Artificial intelligence is transforming manufacturing, and Squint stands at the forefront of this revolution with technology that preserves critical expertise while empowering operators to achieve unprecedented quality standards.
When Andy Wilson met Devin Bhushan, CEO of Squint, he immediately recognized the transformative potential of Devin's approach to industrial AI. As factories face a generational workforce turnover, decades of institutional knowledge risk disappearing forever.
Squint's solution? Using AI to effectively "download the minds" of experienced operators before they retire.
The technology works by recording operators performing complex tasks, then instantly generating comprehensive standard operating procedures through AI analysis.
New operators receive step-by-step guidance through augmented reality, with the system overlaying instructions directly onto their physical environment. When mistakes happen, the system provides immediate, discreet correction, preserving operator confidence while ensuring quality standards.
Perhaps most revolutionary is Squint's approach to quality control. For a century, manufacturers have relied on statistical sampling methods developed in 1924. Squint's AI visual inspection capabilities enable 100% quality verification rather than partial sampling, making inspections instantaneous, objective, and consistent.
As Bhushan explains, "For the first time, you can have that impossible combination of better, faster, and cheaper."
Unlike traditional industrial systems that prioritize efficiency over user experience, Squint creates consumer-grade interfaces that consolidate complex systems into a single, intuitive platform.
The results are remarkable – one chemical manufacturer eliminated all operational errors within three weeks of implementation. Operators even develop personal connections with the AI, giving it nicknames like "Lil Bro."
The philosophy behind Squint echoes Sam Walton's belief that happy employees do better work and stay engaged. By focusing on the operator experience, Squint isn't just improving quality and efficiency – it's creating a more satisfying work environment where people feel confident and valued.
Connect with Devin on LinkedIn or visit squint.ai to discover how AI can transform your manufacturing operations.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hello everyone and welcome to Doing Business in
Bentonville.
My name is Andy Wilson and I'myour host today, and I want to
thank you so much for yourwonderful support of Doing
Business in Bentonville.
Because of your support andsharing our podcast around the
(00:23):
world, we're now viewed in over100 countries, so thank you for
that.
It means so much of your greatcommitment and loyalty to doing
business in Bentonville.
I have a special guest todaythat I met recently in
Bentonville, Arkansas, at anevent, and I will tell you
you're going to need to reallyjust lean in If you can just
(00:46):
stop driving, pull over.
This is how important thispodcast is, because it's so
relevant to where retail ormanufacturing or the world is
going today in AI, and you'regoing to enjoy hearing Devin
Bouchard from Sprint.
He's the CEO of the company.
(01:06):
He's located in the SanFrancisco, california area and,
as I said, I met him a few weeksago.
Devin.
Welcome to Doing Business inBentonville.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
Thanks, andy, for having me on.
I'm excited to be here.
I know we did an episode awhile back and this one's going
to be fun.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
It would definitely be fun.
Now, devin, before we get intodepth of what we're going to
talk about, which is so criticaland urgent, as I said, in the
space of AI and AR, let's talk abit about your company, and in
my research and in visiting withyou, I think you're on the
(01:48):
cutting edge of really lookingat your manufacturing
intelligent platform in thespace of operations and how
you're going to be able toactually shift and change the
dynamic into how work is beingdone today.
So, devin, talk about yourcompany and then let's get into
(02:14):
the details of our time today.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
Yeah, would love to.
So I'm the founder and CEO of acompany called Squint and we
make AI software formanufacturing and industrial
companies.
The kind of the premise ofstarting this came from wanting
to empower operators who are onthe floor or you know either the
(02:40):
shop floor or warehouse floor,know either the shop floor or
warehouse floor, and they'redoing work in an environment
that contains a high amount ofvariables.
But with that over time, it'sbecome more and more complex to
operate in this environment andwe're building software that
enables them to be moreconfident and do their job more
(03:00):
safely and with higher quality.
Speaker 1 (03:02):
Do their job more safely and with higher quality.
Well, I will tell you whatyou're doing, I think has not
been done to the margin that youare focused on in your company,
and that's why I think it'sreally critical for our viewers
to really lean in and listen towhere you're going to take this
whole industry and how you'regoing to improve this industry.
(03:23):
So let's just get into it andlet's talk about the first point
.
We talk about how you want toempower operators with EI.
Speaker 2 (03:38):
So talk about that.
Yeah, we're in a period of timewhere companies are seeing a
generational workforce turnoverhappen on the shop floor and
decades of that industrialexpertise that has been built up
is actually leaving becauseit's in the brains of operators
who are retiring, and so if wedon't come up with a plan soon,
(03:59):
we're going to lose that windowof time that we have to actually
save that institutionalknowledge.
So the kind of question I wouldask ourselves is how do we
capture the stories and thoselived experiences that are in
people's minds?
Right, and the way that kind ofSquint approaches this problem
is we use AI to download theminds of operators and the
(04:22):
product.
The way that it works is it canrecord a video of an operator
doing some complex task andSquint will use AI to watch that
video and it'll immediatelycapture and synthesize the
information into a standardoperating procedure, and that
standard operating procedurewill be completely written by AI
.
It's instantaneous.
(04:43):
Operating procedure will becompletely written by AI.
It's instantaneous.
