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SEAL Systems AG > Blog > Enterprise Conversion Solutions > Streamlining Construction Document Rebranding with AI
Enterprise Conversion Solutions
15.08.2024
Reading Time: 5 Minutes

Streamlining Construction Document Rebranding with AI

In this Article
    Time and again, companies are renamed, divisions are spun off or sold. Thousands of drawings and other design documents often have to be adapted to the new corporate identity in the course of such name changes. With our Digital Process Factory (DPF) and artificial intelligence, we can now automate this change of corporate identity for our customers.
    Do you still remember the article on automatic stamping and the task behind it? Leonardo da Vinci had problems marking his technical drawings in a process-oriented way.

    A lot of time has passed in the meantime. The year is 1530 and Leonardo has been dead for 11 years. Many designs for war machines lie dormant in his legacy. Michelangelo Buonarroti is asked by the leaders of his home city of Florence to equip the city with machines for its defense. The emperor and the pope are standing outside the city with their armies. Michelangelo draws on Leonardo’s drawings and then has war machines built.

    Is he allowed to do that? One thing is certain: he wants to change the logos, names and ownership notices in all the drawings. And there are several books full. But SEAL Systems can help.

    Technische Zeichnung

    The task

    When a new company is spun off, it can also take rights to products with it. These products should then, of course, be advertised and sold with the corporate identity of the new company. The company logo, company name, copyright, confidentiality notices and more should only show the new company. Large amounts of data and a tight schedule are typical for such a project.

    This is why an automated process is needed …

    • that identifies and removes the documents in document management
    • which in the meantime marks each data record in progress in the DMS accordingly
    • to find the position of logos, names, copyrights, etc.
    • that scales the new information and stamps it in the right place
    • optionally allows interactive quality assurance on a random sample basis …
    • and stores the changed files back in the DMS.

    Logos and company names are usually found in the title block, but their exact position is unknown. The human eye sees them immediately. But how do you automate the finding process using software?

    Positionen Logo und Firmenname auf einer technischen Zeichnung
    To make things not too simple, there are different variants of the logo, depending on the year of origin or type of document. Perhaps there are also drawings from other predecessor companies?
    Symbolbild - Auswahl verschiedener Logos
    The confidentiality notes are in the bottom left-hand corner.
    Screenshot Vertraulichkeitsvermerke

    Seek and ye shall find

    To make the problem manageable, clusters must be formed from the set of all drawings in which similar logos are used. This can be achieved by looking at individual years, projects, groups of authors or similar. The corresponding subsets are taken from the SAP DVS for this purpose. The best way to do this is to use our “Extended Search & Action” tool “Extended Search & Action” with extended search functionality for SAP documents and various filter and input options.

    A characteristic on the relevant document info records indicates that an original has been added to the adjustment process. This allows other processes to react accordingly when accessing such an original.

    The software is provided with a number of templates for training, which support the search.

    The DPF-based workflow uses OpenCV (Library for Computer Vision) and possibly supported by AI methods (Tensorflow or Azure AI Services) to determine the enclosing rectangle for the logo, company name, copyright and confidentiality notice.

    Automatische Erfassung eines Logos
    Here, for example, the logo was found. The new logo is applied to the determined position as a stamp. The stamp is created in such a way that it can be retrieved automatically and can therefore be deleted or replaced again.

    If the items searched for are not found, the file in question is sorted out as incorrect. It can now be reprocessed manually or used to train the recognition again.

    The software also determines the trustworthiness of the position found. Hits with low confidentiality can therefore be checked manually to avoid errors.

    To ensure quality, a certain quantity of conversions must also be viewed by humans. The system automatically removes a predefined subset at random. The operator is then offered the checklist in a separate client with a preview option.

    The overall process looks like this:

    Process change company logos

    Summary

    We have often had similar requests, but never the right tools to meet the requirements. Now the technology has reached a stage where a solution can be implemented economically.

    A project like this also shows that there are ideas for the use of AI (artificial intelligence) in the field of Enterprise Output Management. It is worth looking into this and thinking about where AI can be used to improve or even automate processes in the company or at the customer.

    Curious to find out more?

    Are you planning to rebrand your company? We would be happy to help you automate the processes involved in a rebranding. Contact us for more information!