Background
SAP is evolving how AI-driven visual inspections are delivered with SAP Digital Manufacturing (SAP DM). As announced with release 2511 (see SAP Note 3655603), the embedded Visual Inspection capability has been deprecated. SAP is transitioning to validated partner solutions that offer more complete, scalable hardware and software stacks, and deeper domain expertise. This blog explains the change, what it means for your operations and which alternative partner solutions are available.
SAP has decided to retire the current Visual Inspection capability in SAP DM and transition to a partner-based approach because visual inspection requirements vary widely across industries, and partner-led solutions are best positioned to meet these needs and drive long-term innovation. This new approach will provide customers with:
• a richer set of features,
• deep domain expertise, and
• alignment with industry best practices
What’s changing and when
• SAP DM Release 2511 (deprecated): The embedded Visual Inspection feature in SAP DM entered deprecation. It remains available during a sunset period for continuity but is not recommended for productive use and will not receive new features.
• SAP DM Release 2605 (removal): With 2605 release of SAP DM, the existing Visual Inspection functionality will be removed. At that time, legacy VI apps, APIs, and related capabilities are expected to no longer be available. Please review the 2605 What’s New for the exact scope.
Why SAP moved to partner-led visual inspection
Manufacturers’ inspection needs vary widely across defect types, camera setups, throughput targets, and compliance and traceability requirements. A partner ecosystem accelerates innovation and fit-for-purpose solutions:
- Fit for diverse needs: Inspection requirements differ by product, line design, and regulatory context. Partner solutions bring specialized capabilities that map more closely to your industry and use cases.
- Broader coverage: Support for diverse model types, camera and lighting configurations, and edge/cloud inference to match different lines and environments.
- Faster innovation: Dedicated vendors focus on rapid advancements and best-in-class tooling, helping you keep pace with evolving quality standards and customer expectations.
- Scale and reliability: Well-established deployment, monitoring, and support models reduce operational risk as you expand from pilot lines to multi-site rollouts.
- Total cost of ownership: Flexible deployment and managed services can lower long-term ownership costs by streamlining model management and support
Validated partner solutions available in the SAP Store
SAP and its ecosystem provide ready-to-integrate alternatives that replace the deprecated functionality while extending capability. These partner offerings typically support broader device options, centralized model management and retraining, and advanced analytics and monitoring. You can find them in the SAP Store and evaluate which best matches your industry, throughput, and governance needs.
These partner solutions differ in scope, integration depth, and service offerings. All cover the core use cases of the deprecated SAP DM Visual Inspection solution and extend capabilities in areas such as lifecycle management and device flexibility. The partner solutions are licensed separately. For detailed information and demos, customers should contact partners directly using the contact options on their SAP Store listings or as given above.
Additional collaborations with other partners are ongoing and will be published in the SAP Store as soon as integrations with SAP DM are available.
Quick evaluation checklist
Depending on your use cases and requirements, consider the following when engaging partners for Visual Inspection solutions:
- Functional fit: Confirm coverage for your defect types and inspection methods, including multi-camera or multi-station scenarios. Ensure flexibility for future products and lines.
- Performance at the line: Validate end-to-end cycle time on representative stations to ensure inspections keep pace with takt time without creating bottlenecks.
- Integration: API alignment with SAP DM, result mapping to orders, operations, or SFCs/serial numbers, and nonconformance handling.
- Lifecycle and governance: Understand how images are curated, models are retrained, and versions are approved and rolled back. Ensure clear ownership, auditability, and change control.
- Operations and support: Review edge device options, security posture, user management, SLAs, and escalation paths.
- Compliance and data policies: Verify traceability, audit readiness, and data retention practices across sites and jurisdictions.
By moving to partner-led visual inspection, SAP DM customers gain flexibility, a richer feature set, and access to specialized expertise, thus helping teams adopt AI at the line and scale confidently across sites.
Where to learn more
• SAP Note 3655603 (Deprecation of Visual Inspection in SAP DM): https://me.sap.com/notes/3655603
• SAP Digital Manufacturing What’s New 2605 What's New for SAP Digital Manufacturing | SAP Help Portal
• SAP Store https://store.sap.com