And now when someone new comesinto the job or maybe is doing a
skill that they've not masteredyet, they can perform that
maybe the critical inspectionthat needs to happen annually,
and they can use Squint and theAI guide will now watch them
perform the work and guide themstep-by step through the process
(05:05):
using a technology calledaugmented reality, and the way
that that works is basically weuse the camera of an iPad or a
phone and it looks at whatyou're looking at and then it
overlays things like arrows andinteractions that guide you
physically through the space towhere you're supposed to be,
tell you to pull this lever,tell you how to do it, and if
(05:27):
you do anything that maybe fraysor strays from the correct way
of working, it actually cancatch that in real time and tell
you right away hey, youmight've done step seven wrong.
Here's how to do it instead, andI think, yeah, this is just
like kind of one example of howwe can quote, unquote, download
(05:48):
the minds of operators At thesame time.
I think we're at the frontierof AI technology today, and
there's all sorts of AI agentsand new you know new inventions
that are being released everyday that we can use to start
capturing information from more,more like modalities you know,
(06:09):
not just video, but also theirvoice.
Maybe by watching them you know,perform that that job over and
over again.
We can learn and get better atit as well.
So there's a bunch of thingswe're working on, but that's
kind of the crux of it.
Speaker 1 (06:23):
You know, I think that's incredible and you know,
when someone with 20, 30, 40years of experience leaves and
retires and needs to it's timein their life to move on, here's
an opportunity to acceleratethe training, to accelerate the
job satisfaction of someone newcoming over.
A lot of times there's thislong gap of training and you
(06:48):
lose productivity.
There's a lot of thingshappening Flustration for a new
employee.
Sometimes they get frustratedand leave and you have turnover.
And so now what you're sayingyou've done, you're going to
speed through, be able to speedthrough that, that learning for
a new employee or someone that'snot new but a new role, has a
(07:11):
new role in this and help jobsatisfaction retention all of
that, that's incredible.
Speaker 2 (07:20):
Yeah, no, exactly, and I think the outcome of this
is that we're able to buildconfidence in those operators in
a way that doesn't shame themwhen something goes wrong.
It's a very discreet way ofgetting help on the job in real
time and you don't have to turnaround, wave your hands and ask
in front of everyone for helpbecause you're stuck.
(07:43):
You know in front of everyonethat for help because you're
stuck.
And what this does is itactually increases the adherence
to standard work and safety.
And for the first time, youknow, operators actually have
kind of this foolproof way ofdoing their jobs without looking
like they need someone watchingover their shoulder, which is,
you know, no one wants that.
And I think I was reading I wasreading this study that
(08:06):
basically looked at happiness ina job and the correlation with
how happy we are in our jobs.
Between happiness andconfidence.
It's almost a one-to-onemapping be in the work that you
(08:26):
do, the happier you end up beingin that role, and so this not
only helps with operatorengagement but also operator
retention, right, and thenultimately, what we've done is
we've made every operator anexpert at that thing that
they're supposed to be doing,and I think the question that we
bring this back to, to kind ofput a pin in it, is can we
eliminate the concept oftraining altogether, because
(08:47):
anyone can do anything withproducts like like with ai yeah
right, wonderful.
Speaker 1 (08:54):
Well, let's move on.
One of the things that I thinkis critical, as as as a company,
is quality.
You know sometimes when you,when you have to, the gap new
training, new employees comingon there could be a gap of
quality, and you know thatultimately ends into diminishing
(09:15):
the reputation of companies.
So talk about your quality,focus with your project focus
with your project.
Speaker 2 (09:28):
Yeah, you know, quality is kind of at the heart
of all performance indicatorsthat are on the factory floor,
and so one of the stories Ireally like is like let's zoom
into the quality control processas it stands today.
The way that it works is youtypically sample, you know X
percent of goods from everybatch and you manually inspect
them before they go out.
(09:49):
If they all pass, then you havesome Y percent of confidence in
the quality of that batch ofquality for that good that's
being created and your pass rate.
You can inspect more or feweritems per batch to get your
comfort level of confidence inthe goods that you're shipping.
(10:11):
So this process is actuallycalled statistical quality
control and it was developed byWalter Schuhart at Bell Labs in
1924.
And I'll pause with a shout outbecause Walter, I know, was a
fellow University of Illinoisalum, which is also where I went
to school.
(10:32):
But the funny thing is aboutthis process it's been around
for 100 years now and itstatistically works but it
requires manual inspection and Ithink that means it's very
labor intensive, which isexpensive, and it's also
subjective because it depends onthe operator doing that
inspection for that batch.
(10:53):
And if you're inspecting goodslike, let's say, baked goods,
and the judgment call on theoperator is does this look like
the right shade of brown?
Then you've introduced allthese additional variables into
something that was actually verystatistical at heart, and I
think the way we've looked atthis is 100 years later, it's
(11:14):
time to introduce the new way todo quality control.
And so, with products likeSquint, what we've done is the
AI on the camera actually, orthe AI will actually use the
camera on the mobile device andit will automatically do that
quality check for you and it'lldo it quickly, it'll do it
objectively and it'll do itconsistently, because now you've
(11:36):
eliminated that human judgmentfrom it.
What this does for our customersis it's really it's kind of a
game changer, because now, ifyou go back to the process of
why we have statistical qualitycontrol, it was because they
couldn't afford to inspect everysingle item with confidence.
Right, it was too expensive.
But now that it's instantaneousand it's cheap, could we
(11:59):
actually inspect every singleitem in a batch and have 100%
quality confidence?
And with Squint, you know thatnow is a possibility.
For the first time, you canhave that impossible combination
of better, faster and cheaper,and for our customers.
That's the best way that theycan increase their consumer
(12:20):
confidence or their customer'sconfidence in their brand and
their product, and I think thisis pretty low-hanging fruit now
that we have this capabilitywith computer vision and AI.
