is written to an immutable, human-readable log, and every reasoning step is expandable. Nothing about a run is hidden from the plant.
- 02:14:03mes.read_orders({ line: "FL-2", next: "CLR-4MM" })
- 02:14:03ok spec locked · 4.0 mm · optical grade · stress limit set
- 02:14:04twin.simulate({ candidates: 36, horizon: "22 min" })
- 02:14:45ok best recipe #19 · seed risk low · stress inside spec
- 02:14:46policy.evaluate({ recipe: 19, autonomy: "L3" })
- 02:14:46ok 11 writes permitted · 1 write requires human approval
- 02:14:47scada.write_setpoint({ tag: "F1.PULL_SP", step: 1 })
- 02:21:07ok pull step 1 settled · fining stable · chemistry in window
- 02:21:08float.write_ribbon({ speed: "+", rollers: "re-angle" })
- 02:25:13ok thickness converging to 4.0 mm · flatness in tolerance
- 02:25:14lehr.write_curve({ zones: 12, profile: "4mm-fast" })
- 02:28:26ok residual stress inside spec at new belt speed
- 02:28:27vision.stream({ stations: 8, model: "seedscan-v3" })
- 02:28:41seed cluster · ribbon edge · attributed to pull transient
- 02:28:42cuopt.sequence({ objective: "cullet+energy" })
- 02:28:44ok transition ribbon routed to cullet · good ribbon to order
- 02:28:45approval.request({ action: "pull_step_2" })
- 02:29:33ok approved by the technologist on shift · logged
- 02:31:02isaac.plan_path({ stack: "A3", thickness: "4.0 mm" })
- 02:32:12ok paths validated in Isaac Sim · flagged plates diverted
- 02:33:15mes.log_lot({ lot: "FL2-4MM", genealogy: "full" })
- 02:34:17ok scenario run complete · stress in spec · 0 escaped seeds
Reasoning trace
Plan, thought, action, observation, exactly as the orchestrator would record it.
GoalMove FL-2 from 6 mm to 4 mm clear float with residual stress i…
Move FL-2 from 6 mm to 4 mm clear float with residual stress inside spec and zero escaped seeds.
PlanSimulate the transition on the twin first. Lead with furnace p…
Simulate the transition on the twin first. Lead with furnace pull so the ribbon mass flow is right before the forming change, then thin the ribbon, then re-shape the lehr curve. Watch the ribbon continuously; hold the second pull step for a human.
ThoughtThe standing recipe changes pull and ribbon speed together. On…
The standing recipe changes pull and ribbon speed together. On the twin that produces a fining transient that seeds the ribbon edge. Sequencing the pull step ahead of the forming change and holding fining removes most of it.
Actiontwin.simulate(candidates=36) returned recipe #19: pull in two …
twin.simulate(candidates=36) returned recipe #19: pull in two steps, forming change after fining settles, lehr curve re-shaped before belt speed rises.
ObservationRecipe #19 scored lowest on seed risk with stress inside spec.…
Recipe #19 scored lowest on seed risk with stress inside spec. Two candidates scored lower on energy but pushed residual stress over the site limit and were discarded.
ActionExecute recipe #19 under autonomy level L3: eleven setpoint wr…
Execute recipe #19 under autonomy level L3: eleven setpoint writes permitted, the second pull step routed to the glass technologist.
ObservationSeed cluster at the ribbon edge at 02:28:41, attributed to the…
Seed cluster at the ribbon edge at 02:28:41, attributed to the pull transient. cuOpt routed that ribbon to cullet recovery; no flagged plate reached a customer stack.
OutcomeScenario run complete. Thickness at 4.0 mm, residual stress in…
Scenario run complete. Thickness at 4.0 mm, residual stress inside spec, one approval gate, full genealogy written to the lot record.
Numbers
Figures used across these resources
Every figure the site uses, with where it comes from and what it is.
| Figure | Value | Status | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Defect alert latency | < 100 ms | Design target | Architecture, GPU utilisation plan |
| Vision throughput | 30–60 FPS | Design target | Architecture |
| Stations per line | 4–24 | Design range | Architecture |
| Fused stress decision | < 500 ms | Design target | Architecture |
| Synthetic scenes per family | 50k–250k | Planned | Architecture |
| Pilot length | 90–120 days | Plan | Business model |
| Design-partner cohort | 3–5 plants | Plan | Roadmap |
| Line tier | $16,000 / line / mo | Price | Pricing |
| Plant tier | $95,000 / mo | Price | Pricing |
| Enterprise | $700k–$9M ACV | Price | Pricing |
| Market | TAM $17B · SAM $4.3B · SOM $260M | Company analysis | Market analysis |
| Market growth | ~11% a year | Company analysis | Market analysis |
Reading
Background reading
The ideas the product rests on, in plain terms.
Energy, decarbonisation and a retiring workforce
Decarbonisation and energy-cost pressure, the display and solar-glass boom, automotive glazing complexity, container lightweighting and a glass-technologist shortage, arriving together.
Point tools versus a system of action
Incumbents melt, or form, or anneal, or inspect, or run MES. None close the loop across them; most are single-task and siloed.
The closed-loop corpus
Recommendation, approval, control change, plant response, inspection result, cullet and energy outcome, final grade. The record no point tool can build.
Evaluation
A sane evaluation sequence
Six weeks of work before anyone signs a pilot, most of it yours.
- 01Pick the number
One KPI the plant already measures and argues about.
- 02Pull the extract
Historian, inspection and MES data for the line, over the baseline window.
- 03Data review
We tell you in a week whether the wedge is worth instrumenting.
