A user vision for visual inspection: A view from the industry

Abstract

Visual inspection (VI) remains a cornerstone of pharmaceutical quality assurance, helping manufacturers detect defects, protect product integrity and safeguard patient safety. However, as the industry advances towards increasingly complex biologics, personalised medicines and smaller production batches, inspection strategies must evolve to meet new manufacturing and regulatory challenges. In A user vision for visual inspection: A view from the industry, BioPhorum brings together experts from leading biopharmaceutical companies to define a future vision for inspection systems that are more intelligent, flexible and data-driven. The publication advocates a hybrid approach in which manual visual inspection (MVI) and automated visual inspection (AVI) work together, combining human judgement with the consistency and scalability of advanced technologies. The report highlights several technologies that are expected to shape the future of visual inspection, including artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, advanced imaging systems and digital twins. These innovations have the potential to improve defect detection, reduce false rejects, accelerate training and validation, and support predictive quality control through enhanced data analysis. Importantly, the vision recognises that human expertise remains essential. While automation can improve efficiency and reproducibility, manual inspection continues to play a critical role in evaluating novel or ambiguous defects, validating AI-driven systems and providing contextual decision-making. Developed through BioPhorum’s collaborative model, this consensus-based report reflects the collective expertise of global manufacturers and industry specialists. It provides a practical roadmap for organizations seeking to modernise visual inspection while maintaining the highest standards of quality, compliance and patient safety.