Speaker 1 (12:32):
Well, every company wants great quality every
company and today, with how wecommunicate, how we share our
thoughts on social media, etcetera, we're able to talk about
how well our products work, orthey don't work, to serve us and
our customers.
And what you have done, whichI've never heard of you're able
(12:54):
to achieve 100% confidence inproduct quality.
That is excellent, and I thinkall customers and potential
clients would be very interestedin this product.
So that's phenomenal.
Congratulations on that.
That's awesome, awesome.
(13:17):
We talked about how operatorswill be empowered with AI and
the way that you have designedAI to help train and facilitate
excellence for new employees, orjust make other employees more
productive and knowledgeable.
Now you've also designed aproduct around 100% quality
(13:59):
confidence in quality Now that'sexciting.
Those are two great excitingpoints.
Confidence and quality Nowthat's exciting.
Those are two great excitingpoints.
Now talk about how your visionis about operators are at the
center of this next waveindustrial tech.
So talk about the next wave nowas we move through this
(14:19):
wonderful podcast about theoperators.
Speaker 2 (14:23):
Yeah, you know, I think so when we started this
off, I mentioned that the wholeethos of this company was to
empower operators, and I thinkevery time I talk to one of our
customers, I hear that same kindof statement repeated back to
me, which is that the mostimportant thing is that the
(14:43):
operators are engaged and feelconfident and feel safe, right,
and so, if you think about it,operators really should be at
the center of the technologicalrevolution that is going through
industrials today.
But I think what's reallyinteresting is, over the last 30
years, you know, in industry,we've invested in IoT or
(15:04):
Internet of Things.
We've invested in new machinesand new systems, so introduced
concepts like the learningmanagement system, the
maintenance management system,warehouse management systems,
and they've had this huge impact, I think, on improving
efficiency, but the operatorreally was not at the center of
that improvement.
(15:25):
The operator's actually beenkind of forced to adopt these
systems that aren't consumergrade and they're not typically
user friendly, and so you knowsome of our customers as I
talked to them, they have, youknow, a half dozen systems that
operators need to switch betweento go from, you know, seeing
their schedule to gatheringinformation about the thing that
(15:47):
they're doing to.
I don't know how to performthat task right, and I think the
really interesting thing is,with Squint, what we've tried to
do is we've tried to make itconsumer grade, just like the
best apps that we all use athome, and that, apparently, is
very different from the approachthat has been taken in
(16:08):
technology that's been deliveredto industrial environments for
the last 30 years.
So our goal at Squint isactually to make Squint as easy
to use for the first time as itwas when you unboxed your new
iPhone.
Right, it should be that simple,and I think what we're doing as
a result is we're creating thisshift in industry, that, as an
(16:32):
industry now we're movingtowards a period of technology
consolidation that is centeredaround the operator, and so the
idea is that Squint is actuallythat horizontal platform that
can sit on top of each of thesenew vertical systems that we've
introduced that I mentioned theLMS, the WMS, the maintenance
management system, the ARP, andthe way that this solves the
(16:56):
existing problem is it actuallyconsolidates them all into a
single interface for thatoperator.
So now the operator really onlyinteracts with Squint and in the
backend, squint deals with allthose other systems, and we've
simplified that experience forthe operators such that they
actually want to engage withthis technology.
(17:17):
Um, and I think the you knowthe, the it's the best of both
worlds for manufacturers because, um, the management team gets
to keep their existingoperational systems that have
achieved this efficiency overthe last couple of decades.
But they also can make life somuch easier and manageable for
operators because now they'regetting this huge, you know,
(17:37):
quality of life improvement inthe technology that operators
interact with, and so I thinkyou know the outcome of this is
that happy operators will dobetter work, will stay engaged,
(18:00):
will stay safer, and this iskind of the.
Speaker 1 (18:02):
I think this is the direction that industry is now
going.
I begin to add some thoughtsthat Sam Waltham would love to
have a conversation with you,because my years at Walmart, sam
Waltham spent so much timetalking about the importance of
the associate or the employee,and the stores and distribution
(18:23):
centers and all the jobs atWalmart that we did to serve the
customer.
What you are doing is taking thesame philosophy that Sam Walton
had and you're applying it tothe industry and the operation
side, because you're exactlyright when you said happy
(18:46):
operators do better work andstay engaged.
That's exactly what SamWalton's philosophy was.
So congratulations on taking aphilosophy that has worked to
make one of the largest retailcompanies in the world to take,
but not only the largest, butone of the best, in my opinion,
and that's what you're focusedon, and I congratulate you and
(19:07):
your team on what you're doing.
It's outstanding, thank you,and it's exciting.
So now, as we began to wrap up,I know we love to talk about
stories and in our previousconversation we talked about
stories are things we remember.
Stories are how we learn.
Stories are things we like totell again.
(19:29):
So I think you have a greatstory to share with us.
Speaker 2 (19:34):
Yeah, yeah, I would love to.
First of all, I think, goingback to your point on, you know
Sam Walton and the philosophybehind Walmart, I think the
really great thing is this isit's a pretty simple,
fundamental belief that we allhave right that happy people
will do better work.
And, um, it seems like over thelast couple of decades, if, if
(19:54):
you look at the way technologyhas gone, we've kind of
forgotten that in industrialtech, and I'm really glad that
it's such a simple thing thatyou can just remind yourself and
now we can kind of pivot backtowards that, that employer
experience.
So, um, yeah, that's awesome.
And then, uh, would love tostare, share a story.
Um, you know, I'll.
