No-code AI software supplier Sorba.ai, announced Oct. 5 that it’s partnering with system integrator E Tech Group to deploy predictive maintenance, advanced process control (APC) and closed-loop AI models that integrate into control environments to deliver measurable, real-time operational outcomes.

Their collaboration will combine Sorba.ai’s modular AI platform with E Tech’s expertise in controls engineering, OT/IT integration and lifecycle services. They plan to deploy Sorba.ai software as part of integrated automation and digital transformations to make sure AI models are aligned with control strategies, operational constraints, and safety requirements. Embedding AI into operational workflows will let users move beyond alerts and dashboards, and perform prescriptive and autonomous decision-making, speed up response times, improve consistency and sustain performance gains.

More specifically, the elements of Sorba.ai’s AI platform that E Tech will deploy, include:

• DataBridge that securely connects PLCs, DCS, SCADA, historians, MES, and enterprise systems to establish a governed, real-time data foundation;
• Detect & Predict predictive maintenance suite that has AI models for anomaly detection, asset health monitoring and early fault detection;
• Simulate & Control APC suite with digital twins, multivariable optimization and AI-driven APC strategies; and 
• VisionAI computer vision module for quality inspection, defect detection, and visual process monitoring.

These capabilities are expected to help clients transition from isolated analytics and pilot projects to production-grade AI systems that actively influence operations, improve asset reliability, and optimize process performance. They’ll also allow engineering and operations teams to rapidly design, deploy and scale AI models using their own domain knowledge, without relying on scarce data-science resources, while also supporting onsite and hybrid architectures common in regulated and mission-critical environments. These models will enable several use cases, such as:

• Predictive-maintenance models that prevent unplanned downtime and extend asset life;
• AI-driven setpoint optimization that adapts to changing process conditions;
• Continuous quality optimization to reduce scrap, rework and off-spec production; and
• Energy-, throughput- and yield-optimization driven by real-time process intelligence.

“User are done experimenting with AI. They want solutions engineered into operations that deliver results,” says Bryan Thyken, chief revenue officer at Sorba.ai. “E Tech Group has the controls and automation expertise to deploy predictive maintenance and advanced control models where they actually matter, at the control layer, turning AI insights into real-time operational improvements that scale across the enterprise.”

Akshatha Shetty, AI solutions director at E Tech, adds that, “AI has to work within the realities of industrial operations. This partnership with Sorba.ai lets us deploy predictive maintenance and advanced control solutions integrated with automation systems, engineered for reliability, and aligned with how our customers run their plants. Together, we’re helping clients move from AI experimentation to sustained operational impact.”