AeronauticsARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
AI reads the fine print: unlocking trusted aeronautics quality data
ALTEN applied OCR, computer vision and NLP to help a leading aircraft engine manufacturer automate the extraction of data from scanned documents, replacing error-prone manual checks with an automated and scalable solution.
In aeronautics, quality teams depend on accurate and consistent data to monitor events, identify issues and improve quality across the product lifecycle. However, much of this information still comes from scanned documents. Traditional OCR tools often misread or miss key details, especially in complex forms, which can create gaps in quality reporting. To address this challenge, a leading aircraft engine manufacturer engaged ALTEN to automate data extraction and improve the reliability of its quality processes.
Challenge: Automate data extraction from diverse unstructured documents to eliminate manual transcription errors and gaps.
Solutions: An AI-powered pipeline combining computer vision, OCR and NLP that feeds structured data directly into a central data repository.
Benefits:
- Eliminates transcription errors across non-standard documents
- Cuts manual workload by 80%
- Reduces transcription processing time by 95%
- Scalable, absorbs higher production volumes
- Improved data quality
Teaching the machine to read
ALTEN developed an end-to-end Intelligent Document Processing pipeline trained on a diverse corpus of forms, varying layouts and handwriting styles. Using computer vision, the system first localises fields and classifies checkbox states, then applies OCR and multimodal NLP (LayoutLMv3) to extract structured text, dates and signatures. Extracted entities are loaded into a centralised data warehouse to standardise the client’s downstream quality workflows. The solution was built using PyTorch, OpenCV, Tesseract and LayoutLMv3.
Data you can trust
By automating data extraction across diverse, complex document formats, the solution provides the quality department with reliable data while drastically cutting manual workload. A centralised, scalable architecture allows the client to absorb growing volumes without compromising accuracy, turning static paperwork into a consistent source of actionable insights.
The power of AI has enabled this aircraft engine manufacturer to strengthen reporting precision and maintain end-to-end data traceability.