(20:16):
I'll talk a little bit about oneof our customers.
Um, they are a chemicalmanufacturer and they started
using squint for theiroperations.
Um, I think about three weeksafter deploying squint to the
floor, they actually reached outto us and they said hey, we
have a story we'd love to tellyou Because you might appreciate
this, we thought that ourinternal issue tracking system
(20:39):
was broken Because over the lastthree weeks we've had zero
issues filed and for somebackground, you know, they were
averaging a dozen issues a dayand suddenly they dropped to
zero for weeks, and so they ranthis internal investigation to
figure out what was wrong withthe tracking system, because
(21:00):
something must be wrong.
Where are the issues?
And upon investigation, whatthey realized was that they had
completely eliminated operatormistakes that led to those
issues being created andultimately for them they're able
to track that back to downtimereduction right, and I think if
you look at the impacts of that,it's really powerful, because
(21:20):
now this customer isn't spendingtime and money fixing issues.
They've actually completelyeliminated the downtime and the
waste that was caused by humanmistakes, and this is a better
and faster investment, I think,than a lot of the other places
that manufacturers could bespending their time and
(21:42):
resources to improve operations.
And I can talk more about that.
I'll pause really quickly ifyou have any thoughts or
questions.
Speaker 1 (21:50):
Well, first of all, it says that your system, your
processes, work and people.
I know they're complex behindthe scenes, but they're simple
enough for people to be able toembrace them, to learn them and
to engage with them.
And again, that's one of Sam'sphilosophies that he would tell
(22:13):
us.
He said okay, ladies andgentlemen, don't make this so
complicated.
Keep the complexity behind thewall, but from them executing
things on the store floor or thedistribution floor.
Keep it simple for them, andthat's what you've done.
You've made it simple for themso they can embrace it.
(22:34):
And when they embrace it, theylearn it, they're happy because
it helps them feel successful intheir job.
And I think that's what thisstory is.
And look at the outcome.
See, the outcome is excellentand that's what you wanted.
I love it what this story is.
And look at the outcome See,the outcome is excellent and
that's what you wanted.
I love it.
I love the story.
Speaker 2 (22:53):
Yeah, you know, I'll add on a little bit to it, which
I think is like a personaltidbit that I love, which is not
only was there ROI from themanufacturer's perspective, that
, hey, they were able to reducemistakes, but one of the parts
of this that I love the most isthe customers are now like the
(23:13):
actual operators or the users ofthe application are becoming
friends with the Squint co-pilot, right, and so there was this I
saw this example in the chatthat someone was talking to
Squint and they gave it anickname.
They started calling it Lil Bro,and I think that's just like a
chat that someone was talking tosquint and they gave it a
nickname.
They, they were started callingit little bro.
Um, and I think that's justlike it speaks to the um, the
(23:36):
like amount of engagement thatai is able to have with
operators and meet them wherethey're at in and match kind of
their personality and engagementmethods.
And I think, um, what we'reseeing is like huge satisfaction
scores from the people actuallyusing the product and I think,
with that use, the best of thebest outcome you can have with
(23:56):
technology is you end upreducing all your mistakes and
people feel happier, moreconfident, more engaged Right,
and I think that's like the, thewin-win that we're trying to
create with squint.
Speaker 1 (24:08):
Well, devin, devon.
Um, when we met a few weeks ago, I was so impressed with you,
and when you started talkingabout your products, your
systems, your and your team andthe more I've gotten to know you
, uh, I can't tell you how muchI appreciate you, uh, coming
back on doing business inbentonville talking about your
(24:29):
products.
I was telling someone that Iwas meeting with earlier that I
hope you can come back and keepus updated as you advance this
technology, as you make changes,as you grow it.
I would love for you to comeback on and share with us.
Let's keep the story going.
(24:49):
You've got a great story.
Let's continue to share yourstory with people around the
world and I hope people willreach out to you, and we're
going to talk about that in justa moment.
But you're on to somethinggreat here.
I will say one more quote fromSam Walton, because it applies
(25:11):
here.
Sam Walton said he would remindus weekly.
He said everything we do, westand on the backs of our
employees, our associates.
That's exactly what you'redoing.
What you're doing is theoperator focus is you're
standing on those backs andyou're empowering and helping
(25:34):
them do their jobs moresuccessfully.
Based on the story, based onthe other things you've talked
about.
So I congratulate you for thatfocus.
It's remarkable, so thank youfor that.
Speaker 2 (25:49):
I appreciate that.
Yeah, it's.
It's great to kind of hearthese, these stories and the
alignment I had no idea.
Speaker 1 (25:56):
OK, now, devin, we're going to.
Of course this is going to be.
This is going to be on ourwebsite doing business in
Bittenville, and and all of ourpeople can go see that.
Of course it's going to be inall the social media networks
that you have access to.
But, devin, talk a bit abouthow they read.
How can people find you?
Now, that'll be on our website.
(26:17):
We'll have all that there, but,but, if, but, how can we, how
can we reach out and find yourcompany?
Who do we?
How do we do that?
What's your website?
Tell us about that.
Speaker 2 (26:34):
Yeah, absolutely.
Our website is squintai, soS-Q-U-I-N-Tai, feel free to
check it out.
I think if you heard somethingthat resonated with you, or if
there's a use case that you havein mind for technology like
Squint, definitely give us ashout.
I'm also on LinkedIn.
You can find me and personallyconnect.
I love to hear the differentuse cases that people come up
(26:56):
with for Squint, so I'm reallyexcited to connect with the
audience.
Speaker 1 (27:00):
Well, you did an excellent job today.
