Meet The Cohort
AIMA Opex
AIMA Opex
As part of our AI Venture Forge “Meet the Cohort” series, we’re excited to introduce AIMA Opex, a company bringing intelligence to the heart of factory operations, without requiring a digital overhaul. With over 60% of SMEs still relying on checklists, and whiteboards, AIMA’s AI-powered platform layers smart guidance and quality control onto existing workflows.
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Company | Manufacturing AI
What inspired you to build an Industrial AI for manufacturers?
At AIMA OPEX, we’re a team of engineers, scientists, and builders who’ve spent our careers both on the factory floor and in advanced AI research.
I’m Asem Mohammad, Founder of AIMA, a Chartered Engineer with 15 years of experience in the manufacturing sector. Having worked closely with global manufacturers, I’ve seen firsthand the challenges faced by the industry, factory shutdowns impacting communities, the rising risk of offshoring & critical skills shortages. It became clear that the industry needed a data-driven transformation to remain competitive.
The introduction of OpenAI language models and the rapid advancements in ML-AI sparked my realisation that this technology could be a game changer for industrial operations. AIMA was born from the belief that AI-driven intelligence should be accessible, scalable, and deeply integrated into the manufacturing process, not to replace human expertise but to augment and empower the workforce.
Through AIMA, we are bridging the gap between industrial data, human expertise, and machine intelligence, ensuring that manufacturers stay competitive, resilient, and future-ready.
What is the biggest problem you’re solving for them?
AIMA addresses a global, high-value problem: quality failures in manual manufacturing. This is a $1.3 trillion annual loss globally – manufacturers are losing up to 30% revenue per year due to quality failures, with the average SMEs bleeding 300K annually. This stems from outdated, reactive quality management that only catches errors after the damage is done. Factories generate immense amounts of data, but without real-time insight, hidden issues lead to recurring defects, rework, and ever-rising operational costs.
How does AIMA help manufacturers stay competitive?
AIMA is an AI-powered software that helps manufacturers reduce mistakes during production as they happen, not after – avoiding rework & downstream issues by up to 50%. The platform monitors build patterns automatically halting operations when deviations occur – misalignment, incorrect parts, wrong sequence and guiding operators to corrective action. Driving first time quality up to 90% and measurable reductions in operational expenses by up to 30% with an ROI< 3-6 months.
How will the Venture Forge programme help you reach your ideal customers?
We believe the Venture Forge programme will accelerate our progress toward key milestones by providing structured mentorship, expert feedback, and valuable peer discussions. While we have established early traction, the programme’s rigorous framework helps us challenge assumptions, refine our go-to-market strategy, and sharpen our product positioning, critical steps to scale effectively.
One of the programme’s greatest strengths is its collaborative ecosystem. Within the first weeks, we have connected with VCs and stakeholders who are helping us validate our beachhead market. The extensive network offered by Venture Forge is opening doors to key decision-makers within our ideal customer profile, notably innovation-focused manufacturing leaders within the region.
What makes your technology stand out compared to traditional quality processes?
Over 60% of SMEs still rely on paper-based SOPs, checklists, and whiteboards. Our models layer intelligence onto legacy workflows by understanding factory operations at the deepest level, learning directly from assembly lines and continuously adapting to live production data. Operators follow clear, step-by-step instructions (via voice, text, or image) at full production speed. AIMA utilises everyday tools – smartphones, cameras, digital gauges – to monitor and capture build metrics. Video and image checkpoints flag deviations the moment they occur, blocking progress until the correct action is taken. This ensures every station works to the highest collective standard, even in facilities with low digital maturity.
What challenges have you faced driving adoption in manufacturing?
Many manufacturers see AI as complex and futuristic, which creates hesitation to adopt new technology. To overcome this, we demonstrate AIMA’s practical, ready-now capabilities through live demos, discovery calls, and industry events. By sharing successful deployed industrial use cases, we show that AI is not a distant vision but a proven tool that integrates smoothly into existing workflows.
Integration concerns, especially fears around costly rip-and-replace, are common barriers. We address this by emphasising that AIMA is hardware-free and designed to layer intelligence on top of legacy systems, working seamlessly with existing infrastructure. This plug-and-play approach minimises disruption and IT burden, enabling fast, low-cost pilot deployments that build confidence and accelerate adoption.
How does AIMA help manufacturers stay competitive?
AIMA is an AI-powered “detect and fix” platform that helps factories catch and correct errors during assembly, not after – driving first-time quality up to 90%, reducing rework and operational costs by up to 30%, and delivering ROI in under three months. The platform monitors build patterns automatically halting operations when deviations occur— misalignment, incorrect parts, wrong sequence – and guiding operators to corrective action. Our hardware-free, plug-and-play solution layers intelligence onto legacy workflow systems, making adoption fast and affordable for even low-digital-maturity factories
What’s your growth vision for AIMA OPEX over the next 18 months?
Our ambition is to establish AIMA as the intelligence layer across industrial production – delivering real-time validation, guidance, and optimisation on the factory floor. Over the next 18 months, we will build on our early traction to evolve AIMA from a validated MVP into a commercially ready, full-stack product with initial paying customers and recurring revenue.
To accelerate market adoption, we will focus first on hand-selected pilot projects through collaborations with regional manufacturing associations and government-supported clusters such as GEMX, AIM, and AMT. These trusted partnerships provide direct access to SME manufacturers and high-trust pathways into regional markets. Following regional success, we aim to seek adjacent markets globally, scaling our impact and commercial footprint rapidly.
