The take
Inspection catches defects. Quality intelligence prevents recalls.
Most factories still use AI as a faster pair of eyes at the end of the line, catching the scratch or the bad weld before it ships. That matters, but it is only the entry point. The real prize is connecting every inspection, across every station and every supplier, into one quality record leadership can act on. That turns warranty claims, recalls and audit exposure from surprises into numbers you can manage.
That is the argument I make in Teach the Factory to See: Industry 5.0 does not replace the inspector. It scales what your best inspector knows across every shift, every plant and every supplier.
Editorial bio
Rajesh Iyengar is building what happens after AI visual inspection becomes table stakes: connecting every defect caught on every line into one quality record leadership can actually run the business on. He is founder and CEO of Lincode Labs, whose LIVIS platform runs inspection at Audi, Harley-Davidson, Toyota, Tata Boeing and Tata Sikorsky.
His book, Teach the Factory to See, is the practitioner argument for that shift – from inspection to quality intelligence that prevents recalls rather than just catching bad welds. A serial AI founder with 15 years and three exits behind him, he is a member of the Forbes Technology Council, and Lincode took the 2024 Best Small Business Award from the governor of Michigan.
Worth following if you want AI on the factory floor discussed as a P&L problem, not a demo.
Key facts
- based in
- San Francisco, CA, USA
- current
- Founder & CEO, Lincode Labs Inc.
- prior
- Serial AI entrepreneur · 15 years · 3 exits · board-level advisor to Bay Area tech companies
- author
- Teach the Factory to See (Amazon best seller)
- recognition
- 2024 Best Small Business Award, Governor of Michigan · Forbes Technology Council member
- focus
- AI visual inspection · quality intelligence · smart factory / Industry 5.0 · automotive & aerospace
Featured work
Teach the Factory to See
Practitioner's guide to deploying AI visual inspection, drawn from Lincode's work in automotive and aerospace.
LIVIS by Lincode Labs
AI visual inspection and quality-ops platform with digital passport, audit trail and MLOps. Deployed at Audi, Harley-Davidson, Toyota, Tata Boeing and Tata Sikorsky.
Autotech Council Innovation Review – Quality in Automotive (Keynote, Santa Clara, Dec 2026)
Global speaker on AI, smart factory and Industry 4.0.
Forbes Technology Council
Contributed articles on AI in manufacturing.