I only wish you the best inyour endeavors in the future.
Again, let's stay connected.
Your endeavors in the futureAgain, let's stay connected, and
I love to, because I'minterested in your story and
where you're going to go.
I think it's going to befantastic.
I really appreciate you takingtime of your busy schedule to be
on Doing Business inBentonville.
(27:21):
It's been such a pleasure tovisit with you.
Speaker 2 (27:24):
Thanks so much for having me on, Andy.
I'm really excited.
Hopefully we can do this again.
Speaker 1 (27:29):
Okay, absolutely, and to all of our viewers, thank
you for watching and viewingdoing business in Bentonville.
I guess I said at the top ofthe show thank you.
It means so much to us that youhave confidence in our
programming and we're going tokeep that up in the future.
Again, devin best to you, bestto your team, and I look forward
(27:50):
to seeing you again soon.
Thank you, thanks, andy.
Hello everyone and welcome to Doing Business in
Bentonville.
My name is Andy Wilson and I'myour host today, and I want to
thank you so much for yourwonderful support of Doing
Business in Bentonville.
Because of your support andsharing our podcast around the
(00:23):
world, we're now viewed in over100 countries, so thank you for
that.
It means so much of your greatcommitment and loyalty to doing
business in Bentonville.
I have a special guest todaythat I met recently in
Bentonville, Arkansas, at anevent, and I will tell you
you're going to need to reallyjust lean in If you can just
(00:46):
stop driving, pull over.
This is how important thispodcast is, because it's so
relevant to where retail ormanufacturing or the world is
going today in AI, and you'regoing to enjoy hearing Devin
Bouchard from Sprint.
He's the CEO of the company.
(01:06):
He's located in the SanFrancisco, california area and,
as I said, I met him a few weeksago.
Devin.
Welcome to Doing Business inBentonville.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
Thanks, andy, for having me on.
I'm excited to be here.
I know we did an episode awhile back and this one's going
to be fun.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
It would definitely be fun.
Now, devin, before we get intodepth of what we're going to
talk about, which is so criticaland urgent, as I said, in the
space of AI and AR, let's talk abit about your company, and in
my research and in visiting withyou, I think you're on the
(01:48):
cutting edge of really lookingat your manufacturing
intelligent platform in thespace of operations and how
you're going to be able toactually shift and change the
dynamic into how work is beingdone today.
So, devin, talk about yourcompany and then let's get into
(02:14):
the details of our time today.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
Yeah, would love to.
So I'm the founder and CEO of acompany called Squint and we
make AI software formanufacturing and industrial
companies.
The kind of the premise ofstarting this came from wanting
to empower operators who are onthe floor or you know either the
(02:40):
shop floor or warehouse floor,know either the shop floor or
warehouse floor, and they'redoing work in an environment
that contains a high amount ofvariables.
But with that over time, it'sbecome more and more complex to
operate in this environment andwe're building software that
enables them to be moreconfident and do their job more
(03:00):
safely and with higher quality.
Speaker 1 (03:02):
Do their job more safely and with higher quality.
Well, I will tell you whatyou're doing, I think has not
been done to the margin that youare focused on in your company,
and that's why I think it'sreally critical for our viewers
to really lean in and listen towhere you're going to take this
whole industry and how you'regoing to improve this industry.
(03:23):
So let's just get into it andlet's talk about the first point
.
We talk about how you want toempower operators with EI.
Speaker 2 (03:38):
So talk about that.
Yeah, we're in a period of timewhere companies are seeing a
generational workforce turnoverhappen on the shop floor and
decades of that industrialexpertise that has been built up
is actually leaving becauseit's in the brains of operators
who are retiring, and so if wedon't come up with a plan soon,
(03:59):
we're going to lose that windowof time that we have to actually
save that institutionalknowledge.
So the kind of question I wouldask ourselves is how do we
capture the stories and thoselived experiences that are in
people's minds?
Right, and the way that kind ofSquint approaches this problem
is we use AI to download theminds of operators and the
(04:22):
product.
The way that it works is it canrecord a video of an operator
doing some complex task andSquint will use AI to watch that
video and it'll immediatelycapture and synthesize the
information into a standardoperating procedure, and that
standard operating procedurewill be completely written by AI
.
It's instantaneous.
(04:43):
Operating procedure will becompletely written by AI.
It's instantaneous.
And now when someone new comesinto the job or maybe is doing a
skill that they've not masteredyet, they can perform that
maybe the critical inspectionthat needs to happen annually,
and they can use Squint and theAI guide will now watch them
perform the work and guide themstep-by step through the process
(05:05):
using a technology calledaugmented reality, and the way
that that works is basically weuse the camera of an iPad or a
phone and it looks at whatyou're looking at and then it
overlays things like arrows andinteractions that guide you
physically through the space towhere you're supposed to be,
tell you to pull this lever,tell you how to do it, and if
(05:27):
you do anything that maybe fraysor strays from the correct way
of working, it actually cancatch that in real time and tell
you right away hey, youmight've done step seven wrong.
Here's how to do it instead, andI think, yeah, this is just
like kind of one example of howwe can quote, unquote, download
(05:48):
the minds of operators At thesame time.
I think we're at the frontierof AI technology today, and
there's all sorts of AI agentsand new you know new inventions
that are being released everyday that we can use to start
capturing information from more,more like modalities you know,
(06:09):
not just video, but also theirvoice.
Maybe by watching them you know,perform that that job over and
over again.
We can learn and get better atit as well.
So there's a bunch of thingswe're working on, but that's
kind of the crux of it.
