The Business of Automated Visual Inspection

I was on the net at searchand found that an old acquaintance of mine in the same business is bankrupt...
It seems that other AI-based visual inspection companies are also in bankruptcy.
I can't help but wonder what other companies in the same industry are doing.

I have been working on this subject for over 20 years and find it very difficult to make it work as a business.
I would like to summarize some points of caution for those who are thinking of entering a new market and investing in it.

If there are 100 manufacturing companies, all 100 companies have inspection work, and most of that inspection work is done by people.
With aging inspectors and the difficulty of gathering people due to the Corona disaster, the need for automation is high, and it is not surprising that there are inquiries from 100 companies.

It is not strange to draw a picture in anticipation of that need, raise funds, and consider entering a new market.

However, 100 different projects come out of those 100 companies, and since they are only "human replacements," there is no way that the budget can cover more than the personnel costs....
We are always on the lookout for new orders.
If they do receive an order, they write a one-of-a-kind software within a limited budget and put it into the field, but they never take it off their hands.
Since they don't make any money, they start taking on impossible projects...and so the spiral continues.

No matter how much technical skill you have, if you do it right, it will happen. Maybe that's what happens when you have the technical skills.

Especially in a "software-only" business, sales inevitably become small, and even if the profit margin is good, the important amount of money will not increase.
If the amount of money does not increase, there is no way to eat. It will only eat up your capital.

I'm looking for an exception, but alas...

In our case?　I don't know how much longer we're going to be banging on stone bridges...