Czech carmaker Škoda to use Israeli software to optimize engine production

Tel Aviv-based Seebo, a startup whose artificial intelligence-based software aims to help manufacturers predict and prevent inefficiencies in the production process, said Thursday it will collaborate with Czech car manufacturer Škoda on its engine production lines.

“The deployment of Seebo Predictive Quality will be carried out in ŠKODA’s automotive production lines, to optimize manufacturing processes and reduce production costs,” the Israeli firm said in a statement.

Set up in 2012 by Lior Akavia and Liran Akavia, the firm’s solutions help production teams discover process inefficiencies and determine their impact on operations; they pinpoint why these process inefficiencies happen, and predict when they will happen next, in order to enable better decision making, according to the startup.

“The use of AI in the automotive industry is expanding beyond autonomous vehicles into the production plants, to attain smarter, data-driven manufacturing processes,” Lior Akavia, Seebo’s CEO, said in the statement.

Seebo’s solutions have been deployed at the manufacturing sites of multiple industries worldwide, such as food and beverage firms Nestle and PepsiCo, UK bread maker Hovis, and in the automotive and chemicals industries, according to Israeli firm’s website. The startup has raised $16.5 million to date, according to Start-Up Nation Central, which tracks Israel’s tech industry.