Speaker 1 (06:23):
You know, I think that's incredible and you know,
when someone with 20, 30, 40years of experience leaves and
retires and needs to it's timein their life to move on, here's
an opportunity to acceleratethe training, to accelerate the
job satisfaction of someone newcoming over.
A lot of times there's thislong gap of training and you
(06:48):
lose productivity.
There's a lot of thingshappening Flustration for a new
employee.
Sometimes they get frustratedand leave and you have turnover.
And so now what you're sayingyou've done, you're going to
speed through, be able to speedthrough that, that learning for
a new employee or someone that'snot new but a new role, has a
(07:11):
new role in this and help jobsatisfaction retention all of
that, that's incredible.
Speaker 2 (07:20):
Yeah, no, exactly, and I think the outcome of this
is that we're able to buildconfidence in those operators in
a way that doesn't shame themwhen something goes wrong.
It's a very discreet way ofgetting help on the job in real
time and you don't have to turnaround, wave your hands and ask
in front of everyone for helpbecause you're stuck.
(07:43):
You know in front of everyonethat for help because you're
stuck.
And what this does is itactually increases the adherence
to standard work and safety.
And for the first time, youknow, operators actually have
kind of this foolproof way ofdoing their jobs without looking
like they need someone watchingover their shoulder, which is,
you know, no one wants that.
And I think I was reading I wasreading this study that
(08:06):
basically looked at happiness ina job and the correlation with
how happy we are in our jobs.
Between happiness andconfidence.
It's almost a one-to-onemapping be in the work that you
(08:26):
do, the happier you end up beingin that role, and so this not
only helps with operatorengagement but also operator
retention, right, and thenultimately, what we've done is
we've made every operator anexpert at that thing that
they're supposed to be doing,and I think the question that we
bring this back to, to kind ofput a pin in it, is can we
eliminate the concept oftraining altogether, because
(08:47):
anyone can do anything withproducts like like with ai yeah
right, wonderful.
Speaker 1 (08:54):
Well, let's move on.
One of the things that I thinkis critical, as as as a company,
is quality.
You know sometimes when you,when you have to, the gap new
training, new employees comingon there could be a gap of
quality, and you know thatultimately ends into diminishing
(09:15):
the reputation of companies.
So talk about your quality,focus with your project focus
with your project.
Speaker 2 (09:28):
Yeah, you know, quality is kind of at the heart
of all performance indicatorsthat are on the factory floor,
and so one of the stories Ireally like is like let's zoom
into the quality control processas it stands today.
The way that it works is youtypically sample, you know X
percent of goods from everybatch and you manually inspect
them before they go out.
(09:49):
If they all pass, then you havesome Y percent of confidence in
the quality of that batch ofquality for that good that's
being created and your pass rate.
You can inspect more or feweritems per batch to get your
comfort level of confidence inthe goods that you're shipping.
(10:11):
So this process is actuallycalled statistical quality
control and it was developed byWalter Schuhart at Bell Labs in
1924.
And I'll pause with a shout outbecause Walter, I know, was a
fellow University of Illinoisalum, which is also where I went
to school.
(10:32):
But the funny thing is aboutthis process it's been around
for 100 years now and itstatistically works but it
requires manual inspection and Ithink that means it's very
labor intensive, which isexpensive, and it's also
subjective because it depends onthe operator doing that
inspection for that batch.
(10:53):
And if you're inspecting goodslike, let's say, baked goods,
and the judgment call on theoperator is does this look like
the right shade of brown?
Then you've introduced allthese additional variables into
something that was actually verystatistical at heart, and I
think the way we've looked atthis is 100 years later, it's
(11:14):
time to introduce the new way todo quality control.
And so, with products likeSquint, what we've done is the
AI on the camera actually, orthe AI will actually use the
camera on the mobile device andit will automatically do that
quality check for you and it'lldo it quickly, it'll do it
objectively and it'll do itconsistently, because now you've
(11:36):
eliminated that human judgmentfrom it.
What this does for our customersis it's really it's kind of a
game changer, because now, ifyou go back to the process of
why we have statistical qualitycontrol, it was because they
couldn't afford to inspect everysingle item with confidence.
Right, it was too expensive.
But now that it's instantaneousand it's cheap, could we
(11:59):
actually inspect every singleitem in a batch and have 100%
quality confidence?
And with Squint, you know thatnow is a possibility.
For the first time, you canhave that impossible combination
of better, faster and cheaper,and for our customers.
That's the best way that theycan increase their consumer
(12:20):
confidence or their customer'sconfidence in their brand and
their product, and I think thisis pretty low-hanging fruit now
that we have this capabilitywith computer vision and AI.
Speaker 1 (12:32):
Well, every company wants great quality every
company and today, with how wecommunicate, how we share our
thoughts on social media, etcetera, we're able to talk about
how well our products work, orthey don't work, to serve us and
our customers.
And what you have done, whichI've never heard of you're able
(12:54):
to achieve 100% confidence inproduct quality.
That is excellent, and I thinkall customers and potential
clients would be very interestedin this product.
So that's phenomenal.
Congratulations on that.
That's awesome, awesome.
(13:17):
We talked about how operatorswill be empowered with AI and
the way that you have designedAI to help train and facilitate
excellence for new employees, orjust make other employees more
productive and knowledgeable.
Now you've also designed aproduct around 100% quality
(13:59):
confidence in quality Now that'sexciting.
Those are two great excitingpoints.
Confidence and quality Nowthat's exciting.
Those are two great excitingpoints.
