Blog · Published · Updated
AI automation in industry: the boundary between IT and OT
Short answer
AI in industry starts safely with data that only informs people, for example a downtime report built from a copy of an export. A system that writes a machine parameter works on the OT side and needs a different scope, responsibility and safeguards. At Syntalith the automation costs from €3,000 net, and with 40 downtime reports a month at 120 minutes each it pays back in 1.5 months.
How we workDetails ↓
- 01Call30 minutes with an engineer, free
- 02PrototypeA working system on your process and data, free
- 03ImplementationTarget and fixed price in the contract; 50% at signing
- 04Acceptance50% once the agreed target is met
- net for the automation of one process, paid once
- from €3,000
- from signing the contract to acceptance
- 2–6 weeks
- free prototype on your cases
- €0
We belong to the OpenAI and Anthropic partner programmes and learn through their official courses. What this means ↓
Author: Syntalith · 3 min read
Statistics
Industry and AI: statistics 2026
1.5 mo.
payback of a €3,000 automation at 40 downtime reports a month: €2,792 of work today, €842 with checking and the model. Scenario.
17.3%
According to Eurostat (2025), 17.3% of EU manufacturing companies with at least 10 employees used AI.
Source: Eurostat, artificial intelligence by NACE activity (2025) ↗
20.0%
According to Eurostat (2025), 20.0% of EU companies with at least 10 employees used AI.
Source: Eurostat, 20% of EU enterprises use AI technologies (2025) ↗
90%
According to the European Commission (2026), 90% of companies using AI say that people take the decisions, and 2% of decisions are fully automated.
Source: European Commission, Flash Eurobarometer 578 (2026) ↗
14–56%
According to Anthropic (2025), studies with a control group found smaller time savings, from 14% to 56%.
Source: Anthropic, Estimating AI productivity gains (2025) ↗
Figures checked: 22 October 2026
AI in industry: where reading ends and acting begins
The maintenance team receives a copy of the downtime report and every week prepares a list of matters to discuss from it: which machines stood still longest, which causes keep coming back, what was promised to be fixed. An automation can prepare that list from the export, and the result goes to a person who checks the source. That is a completely different scope from a system that writes a parameter to a controller or changes the line schedule.
NIST SP 800-82 describes operational technology as systems that act on the physical environment, with performance, reliability and safety requirements that differ from office IT. Assessing a connection to OT belongs to the people responsible for the plant's environment, and this article is no guide to configuring security.
| Scope question | Why it needs an answer |
|---|---|
| Does the app only read data? | it sets the effect of its permissions |
| Where does the data come from and how is it shared? | an export is a different project from a connection to the plant's system |
| What does it do with an outdated export? | it does not hide the age of the information |
| Who assesses the result? | it names who is responsible for the decision |
| How do you switch off the extra workflow? | the plant keeps working without the new tool |
- A copy of the data handed over periodically, with no connection to OT
- The result goes to a person with a link to the source
- The export date visible on every report
- No writes to control systems
What an AI downtime report costs and when it pays back
- Today
- 40 downtime reports × 120 min = 80 h (€2,792)
- With the system, a person checks the output in 30% of the time
- €838
- Model, 2 calls per case, Claude Sonnet 5.5
- €4
- Cost of one case
- €69.80 today, €21.05 with the system
- Saving
- €1,950 a month
Payback of €3,000
1.5 months
The volume, the time and the checking share are the scenario's assumptions. €34.90 an hour is the EU average hourly labour cost for 2025 according to Eurostat. Model: 20,000 input tokens and 1,500 output tokens per call at Anthropic's rates, converted at the ECB rate of 1.1205 USD per euro on 22 October 2026. The scenario assumes 10 reports a week for different lines and areas.
The count covers the work around each case: searching, reading, writing and handing over. What remains is the time to check the result, 30% of today's work in the scenario. Before the quote we measure both times on 20 to 100 cases the team has already handled, in a free test that takes 5 working days.
A small scope can start with a report
Check whether your current MES or reporting tool already gives the view you need. If the problem is duplicates and manual collation of records, putting the data in order is enough. Robotising workstations and controlling machines are separate projects for industrial automation integrators. A conversation about the report needs no access to the plant's infrastructure.
The reporting tool has the view you need
configure the report
no build
A report for people from a copy of the data
an automation of the report from the export
from €3,000
Writing parameters, controlling a machine
an OT project with an automation integrator
outside the scope
Where to start
For the first call, prepare a description of the report, the source of its data and the person who assesses the result. We build this kind of system as part of our AI automations. For the free process review, a description of one case from the last few weeks and the tools it went through is enough. You do not need to send confidential documents, and you receive a written plan within 2 working days.
Worked example · Scenario
How we count the payback: AI in maintenance
We run the same count for your plant in the free process review.
€3,490
a month for writing the reports for 400 jobs
Payback: 1 mo.
15 minutes to write a work report and checking in 15% of the old time are our assumptions. €34.90 an hour is the EU average hourly labour cost for 2025 according to Eurostat, for companies with 10 or more employees. Model cost: reading a photo at €0.0042 (0.004734 USD), measured in our field documentation system, plus the description (Claude Sonnet 5.5, about 2,000 + 400 tokens), at the ECB rate of 1.1205 USD per euro on 22 October 2026.
See the full calculation →