- 04Security review
Your IT and OT teams read the security pack and ask their questions.
- 05Scope and terms
Line, KPI, baseline, exclusions, data rights and price, in writing.
- 06Shadow mode
The pilot starts observing. The baseline is measured.
Autonomy
Four levels, set per agent and per tag
A plant does not go from manual to unattended in one step. Glasent makes the level explicit, auditable and reversible at any time, and the first release plan is shadow, then assist, then graduated autonomy.
| Level | What the agent does | What the person does | When |
|---|---|---|---|
| L1 · Shadow and advisory | Observes, predicts and recommends setpoints with its reasoning | Enters every change manually; a baseline is measured | Pilot weeks 1 to 3 |
| L2 · Assist | Proposes a write; it executes on approval | Approves each write in the review console | Pilot weeks 4 to 8 |
| L3 · Bounded | Writes inside tag, rate and magnitude limits on low-risk loops | Approves pull steps, grade releases and anything above threshold | Pilot week 9 onward |
| L4 · Unattended | Runs the approved envelope without prompting | Sets the envelope; reviews the shift record | Planned, after graduated autonomy proves out |
Guardrails
An agent that can move a furnace needs a leash
Glasent writes to production equipment. Every capability is scoped, every write is policy-checked, and every action is written to an append-only audit log the plant owns.
- Bounded action space. Each agent can only write to an explicit tag allow-list, inside per-tag rate and magnitude limits.
- Policy engine before every write. Autonomy level, shift, product, interlock state and operator presence are all evaluated before a setpoint moves.
- Human-in-the-loop gates. Anything above the site threshold, pull steps, grade releases, safety-adjacent moves, waits for a named approver.
- Immutable audit log. Append-only, hash-chained, exportable, and retained on the plant's own storage.
- Hard fallback. Loss of the edge node, the network or the model returns control to the furnace, forming and lehr systems' last known-good state.
- Tenant and IP isolation. Compositions, forming recipes and defect libraries never cross a customer boundary. On-prem deployment available.
Compliance posture
| Standard | Scope | Status |
|---|---|---|
| SOC 2 Type I | Cloud control plane | RUNNING Planned in the first six months |
| SOC 2 Type II | Cloud control plane | QUEUED Planned in months six to twelve |
| IEC 62443 | Plant-edge OT security | RUNNING Design-aligned |
| ISO 9001 / IATF 16949 | Quality and genealogy records | SUCCEEDED Record formats supported |
| Container and safety-glass standards | Stress and defect conformance records | SUCCEEDED Record formats supported |
Integrations
It speaks plant, not cloud
Glasent reads and writes through the furnace, forming, lehr, inspection and MES systems already on the floor. No rip-and-replace, no parallel historian, no new HMI to learn.
Furnace SCADA and PLC, batch-plant weighing, redox and fining instruments
Setpoint reads and guarded writes over OPC UA and Modbus
Float-bath and IS-machine controls, gob-weight and timing systems
Gob, pull, ribbon speed and roller reads; guarded writes
Lehr zone controllers and belt drives
Zone temperature and curve reads; guarded writes
Camera, optical, thermal, polariscope and birefringence stations
Frames, stress maps, defect records, line-speed streams
Orders, grades, lots and ware genealogy
Spec and tolerance reads; genealogy and release writes
Time-series stores and lab information systems
Backfill, replay and lab chemistry
Robot cells, conveyors and stackers via NVIDIA Isaac
Pick, path and stack commands inside the safety envelope
SSO and RBAC via SAML or OIDC; NVIDIA Jetson Orin edge nodes
Named approvers, tag-level roles, sub-100 ms inference
From the plant floor
The problems we hear
No customer quotes yet; we are pre-launch. These are the three buyer personas the product is built for and the pain each one describes, in their own terms.
"The furnace has run for years on the same setpoints. The process never has. We find out a melt drifted when the cullet pile grows."
Plant / operations director · ICP persona
"I can tell you why a check appeared from the lehr curve and the gob weight. I cannot be at every line, and the people who could are retiring."
Glass technologist · ICP persona
"A missed seed is a reject. A missed stress fault is a pane that shatters in the field. I need genealogy on every piece, not a spot check."
Quality / reliability engineer · ICP persona
FAQ
Straight answers
The questions plant directors and glass technologists ask in the first meeting.
Yes, but only within an explicit tag allow-list with per-tag rate and magnitude limits, and only at the autonomy level your site has set. Every pilot starts in shadow mode, where Glasent predicts and recommends and a person enters everything. Writes come later, after the recommendations have earned it.
Control returns to your existing furnace, forming and lehr systems at their last known-good state. Glasent is a supervisory layer on top of the control system you already run, never a replacement for it, so an outage degrades the plant to its current way of running, not to a stop.
Shadow mode starts on the first day from existing SCADA, forming, lehr and inspection data. Defect and stress prediction improve as site history and labelled outcomes accumulate; the pilot plan sets a baseline period before any recommendation is scored.
Only if you choose cloud training. Compositions, forming recipes and defect libraries are tenant-isolated and never used to train another customer's models. On-prem training and an air-gapped plant edge are available for IP-sensitive producers.
You are, the same as with any control strategy, which is why every write is policy-checked, bounded, logged and reversible, and why anything above your risk threshold waits for a named approver. The audit log records the request, the reasoning, the limits applied and the human decision.
A 90 to 120 day line pilot in three stages: shadow mode to measure the baseline, assist mode where a technologist approves each recommendation, then bounded write-back on low-risk forming, annealing or inspection loops if the plant is satisfied with the results.
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