Now talk about how your visionis about operators are at the
center of this next waveindustrial tech.
So talk about the next wave nowas we move through this
(14:19):
wonderful podcast about theoperators.
Speaker 2 (14:23):
Yeah, you know, I think so when we started this
off, I mentioned that the wholeethos of this company was to
empower operators, and I thinkevery time I talk to one of our
customers, I hear that same kindof statement repeated back to
me, which is that the mostimportant thing is that the
(14:43):
operators are engaged and feelconfident and feel safe, right,
and so, if you think about it,operators really should be at
the center of the technologicalrevolution that is going through
industrials today.
But I think what's reallyinteresting is, over the last 30
years, you know, in industry,we've invested in IoT or
(15:04):
Internet of Things.
We've invested in new machinesand new systems, so introduced
concepts like the learningmanagement system, the
maintenance management system,warehouse management systems,
and they've had this huge impact, I think, on improving
efficiency, but the operatorreally was not at the center of
that improvement.
(15:25):
The operator's actually beenkind of forced to adopt these
systems that aren't consumergrade and they're not typically
user friendly, and so you knowsome of our customers as I
talked to them, they have, youknow, a half dozen systems that
operators need to switch betweento go from, you know, seeing
their schedule to gatheringinformation about the thing that
(15:47):
they're doing to.
I don't know how to performthat task right, and I think the
really interesting thing is,with Squint, what we've tried to
do is we've tried to make itconsumer grade, just like the
best apps that we all use athome, and that, apparently, is
very different from the approachthat has been taken in
(16:08):
technology that's been deliveredto industrial environments for
the last 30 years.
So our goal at Squint isactually to make Squint as easy
to use for the first time as itwas when you unboxed your new
iPhone.
Right, it should be that simple,and I think what we're doing as
a result is we're creating thisshift in industry, that, as an
(16:32):
industry now we're movingtowards a period of technology
consolidation that is centeredaround the operator, and so the
idea is that Squint is actuallythat horizontal platform that
can sit on top of each of thesenew vertical systems that we've
introduced that I mentioned theLMS, the WMS, the maintenance
management system, the ARP, andthe way that this solves the
(16:56):
existing problem is it actuallyconsolidates them all into a
single interface for thatoperator.
So now the operator really onlyinteracts with Squint and in the
backend, squint deals with allthose other systems, and we've
simplified that experience forthe operators such that they
actually want to engage withthis technology.
(17:17):
Um, and I think the you knowthe, the it's the best of both
worlds for manufacturers because, um, the management team gets
to keep their existingoperational systems that have
achieved this efficiency overthe last couple of decades.
But they also can make life somuch easier and manageable for
operators because now they'regetting this huge, you know,
(17:37):
quality of life improvement inthe technology that operators
interact with, and so I thinkyou know the outcome of this is
that happy operators will dobetter work, will stay engaged,
(18:00):
will stay safer, and this iskind of the.
Speaker 1 (18:02):
I think this is the direction that industry is now
going.
I begin to add some thoughtsthat Sam Waltham would love to
have a conversation with you,because my years at Walmart, sam
Waltham spent so much timetalking about the importance of
the associate or the employee,and the stores and distribution
(18:23):
centers and all the jobs atWalmart that we did to serve the
customer.
What you are doing is taking thesame philosophy that Sam Walton
had and you're applying it tothe industry and the operation
side, because you're exactlyright when you said happy
(18:46):
operators do better work andstay engaged.
That's exactly what SamWalton's philosophy was.
So congratulations on taking aphilosophy that has worked to
make one of the largest retailcompanies in the world to take,
but not only the largest, butone of the best, in my opinion,
and that's what you're focusedon, and I congratulate you and
(19:07):
your team on what you're doing.
It's outstanding, thank you,and it's exciting.
So now, as we began to wrap up,I know we love to talk about
stories and in our previousconversation we talked about
stories are things we remember.
Stories are how we learn.
Stories are things we like totell again.
(19:29):
So I think you have a greatstory to share with us.
Speaker 2 (19:34):
Yeah, yeah, I would love to.
First of all, I think, goingback to your point on, you know
Sam Walton and the philosophybehind Walmart, I think the
really great thing is this isit's a pretty simple,
fundamental belief that we allhave right that happy people
will do better work.
And, um, it seems like over thelast couple of decades, if, if
(19:54):
you look at the way technologyhas gone, we've kind of
forgotten that in industrialtech, and I'm really glad that
it's such a simple thing thatyou can just remind yourself and
now we can kind of pivot backtowards that, that employer
experience.
So, um, yeah, that's awesome.
And then, uh, would love tostare, share a story.
Um, you know, I'll.
(20:16):
I'll talk a little bit about oneof our customers.
Um, they are a chemicalmanufacturer and they started
using squint for theiroperations.
Um, I think about three weeksafter deploying squint to the
floor, they actually reached outto us and they said hey, we
have a story we'd love to tellyou Because you might appreciate
this, we thought that ourinternal issue tracking system
(20:39):
was broken Because over the lastthree weeks we've had zero
issues filed and for somebackground, you know, they were
averaging a dozen issues a dayand suddenly they dropped to
zero for weeks, and so they ranthis internal investigation to
figure out what was wrong withthe tracking system, because
(21:00):
something must be wrong.
Where are the issues?
And upon investigation, whatthey realized was that they had
completely eliminated operatormistakes that led to those
issues being created andultimately for them they're able
to track that back to downtimereduction right, and I think if
you look at the impacts of that,it's really powerful, because
(21:20):
now this customer isn't spendingtime and money fixing issues.
