Allow-list
An agent can only write to tags declared for it.
Security and food safety
Software that can move a setpoint in a food plant needs more than a good model.
Doughex is designed around three facts: baked goods are food-safety-critical, recipes are intellectual property, and the plant's existing automation must keep running if Doughex stops. This page is the design posture; certifications are on the roadmap and not claimed.
Illustrative scenario: Plant run · one bread line, flour-lot change at the silo · shared oven. Not a measured run.
Defence in depth
Six layers between a model and a setpoint
Limits
Per-tag rate and magnitude limits, declared and versioned.
Level
Observe, recommend, approve to apply or bounded, set per loop; nothing writes in observe mode.
Policy engine
Interlock state, product, allergen status, shift and operator presence evaluated before every write.
Human gate
Anything above the threshold, every CCP-adjacent move and every release waits for a named person.
Fallback
If Doughex stops, the line runs on its existing PLC and SCADA control and interlocks.
Tool calls
Every call, on the record
Every tool invocation, argument and result is written to an immutable, human-readable log, and every reasoning step is expandable. Nothing about a run is hidden from the plant. The log below is the scenario run, not a measured one.
- 04:40:02mes.read_order({ line: "BR-2", product: "SANDWICH-800", flour_lot: "F-3312" })
- 04:40:02ok spec locked · HACCP plan v6 · CCPs: bake kill step, metal detection
- 04:40:03lab.read_results({ lot: "F-3312", test: "flour_certificate" })
- 04:40:03ok protein and absorption read · lot accepted at the silo
- 04:40:04twin.simulate({ candidates: 24, horizon: "shift" })
- 04:40:42ok best profile #7 · kill-step margin held · lowest energy per unit
- 04:40:43policy.evaluate({ profile: 7, level: "bounded" })
- 04:40:43ok 8 writes permitted · 1 write requires human approval
- 04:40:44plc.write_setpoint({ tag: "MIX1.ENERGY", basis: "lot absorption + dough temp" })
- 04:53:24ok dough temperature on target · development inside window
- 04:53:25plc.write_setpoint({ tag: "PRF1.DWELL", basis: "rise curve + humidity" })
- 05:51:30ok rise and volume on target · proof not running fast
- 05:51:31plc.write_setpoint({ tag: "DIV1.TRIM", mode: "min_safe_margin" })
- 05:51:31ok portion weight at minimum safe margin · underweight guardrail armed
- 05:51:33approval.request({ action: "oven.zone3", reason: "outside bounded envelope" })
- 05:53:09ok approved by the shift process engineer · tighter colour alarm set
- 05:53:10plc.write_setpoint({ tag: "OVN1.ZONE3_T", mode: "min_energy" })
- 05:53:10ok predicted colour and moisture inside spec · kill step verified
- 05:53:11vision.stream({ cameras: 12, models: ["colour_shape", "foreign_body", "seal"] })
- 06:21:48reject: pale top · unit 2231 · attributed to draught at zone one
- 06:21:49defect.attribute({ event: "pale_top", cause: "oven.zone1_draught" })
- 06:21:49ok oven agent notified · second reject at 06:23:12 · zone one corrected
- 06:21:50robot.execute({ cell: "DEPAN-1", mode: "guarded", pace: "line" })
- 06:21:50ok depanning and tray transfer paced · rejects diverted · safe zone clear
- 08:14:20mes.release_lot({ lot: "BR2-3312", genealogy: "full" })
- 08:15:25ok lot released · scenario complete
Reasoning trace
Goal, plan, thought, action, observation, exactly as the orchestrator would record it.
GoalStart flour lot F-3312 on bread line BR-2, hold development, r…
Start flour lot F-3312 on bread line BR-2, hold development, rise, weight, colour and moisture on target through the change, and release the lot with full genealogy.
PlanSimulate the whole profile on the twin first. Lead with the mi…
Simulate the whole profile on the twin first. Lead with the mixer so the proofer gets dough with a known rise curve and the divider gets dough with a known density. Verify the bake kill step continuously. Let the oven chase minimum energy only inside the bounded envelope; hold anything beyond it for a person.
ThoughtThe standing recipe overshoots portion weight and runs the ove…
The standing recipe overshoots portion weight and runs the oven hot to protect against lot variability. With continuous dough-state, weight and colour estimates the margins can sit at their minimum safe values. The saving is giveaway and energy, not safety margin: the kill step is never a candidate for optimisation.
Actiontwin.simulate(candidates=24) → profile #7: minimum safe weight…
twin.simulate(candidates=24) → profile #7: minimum safe weight margin, kill-step margin unchanged, lowest predicted energy per unit.
ObservationProfile #7's zone-three temperature sits outside the site's bo…
Profile #7's zone-three temperature sits outside the site's bounded envelope. The policy engine routes that single write to the shift process engineer and permits the other eight.
