On a mission to solve manufacturing’s growing knowledge crisis, Devin Bhushan, Squint founder and CEO has developed a groundbreaking platform that’s catching the attention of industry giants. In this interview, they share how a critical observation about manufacturing trends led to creating one of the most innovative solutions in industrial AI today.
The Manufacturing Knowledge Crisis
“There are a couple of big trends in manufacturing today: turnover is higher than ever and the demand for scaling manufacturing in the US is also spiking,” the founder explains, noting that some facilities are experiencing 75% annual turnover. Even more concerning, they point out that the average tenure on factory floors has plummeted from 20 years in 2019 to just 3 years in 2024.
This dramatic shift created what the founder saw as both a challenge and an opportunity: valuable operational knowledge was walking out the door with experienced workers, leaving companies struggling to maintain quality and efficiency with an increasingly inexperienced workforce.
A Revolutionary Solution
The founder’s response was to create Squint, an innovative Manufacturing Intelligence Platform that transforms how facilities preserve and transfer crucial operational knowledge. “I saw this as an opportunity to bring technology to this space and solve one of the most painful problems in manufacturing,” Bhushan explained. The platform combines computer vision and AI to convert expert knowledge into immediately accessible digital guides.
What sets Squint apart is its groundbreaking approach to machine recognition. “When I started Squint, I wanted to eliminate all barriers to utilization and scale of this technology,” he explained. Unlike traditional AR solutions that require QR codes or CAD models, Squint can recognize machinery directly — similar to how FaceID works for faces, but for industrial equipment.
Proven Impact Across Industries
The results have been remarkable, “One of our tire customers compared quality rates between the lines that have Squint and the lines that don’t.” Bhushan shared, “The Quality Manager came to us and said: ‘this data looks fake but it isn’t, we checked it 3 times… we’ve completely eliminated waste from operator error with Squint.’”
Major industry leaders including Volvo, Colgate-Palmolive, Nestlé, and Michelin have adopted the technology, attracted by its ability to integrate seamlessly with existing training programs and onboard customers in a single day. “The biggest cause of operator mistakes and ultimately turnover is a lack of confidence in their work,” explains the founder. “Squint is the missing layer of confidence on the factory floor.”
The Future of Manufacturing Intelligence
Looking ahead, the founder sees Squint positioning itself at the forefront of visual reasoning in AI applications. “Over the next few years, I think we’re going to see an exponential rise in the use of visual reasoning in AI applications,” Bhushan predicts. At Squint, human operators remain at the heart of everything they do.
For entrepreneurs looking to follow in their footsteps and innovate in traditional industries, Bhushan offers key advice from their experience: “Before you start building your product, build empathy for your customers by researching what they do. Try to figure out why work is done the way it is today. Typically there’s a reason for the status quo, and it’s easy to assume you can change it until you dive in really deep.”