Products

ETQ Reliance AI_,Always Intelligent Quality Management Ecosystem 

ETQ, part of Hexagon, announced two new native artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities embedded within the ETQ Reliance® quality management system (QMS). The new solutions officially kick off ETQ’s ‘Reliance AI’ strategy of delivering an AI ecosystem that meets customers where they are on their AI-driven quality journeys. The new native solutions include Form Field Advisor, which generates context-aware field recommendations into a user’s existing forms and workflows; and Complaint & Feedback Advisor, which provides an AI-driven complaint intake and decision support system. 

Reliance AI is ETQ’s quality intelligence ecosystem that enables the delivery of AI-driven solutions on ETQ Reliance, the industry’s broadest and most comprehensive QMS platform. Reliance AI leverages ETQ’s 30+ years of leadership in automated quality management to give customers a choice in how they use AI to adapt to their unique processes, workflows and needs. The platform was built in response to real-world customer research and caters to specific personas in the manufacturing sphere. It is aligned with trust and transparency best practices for the use of AI. 

ETQ’s native Reliance AI solutions are grounded in design-first, user experience (UX) principles. Real customers test features in production, co-creating with the ETQ production team before their general release, allowing ETQ to learn from actual production workflows, not assumptions, to deliver intuitive solutions built on practical needs of quality professionals. 

“Our native AI solutions for ETQ Reliance, along with our complete Reliance AI strategy, reflect our commitment to not deliver AI for AI’s sake, but to meet the specific, practical needs of quality professionals,” said Vick Vaishnavi, CEO, ETQ. “Each offering within Reliance AI is directly informed and driven by the needs and pain points of our customers who recognize the value of AI-driven automation, balanced by the supreme intelligence of the humans who guide it.” 

Natively embedded in quality workflows, Form Field Advisor can be activated on demand by users, enabling them to collect critical data faster and with greater consistency. At the click of a button, smart recommendations prefill configured form fields based on the customer’s historical records and ETQ’s own contextual process intelligence. In line with human-in-the-loop best practices, users can accept, reject, or override recommendations, creating smart workflows that combine AI efficiency with human judgment for optimal outcomes 

Also introduced as part of the Reliance AI native AI ecosystem, ETQ Reliance users can leverage Complaint & Feedback Advisor to accelerate intake of customer-provided artifacts and ensure accurate collection of all relevant data regarding a complaint. It offers contextual intelligence by surfacing all related complaints, actions, urgency and risk context; and supports more efficient and faster investigation, decision making and resolution. 

As with all ETQ native Reliance AI applications, Complaint & Feedback Advisor can be activated on demand by ETQ Reliance users and easily customized to meet their particular needs. 

The proprietary ETQ prompt engineering behind these capabilities combines deep quality domain expertise, regulatory context, industry semantics and workflow intelligence to deliver outputs that are smarter, safer and more compliant. 

With Reliance AI, ETQ has created a quality intelligence ecosystem of AI solutions designed specifically to address the practical, real-world needs of quality professionals, enabling smarter decision making, proactive risk management and frictionless compliance. 

Since quality teams need AI flexibility, not AI lock-in, Reliance AI delivers intelligence when, where and how users need it. Built on this understanding, ETQ now offers a quality AI ecosystem consisting of three modes of AI delivery. 

• Built-in, Native AI. As with Form Field Advisor and Complaint & Feedback Advisor, native AI solutions will continue to be added to ETQ Reliance, which can be activated instantly and embedded into daily workflows as needed. Administrators can control when and where to deploy AI in alignment with their corporate data governance. By allowing customers to tailor AI capabilities to their unique needs and processes, they gain insights that reflect their own definition of quality. 

ETQ is working closely with AWS Professional Services and Solutions Architects to develop many of the company’s early native AI solutions. 

“Generative AI is transforming how manufacturers approach quality management, enabling them to move faster, make smarter decisions, and scale innovation across their operations,” said Chad Neal, North American Solutions Architect Leader, Software, Internet, and Model Providers. “By combining Amazon Bedrock and agentic AI capabilities with ETQ’s deep quality management expertise, we’re helping manufacturers unlock new levels of efficiency and intelligence in their quality processes—empowering teams to focus on what matters most: delivering exceptional products and experiences to their customers.” 

• Best-of-Breed AI. Through partnerships with companies such as Augmentir for connected worker solutions and Acerta, for Predictive Quality Analytics, ETQ continues to seamlessly integrate best-in-class solutions with ETQ Reliance to provide customers with specialized AI options for advanced capabilities. 
• Bring-Your-Own AI. Thanks to the ETQ Reliance Quality Data Lake (QDL) , ETQ Reliance customers are able to leverage analytics-ready data to build and train their own AI solutions. They’re also able to more easily access, manage, share and analyze their quality data to draw more value through richer, actionable insights. 