ActionExecute profile #7 at the bounded level: mixer, proofer and di…
Execute profile #7 at the bounded level: mixer, proofer and divider writes proceed; the zone-three write waits.
ObservationApproval granted at 05:53:09 with a tighter colour alarm. Two …
Approval granted at 05:53:09 with a tighter colour alarm. Two pale-top rejects at oven exit were attributed to a draught at zone one and corrected by the oven agent.
OutcomeScenario complete. The lot released with flour lot, setpoints,…
Scenario complete. The lot released with flour lot, setpoints, kill-step readings, inspection events and the human decision in the genealogy. No measured plant result is claimed; this is the run the platform is designed to execute.
Guardrails
An agent that can move a setpoint needs a leash
Doughex writes to production equipment in a food plant. Every capability is scoped, every write is policy-checked, every output is cited, and every action is written to an append-only audit log the plant owns.
- Bounded action space. Each agent can only write to an explicit tag allow-list, inside per-tag rate and magnitude limits, at the autonomy level the plant has set.
- Critical control points are read, never written. The bake kill step, metal detection and X-ray rejects, allergen changeover and release decisions stay with the HACCP plan and the people who own it.
- Policy engine before every write. Autonomy level, interlock state, product, allergen status, shift and operator presence are evaluated before a setpoint moves.
- Grounded and cited. Every recommendation carries a citation to the recipe, spec or procedure it relied on. Retrieval is tenant-isolated and permission-aware.
- Immutable audit log. Append-only, exportable and retained on the plant's own storage, aligned to HACCP, FSMA, BRCGS and ISO 22000 record-keeping.
- Hard fallback. If the edge node, the network or a model stops, the line keeps running on its existing PLC and SCADA control and interlocks.
- Tenant and IP isolation. Recipes, customer specs and tolerance models never cross a customer boundary. On-prem deployment available.
Assurance posture
| Item | Scope | Status |
|---|---|---|
| SOC 2 Type I | Cloud control plane | QUEUED Roadmap, first 6 months |
| SOC 2 Type II | Cloud control plane | QUEUED Roadmap, 6 to 12 months |
| HACCP · FSMA · BRCGS · ISO 22000 · allergen | Grounding and record-keeping | RUNNING Design basis for retrieval and the audit log |
| Per-tenant isolation | Data, memory, models | RUNNING Design rule |
| On-prem deployment | Recipe-sensitive bakeries | RUNNING Design option |
Doughex supports your food-safety records. It is not a certification and it does not replace your HACCP plan.
Autonomy
Five levels, set per loop
A bakery does not go from manual to bounded control in one step. Doughex makes the level explicit per loop, auditable and reversible at any time, and some decisions never leave the person.
| Level | What the agent does | What the person does | When |
|---|---|---|---|
| Observe | Predicts rise, weight, colour, moisture and defects; writes nothing | Runs the bakery as today; compares predictions to QA checks | First phase with every design partner |
| Recommend | Proposes mix, proof, deposit and oven moves with the evidence behind each | A process engineer or baker approves or corrects each one | After accuracy is proven against the baseline |
| Approve to apply | Prepares the write; applies it only on a named person's approval | Approves per move; reviews the shift record | Once recommendations are trusted |
| Bounded | Writes low-risk oven, depositing and inspection setpoints inside explicit limits | Approves anything above the limits; reviews exceptions | After the food-safety and ROI gates agreed up front |
| Exceptions | Escalates anything outside its envelope, CCP-adjacent moves and release decisions | Always decides these; the agent never does | Permanent |
Assurance
Certification status
Stated plainly. Items on the roadmap are roadmap items.
| Item | Scope | Status |
|---|---|---|
| SOC 2 Type I | Cloud control plane | QUEUED Roadmap, first 6 months |
| SOC 2 Type II | Cloud control plane | QUEUED Roadmap, 6 to 12 months |
| Food-safety and sustainability assurance packages | Design partners | QUEUED Roadmap, 6 to 12 months |
| HACCP, FSMA, BRCGS, ISO 22000, allergen | Grounding and records | RUNNING Design basis; not a certification of Doughex |
| IP-safe deployment | Recipes, customer specs | RUNNING Design rule; on-prem option |
OT safety
Failing safe is a design requirement
- Supervisory, not primary. Doughex sits above existing PLC and SCADA control; it never replaces an interlock or a safety system.
- Critical control points are read-only. The bake kill step, metal detection and X-ray rejects and allergen changeover are verified and logged, never written.
- Release is human. The conformance agent assembles the genealogy and checks it against spec; a person releases the lot.
- Loss of Doughex is loss of advice. The line degrades to the way it runs today, not to a stop.
