Imagine a future where engineers on the shop floor solve technical issues within minutes using AI-powered applications. That future? It’s already here.
On October 16th, dsm-firmenich’s Digital & Tech’s Low-Code Chapter led by Anouke Tielens-Coenegracht, in collaboration with The Orange Force, hosted an innovative hackathon, focused on making life easier for shop floor engineers by leveraging Generative AI and Mendix. With the manufacturing industry ripe for digital transformation, this event highlighted how AI and Mendix can streamline processes that are still time-consuming these days, like finding information in manuals and documentation spread over multiple systems. The rise of low-code platforms like Mendix, combined with its Siemens partnership, is making automation on the shop floor a reality, and Generative AI plays a significant role in this shift.
The Hackathon Challenge
Developers converged at dsm-firmenich’s Maastricht office for the Generative AI hackathon. With a mix of internal and external developers, the teams were tasked with a challenge: build an application to assist shop floor engineers in dealing with machine incidents. Armed with manuals, historical datasets, and a suite of AI tools—ChatGPT-4o, Dall-E, and Amazon Bedrock models like Titan and Cohere R+—the teams got to work. In preparation, participants attended an online workshop on Generative AI and its Mendix applications, led by The Orange Force. This primer gave teams a solid foundation in AI and its real-world applications in Mendix, ensuring they were ready to hit the ground running.
Meet the Teams
Team AI-nsteins started strong, using the ChatGPT-4o model to create a chatbot based on machine manuals. They took it further by enabling engineers to upload photos of faulty equipment, allowing the AI to analyze the image and suggest potential issues—in one case, identifying rust damage on a pump and generating a repair path based on the manual. They didn’t stop there. By integrating voice recognition, they allowed engineers to ask questions verbally, creating a seamless interaction between humans and machines.
Team Yggdrasil took a different route. Using Cohere R+, they developed a full-fledged work order management system. The AI created preventive maintenance schedules from historical data, auto-generating instructions for engineers based on machine manuals. The kicker? Engineers could chat with the AI to get further clarification when needed.
Team Genius Guild had big plans, aiming to build a comprehensive mobile maintenance suite. Though time constraints meant they could only demo one feature, it was impressive: a mobile app that compared a current photo of a machine to its original condition, automatically identifying issues like missing parts. They also laid the groundwork for fetching resolution paths to guide engineers through repairs.
AI, Lunch, and Lessons
During the hackathon, Mendix’s Solution Architect Diederik Quant led an insightful lunch session on AI capabilities within Mendix, covering how external services from AWS, Azure, and others can enhance smart apps. He also introduced Maia, the Mendix AI Assistant, now integrated into Studio Pro to help developers build apps using AI right out of the box. To further boost the teams, Freek Brinkhuis gave a breakout session on advanced prompt engineering, showing how smart prompts can take AI-driven apps to the next level.
And the Winner Is…
After a day of intense development, the teams presented their solutions to a four-member jury from dsm-firmenich, focusing on the business value their applications could bring. Team AI-nstein’s Lab clinched the win, wowing the judges with their seamless integration of voice-to-text functionality with a Gen AI-powered chatbot. The natural interaction between engineers and the AI truly stood out.
What this hackathon revealed is that Generative AI goes far beyond chatbots. By combining smart prompts with real-world data, the teams demonstrated just how powerful Mendix applications can become in a short amount of time. The innovative solutions developed at the event not only provided immediate value to dsm-firmenich but also opened the door to countless other use cases yet to be explored.
Curious about how Generative AI and Mendix can elevate your business? Reach out to us to explore workshops, hackathons, and proof-of-concept opportunities!
About the Author
Freek Brinkhuis is a Principal Consultant and Architect at The Orange Force. He previously worked in different roles ranging from native iOS developer to Product Manager AWS at Mendix. He’s a technical all-rounder who loves to learn about new technologies and how he can implement them for his customers. In his free time, he loves to play around with both software and hardware. His growing collection of vintage Apple desktops can be seen in his online meeting background when he’s working from home!