“As AI becomes a way of life for industries everywhere, the age-old debate of whether to build, buy or partner for the best solution becomes even more daunting,” added Vaishnavi. “With our three-pronged approach to Reliance AI, customers don’t need to choose, but can select all three models, simultaneously. We are meeting customers where they are on their AI journeys, while providing expert guidance along the way.” 

“ETQ’s approach to building trust and control over AI tools will pay dividends over time, as trust is the key element that helps or hinders the adoption of advanced digital solutions,” added James Wells, senior analyst at LNS Research. 

Form Field Advisor is available immediately and Complaint & Feedback Advisor will be available for early adopters at the end of Q1 2026. All new ETQ Reliance NXG customers will have access to AI capabilities. 

ETQ, part of Hexagon 
etq.com 

MasterControl AI-Powered SOP Analyzer 

MasterControl, a leading provider of manufacturing, quality, and asset management software solutions, announced the general availability of its AI-powered SOP Analyzer, an innovative tool designed to help life sciences manufacturers proactively manage compliance across their critical standard operating procedures (SOPs). 

Managing SOPs in a regulated environment remains one of the most time-consuming challenges facing quality teams today. According to participants in MasterControl’s beta program, quality teams can spend hundreds of hours each quarter maintaining their SOPs. This includes monitoring regulations, reviewing SOPs, updating, and approving, and re-training employees on each one. Among that same audience, nearly 50% report they lack confidence that their SOPs are always audit-ready, often relying on reactive, manual reviews triggered only after audits or inspections identify compliance gaps. 

SOP Analyzer addresses this time-consuming compliance challenge by checking SOPs against regulatory requirements. Leveraging advanced language models and retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) technology, SOP Analyzer identifies compliance gaps in a document and provides actionable suggestions for improvement, transforming compliance management processes to better stay ahead of regulatory changes or updates. 

One beta participant noted, "Our biggest challenge is keeping track of the regulatory requirements in different countries and regions and staying in compliance with the regulation changes." MasterControl plans to continually expand the scope of SOP Analyzer's regulatory understanding, making the tool increasingly valuable as it helps users to navigate multiple regulatory frameworks across different markets. 

"Quality teams are under tremendous pressure to maintain compliance while balancing other critical responsibilities," said Sue Marchant, chief product officer at MasterControl. "SOP Analyzer marks a fundamental shift in how organizations manage SOP compliance. By automating document reviews and embedding regulatory intelligence, it reduces SOP update cycles from days to hours, ensuring documents remain accurate, compliant, and aligned with current regulations. This allows quality professionals to move beyond manual review and focus on higher-value work that drives continuous improvement, operational excellence, and innovation." 

“SOP Analyzer is built on MasterControl’s ADAPT Platform, a secure, compliant AI platform developed in alignment with ISO 42001 standards,” said Alex Kaplunov, chief technology officer at MasterControl. “ADAPT enables the development of specialized AI services that understand the regulatory, manufacturing, and quality context unique to life sciences. This platform serves as the foundation for embedding AI capabilities across MasterControl’s product ecosystem, supporting compliant operations at scale.” 

The launch of SOP Analyzer builds on MasterControl's industry-leading portfolio of secure and compliant AI-powered solutions for life sciences manufacturers. SOP Analyzer extends MasterControl's AI capabilities deeper into quality workflows to address today's compliance challenges.  MasterControl continues building the next generation of intelligent solutions that will empower life sciences manufacturers to outpace regulatory complexity and bring life-saving innovations to patients faster. 

MasterControl Solutions Inc.  
www.mastercontrol.com 

Visual Components Work Ergonomics VC Ecosystem 

Visual Components, a global leader in 3D manufacturing simulation software, announced the launch of the VC Ecosystem and named Work(s)™ Ergonomics as its first ecosystem partner. This new feature of the Visual Components simulation software showcases partner add-ons, plug-ins, and integrations that expand the software’s functionality and versatility for multifaceted manufacturing environments. 

The VC Ecosystem reflects Visual Components’ commitment to a more open and extensible simulation platform that empowers manufacturers and system integrators to input their preferred tools. The partnership with Work(s)™ Ergonomics, an advanced ergonomics analysis solution, allows users to evaluate human factors alongside automation, material flow, and process efficiency early on in project planning phases. With the VC Ecosystem, program users can discover and apply partner solutions that enhance capabilities such as safety analysis, optimization, and specialized engineering tasks.  

“The VC Ecosystem is a key milestone in how we continue to evolve the Visual Components platform,” said Graham Wloch, director of business development at Visual Components. “Manufacturing challenges are increasingly multifaceted, and addressing them requires a collaborative approach. Through the VC Ecosystem, we’re bringing specialized expertise into our software so users can design smarter, more automated production systems without losing sight of the human element.” 

The VC Ecosystem will continue to grow over time, with additional partner solutions planned to address a wide range of manufacturing and simulation needs. Visual Components invites other technology providers and developers to explore opportunities to integrate within the platform and contribute to the expanding ecosystem. 