What leaves the plant, and when
| Data | Where it stays |
|---|---|
| Recipes, specs, tolerance models | Tenant-scoped; on-prem option |
| Customer and private-label specs | Tenant-scoped |
| Audit log and genealogy | The plant's own storage, exportable |
| Safe abstractions of rare defects | Transfer across similar lines, privacy-preserving (planned) |
Multi-agent handoff
Agents negotiate, they do not collide
Two agents will want the same actuator. The orchestrator arbitrates on the run goal, with food safety above everything, and the handoff is logged like any other step.
Contested move: oven band speed
-
01yield_takt.request(band +4%) SUCCEEDED0.2 s
Yield-and-Takt wants a faster band through the oven so the line clears the proofer backlog and the packing hall is not left waiting.
-
02bake_cool.request(band hold) SUCCEEDED0.2 s
Bake-and-Cool requires the band speed that keeps core temperature above the kill-step threshold for the full dwell. That is the HACCP critical control point.
-
03orchestrator.arbitrate SUCCEEDED0.4 s
Food safety outranks takt under every run goal. The critical control point wins the actuator; the request for more speed is logged with its score and the reason it lost.
-
04yield_takt.handoff(resequenced) SUCCEEDED90 s
Yield-and-Takt recovers the schedule by trimming proofer dwell on the next batch within its window and resequencing the changeover. Takt is met without touching the kill step.
Arbitration rules
- Run goal first. Every request is scored against the declared goal, not against the requesting agent's local objective.
- Food safety outranks everything. A critical control point is never an optimisation variable. A kill-step or foreign-body escape is a recall; a takt miss is a schedule.
- Time-boxed ownership. An agent holds a contested actuator for a bounded window, then must re-justify.
- Everything is logged. The losing request, the score and the reason all appear in the run record.
- Deadlocks escalate to a person rather than resolving by timeout.
Enterprise
Standardise autonomy across the group
One policy model, one audit trail and one set of yield, waste, giveaway and energy benchmarks across every bakery in the group, with each site's recipes and tolerance models kept private to that site.
- Multi-site plant-edge fleet with shared model governance
- Custom recipe, product and tolerance models per site
- SSO and role-based access, named approvers (roadmap, 6 to 12 months)
- Model versioning, validation reports and rollback
- On-prem or private-cloud deployment
- SLAs and outcome-based components on the highest-value workflows
FAQ
Straight answers
The questions plant directors, process engineers and quality managers ask in the first meeting.
Only at the autonomy level your plant has set, and only to an explicit allow-list of low-risk loops inside explicit limits. Every design partner starts in observe mode, where Doughex predicts and writes nothing. Recommend mode follows, where a process engineer approves each move. Bounded autonomy on oven, depositing and inspection loops comes after the food-safety and ROI gates agreed up front.
Critical control points are not optimisation variables. The bake kill step, metal detection and X-ray reject interlocks, allergen changeover and release decisions stay with your HACCP plan and your people. Doughex verifies readings, writes them to an immutable audit log and attaches them to the lot genealogy. It supports HACCP, FSMA, BRCGS, ISO 22000 and allergen records; it is not a certification and does not replace your plan.
Doughex sits above your existing automation as a supervisory layer. If it stops, the line keeps running on its current PLC and SCADA control and the interlocks it already has. A Doughex outage degrades the bakery to the way it runs today, not to a stop.
The first phase is observe mode on one line: Doughex reads your sensors, PLC history, QA checks and MES while you run the line as usual, and we measure its predictions against your own checkweigher, colour and moisture checks. Recommendations start when accuracy is proven against that baseline, and improve as plant-specific history and engineer corrections accumulate.
Recipes, product specs, tolerance models and customer specs are tenant-scoped and never used to train another customer's models. Retrieval is multi-tenant isolated and permission-aware. On-prem deployment is available for bakeries protecting sensitive recipes or private-label specs.
You are, the same as with any control strategy. That is why every write is policy-checked, bounded, logged and reversible, every output carries a citation to the recipe or procedure it relied on, and anything above your threshold waits for a named approver. The audit log records the request, the reasoning, the limits applied and the human decision.
As a design partner, on one line, with one hard metric: giveaway in grams per unit, energy per unit through the oven, downgrade and waste from under- or over-bake, or foreign-body and defect escapes. We instrument the line in observe mode, measure the baseline, move to recommend mode when accuracy is proven, and expand only when the number holds.
Full multi-module autonomy across the whole bakery, long-tail integrations beyond the design partners' stacks, and self-serve onboarding. The first release is one wedge workflow, its connectors, the agent loop with human checkpoints, the review console and the food-safety audit log.
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The design posture, the data flows and the roadmap dates, written for a quality manager and an IT/OT lead.