Foundation-model control for the line you already run.

A control layer that retrofits existing PLCs, vision systems and robotics for autonomous quality inspection, predictive maintenance, and line reconfiguration. No rip-and-replace. Melio engineers embedded on your line from day one.

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Accepting pilot applications One cell. Measured in weeks, not quarters.
01  ·  The problem

Every line still runs on logic frozen the year it was installed.

PLC ladder logic · fixed vision thresholds · SCADA tags  · CMMS work orders · changeover sheets  · OEE spreadsheets · rule-based SPC  · manual gauge checks

each one hard-coded, none of it adaptive

$50B/yr
lost to unplanned downtime in discrete manufacturing

A single-line stoppage still runs $500K–$1M an hour.

60–80%
of inspection still done by eye

Vision systems exist; most lines still gauge and glance.

6 wks
typical PLC reprogram for a new SKU

Ladder logic doesn't reconfigure — it gets rewritten.

Plant engineers don't want another vision system. They want a control layer that already understands how their line runs.

02  ·  The insight

The next 10% of yield lives in the judgment calls a PLC can't make.

01

Fixed logic has hit a ceiling.

Vision thresholds, ladder logic and a decade of SCADA tags each encode one engineer's judgment at one point in time. None of it adapts when the line, the part, or the operator changes.

02

Rip-and-replace lost the decade.

Full-line automation upgrades run 18 to 36 months and stall at the capex committee. Plants don't want a new line — they want the line they already own to think.

03

The retrofit layer is open.

A foundation-model layer that sits on top of the PLC, the vision system and the robot cell you already own — inferring the judgment nobody coded — is finally feasible.

03  ·  What a retrofit control layer is

The layer that sits on top of the PLC, not instead of it.

Retrofit is the discipline of adding judgment to equipment without rewriting its ladder logic — the difference between a smarter alarm and a line that reconfigures itself.

Inputs

Signals from your line

  • Camera + vision feeds
  • PLC & SCADA tags
  • Vibration & thermal sensors
  • Historian data
  • Operator overrides
Melio control layer

Watches every signal. Infers what the PLC can't. Proposes the action, in the format your line already accepts.

Perceive

Reads vision, sensor and tag data as one state, not four.

Predict

Flags drift and failure before a threshold is breached.

Reconfigure

Drafts the changeover or recipe change as a reviewable diff.

Execute

Writes back through the PLC/HMI after approval.

Capabilities under its control
Inspection Maintenance Reconfiguration Calibration Safety Throughput Traceability Copilot
Outputs

To your line and people

Decision support
to operators
Recommended action
supervisor approves
Auto-written
PLC / HMI write-back
Audit trail
for compliance

Without this layer, you have a PLC that reacts. With it, you have a line that anticipates.

04  ·  Eight functions, one system

Every retrofit line needs the same eight capabilities. Melio ships an agent for each.

VP, Quality

Inspection

Defect detection · SPC drift · root cause

Vision · gauges · SPC
VP, Maintenance

Maintenance

Vibration/thermal alerts · work orders · MTBF

CMMS · IoT sensors
Plant Manager

Reconfiguration

Changeover · recipe management · tooling swap

PLC · HMI · MES
Controls Engineer

Calibration

Drift correction · gauge R&R · recalibration

PLC · vision · SCADA
VP, EHS

Safety

Zone monitoring · interlock assist · evidence

Cameras · OT · EHS
VP, Operations

Throughput

OEE · bottleneck detection · energy per unit

SCADA · historian
VP, Supply Chain

Traceability

Genealogy · lot tracking · audit trail

MES · ERP
Line Supervisor

Operator Copilot

Guided instructions · training · handoff

HMI · LMS
05  ·  The labor multiplier

AI to power your people. Not replace them.

Melio pushes the recommendation to the operator. The operator approves. The PLC executes. Operators get more capable and gain a new tool.

01

Operators stay in command.

Melio handles the pattern recognition. Every write-back above a configured risk threshold waits on a human sign-off.

02

Built to pass the works-council review.

Operator-in-command design is what works councils, unions and regulators require. Melio is built to clear that review, not fight it.

2.1M
US manufacturing jobs unfilled by 2030

Reshoring needs skilled labor at scale. Retrofit automation alone doesn't solve this.

30–50%
labor productivity uplift targeted in early deployments

Workers plus a control layer compound.

Non-negotiable
operator-in-command design, in regulated and union-represented plants

KSA Saudization mandates. German works councils. EU AI Act risk classes.

06  ·  How we deploy

75% pre-built. 25% custom. Engineers on your line day one.

Embedded engineers Melio's engineering team, on the line from week one.
75% pre-built

Eight capabilities ship configured. Pre-trained on factory SOPs and equipment data.

25% custom

Your equipment, your thresholds, your SOPs.

  • Embedded engineers. One dedicated engineer per major account — forward-deployed, ours, on your line for 3 to 6 months. Customizes the 25% in weeks, not months.
  • Each deployment compounds. Retrofit adapters, model fine-tunes and deployment playbooks accumulate at Melio. Each line is designed to deploy materially faster than the last — the target is 50%.
  • On-prem. Audited. Reversible. Customer data is never pooled across accounts. Every inference is logged. No ladder logic is overwritten — Melio sits alongside it.
07  ·  Where it deploys

Built for the installed base, not the greenfield.

Different equipment, different buyers, the same control layer — which is what makes the next line repeatable rather than bespoke.

Segment Domain Target outcome Retrofit surface
Automation OEM installed base Installed-base retrofit Autonomous inspection across equipment already in the field, with no hardware refresh cycle PLC · vision · SCADA
Appliance & consumer-electronics lines High-mix, short-run manufacturing Defect escape rate and changeover time cut on one line, without a new vision system Line PLC · HMI · recipes
Warehouse robotics & drones E-commerce logistics · fulfilment floors Pick-zone throughput that reconfigures with demand, without adding robots Fleet API · WMS

Segments describe the target market Melio is built for. Figures on this page are market context and deployment targets — not measured customer results.

08  ·  Engineering posture

Different equipment, different buyers, the same engineering posture.

Nothing below depends on a person remembering to apply it — which is what lets it survive a new engineer, a new controller family, and a new model.

01

Determinism where it matters

Parsing PLC tags, write-back and golden-set evaluation are model-free. The foundation model sits at the edges, never in the path that writes to safety-rated I/O.

02

Guardrails outside the model

Risk-threshold approval gates, versioned thresholds, per-cell kill switches — none rely on the model behaving.

03

Evaluation as a gate

A controller swap, a threshold change or a model update reaches a line only after its golden-set benchmark passes.

04

Reversible delivery

Every write-back is logged and reversible. No ladder logic is overwritten — Melio sits alongside it.

05

Sim-to-real carried through

Where a digital twin exists, every policy is proven there first — the same gate, every account.

06

The installed base is the spec

Every engagement opens with a full inventory of the controllers, sensors and fleet software actually running — not the intended architecture.