Visual Components 
VisualComponents.com 

X-Rite Rhopoint PANTORA Aesthetix  

X-Rite Incorporated, a global leader in color science and technology, announced a new collaboration with Rhopoint Instruments, a manufacturer of test equipment for appearance quality, to advance digital appearance innovation and support the growing use of digital twins in product development and marketing. The companies have introduced the Rhopoint PANTORA Aesthetix®, a high-definition surface appearance measurement and 3D material visualization solution that simplifies the creation of realistic digital twins in a single, streamlined workflow. 

Surface characteristics such as gloss, translucency, and texture play a significant role in how consumers perceive product quality. As automotive, consumer electronics, home appliances, luxury goods, and footwear brands invest in digital workflows, there is a growing need for accurate digital representations of complex materials. The Rhopoint PANTORA Aesthetix solution addresses this by combining Rhopoint's advanced surface measurement technology with X-Rite's PANTORA appearance software and color measurement devices that measure both reflectance and transmission, delivering a unified solution for digitally capturing and communicating the true look and feel of paints, coatings, leathers, and plastics. 

"The Rhopoint PANTORA Aesthetix bridges the gap between physical and digital by delivering high-fidelity surface data that integrates seamlessly into 3D visualization and design workflows," said Matt Adby, product management director, X-Rite. "By partnering with Rhopoint, we're making digital appearance data easier to capture and helping teams create more realistic digital twins without disrupting established processes." 

"We're combining Rhopoint's surface measurement expertise with X-Rite's proven digital appearance platform," said Christian Dietz, technical director, Rhopoint Instruments. "This enables customers to move faster and smarter in their digital transformation journey." 

Comprehensive Surface Appearance Measurement  

The Rhopoint PANTORA Aesthetix is a dual HDR camera-based surface characterization system that quantifies gloss, haze, roughness, and surface structure at 110 pixels per millimeter. It can reconstruct detailed 3D topography and integrates with X-Rite's PANTORA Appearance Software, allowing users to manage, edit, and share digital materials using the vendor-neutral Appearance Exchange Format (AxF). 

For accurate color data, the system works seamlessly with X-Rite's Ci7000 Series benchtop spectrophotometers, MA-T12 multi-angle spectrophotometer, and MetaVue VS3200 non-contact imaging spectrophotometer. Together, X-Rite and Rhopoint deliver a unified solution for capturing both color and surface appearance attributes, streamlining the creation of high-definition digital twins that can be used in leading 3D visualization, rendering, and CAD tools for virtual prototyping and design review. 

Using the Rhopoint PANTORA Aesthetix, product and marketing teams can: 

• Streamline communication between key stakeholders and supply chain partners with color-accurate, high-definition digital twins for realistic visualization. 
• Reduce costly errors and rework with digital materials that match real-world appearance. 
• Minimize physical samples and photo shoots, accelerating material selection and approval. 
• Improve collaboration with suppliers, designers, and brands using detailed, shareable material data. 
• Create highly realistic renderings for marketing and e-commerce platforms. 

X-Rite Incorporated  
www.xrite.com 

Rhopoint Instruments 
www.xrite.com/rhopoint-pantora-aesthetix 

INSPECTIS New Generation Digital Microscope 

INSPECTIS AB announced the launch of a new generation digital microscope, the F40/F40s Full HD Digital Microscope with upgraded image sensing and a new motorized 40:1 Zoom lens. This new system delivers configurable, high-resolution optical inspection powered by INSPECTIS© Pro Utility and Metrology Software for image capture, measurement, analysis and reporting. 

In making the announcement, Johan Stormlund, marketing and sales manager, industrial applications, said, “Our new F40 truly is breakthrough technology, bringing to bear the latest Full HD 60fps technology in a new generation digital microscope with upgraded image sensor and new zoom lens, producing vibrant video at 60 fps and low latency. The video’s advance signal processing with high refresh rate maintains image coherence and stability, reduces motion blur, and provides smooth and dynamic images of especially fast-moving objects,” he adds. 

In addition to its high frame rate, the F40’s image sensor provides greater sensitivity and higher dynamic range than previous FHD cameras. The unit boasts industry-leading signal processing with outstanding color generation, superior optics, and flicker reduction for best image quality. 

The F40s’ superior lens design maintains image sharpness, resolving power and true colors across the entire field of view, whether one zooms in for high magnification, or zooms out for a wide view. A laser pointer helps the operator quickly locate the center of the object field. 

The F40 is also characterized by speed and accuracy, and is equipped with an advanced high resolution motorized zoom lens with 7-blade aperture and fast auto-focus. It offers a 226 mm free working distance with 30:1 optical zoom and 1.3x digital zoom. Easy image capture and sharing options makes collaboration, reporting and training simple tasks. 

INSPECTIS AB  
inspect-is.com