They've actually completelyeliminated the downtime and the
waste that was caused by humanmistakes, and this is a better
and faster investment, I think,than a lot of the other places
that manufacturers could bespending their time and
(21:42):
resources to improve operations.
And I can talk more about that.
I'll pause really quickly ifyou have any thoughts or
questions.
Speaker 1 (21:50):
Well, first of all, it says that your system, your
processes, work and people.
I know they're complex behindthe scenes, but they're simple
enough for people to be able toembrace them, to learn them and
to engage with them.
And again, that's one of Sam'sphilosophies that he would tell
(22:13):
us.
He said okay, ladies andgentlemen, don't make this so
complicated.
Keep the complexity behind thewall, but from them executing
things on the store floor or thedistribution floor.
Keep it simple for them, andthat's what you've done.
You've made it simple for themso they can embrace it.
(22:34):
And when they embrace it, theylearn it, they're happy because
it helps them feel successful intheir job.
And I think that's what thisstory is.
And look at the outcome.
See, the outcome is excellentand that's what you wanted.
I love it what this story is.
And look at the outcome See,the outcome is excellent and
that's what you wanted.
I love it.
I love the story.
Speaker 2 (22:53):
Yeah, you know, I'll add on a little bit to it, which
I think is like a personaltidbit that I love, which is not
only was there ROI from themanufacturer's perspective, that
, hey, they were able to reducemistakes, but one of the parts
of this that I love the most isthe customers are now like the
(23:13):
actual operators or the users ofthe application are becoming
friends with the Squint co-pilot, right, and so there was this I
saw this example in the chatthat someone was talking to
Squint and they gave it anickname.
They started calling it Lil Bro,and I think that's just like a
chat that someone was talking tosquint and they gave it a
nickname.
They, they were started callingit little bro.
Um, and I think that's justlike it speaks to the um, the
(23:36):
like amount of engagement thatai is able to have with
operators and meet them wherethey're at in and match kind of
their personality and engagementmethods.
And I think, um, what we'reseeing is like huge satisfaction
scores from the people actuallyusing the product and I think,
with that use, the best of thebest outcome you can have with
(23:56):
technology is you end upreducing all your mistakes and
people feel happier, moreconfident, more engaged Right,
and I think that's like the, thewin-win that we're trying to
create with squint.
Speaker 1 (24:08):
Well, devin, devon.
Um, when we met a few weeks ago, I was so impressed with you,
and when you started talkingabout your products, your
systems, your and your team andthe more I've gotten to know you
, uh, I can't tell you how muchI appreciate you, uh, coming
back on doing business inbentonville talking about your
(24:29):
products.
I was telling someone that Iwas meeting with earlier that I
hope you can come back and keepus updated as you advance this
technology, as you make changes,as you grow it.
I would love for you to comeback on and share with us.
Let's keep the story going.
(24:49):
You've got a great story.
Let's continue to share yourstory with people around the
world and I hope people willreach out to you, and we're
going to talk about that in justa moment.
But you're on to somethinggreat here.
I will say one more quote fromSam Walton, because it applies
(25:11):
here.
Sam Walton said he would remindus weekly.
He said everything we do, westand on the backs of our
employees, our associates.
That's exactly what you'redoing.
What you're doing is theoperator focus is you're
standing on those backs andyou're empowering and helping
(25:34):
them do their jobs moresuccessfully.
Based on the story, based onthe other things you've talked
about.
So I congratulate you for thatfocus.
It's remarkable, so thank youfor that.
Speaker 2 (25:49):
I appreciate that.
Yeah, it's.
It's great to kind of hearthese, these stories and the
alignment I had no idea.
Speaker 1 (25:56):
OK, now, devin, we're going to.
Of course this is going to be.
This is going to be on ourwebsite doing business in
Bittenville, and and all of ourpeople can go see that.
Of course it's going to be inall the social media networks
that you have access to.
But, devin, talk a bit abouthow they read.
How can people find you?
Now, that'll be on our website.
(26:17):
We'll have all that there, but,but, if, but, how can we, how
can we reach out and find yourcompany?
Who do we?
How do we do that?
What's your website?
Tell us about that.
Speaker 2 (26:34):
Yeah, absolutely.
Our website is squintai, soS-Q-U-I-N-Tai, feel free to
check it out.
I think if you heard somethingthat resonated with you, or if
there's a use case that you havein mind for technology like
Squint, definitely give us ashout.
I'm also on LinkedIn.
You can find me and personallyconnect.
I love to hear the differentuse cases that people come up
(26:56):
with for Squint, so I'm reallyexcited to connect with the
audience.
Speaker 1 (27:00):
Well, you did an excellent job today.
I only wish you the best inyour endeavors in the future.
Again, let's stay connected.
Your endeavors in the futureAgain, let's stay connected, and
I love to, because I'minterested in your story and
where you're going to go.
I think it's going to befantastic.
I really appreciate you takingtime of your busy schedule to be
on Doing Business inBentonville.
(27:21):
It's been such a pleasure tovisit with you.
Speaker 2 (27:24):
Thanks so much for having me on, Andy.
I'm really excited.
Hopefully we can do this again.
Speaker 1 (27:29):
Okay, absolutely, and to all of our viewers, thank
you for watching and viewingdoing business in Bentonville.
I guess I said at the top ofthe show thank you.
It means so much to us that youhave confidence in our
programming and we're going tokeep that up in the future.
Again, devin best to you, bestto your team, and I look forward
(27:50):
to seeing you again soon.
Thank you, thanks, andy.
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