Most events about AI in quality management share the same flaw: someone stands up front with slides, and the people in the back leave with questions they never got to ask. The AI & Q Stammtisch run by the TQU GROUP turns that around. The series has been going for a while now, with changing hosts from industry — and I take part as a speaker for KIundQ. The next round is hosted by TRUMPF in Ditzingen.

Next session: Thursday, 3 September 2026, from 6:30 p.m. — on site at TRUMPF SE + Co. KG in Ditzingen, Germany. Attendance is free; registration runs through the TQU GROUP.

Why a Stammtisch and not a seminar

A Stammtisch — a regular, informal get-together around one table — only works if everyone contributes. That's exactly what AI in quality management needs right now: the most useful insight of the evening rarely comes from the talk, it comes from someone saying "we tried that once, and here's how it went wrong." Sentences like that are rare in a seminar room where people are being tested for a certificate. In a small evening group, they come up constantly.

TQU GROUP describe the format themselves as "neither a classic seminar nor a pure lecture event" — and that is exactly how it feels: a short expert impulse as a starting point, then an open exchange among quality professionals from different industries. No sales appointment, no tool demo with a signature at the end.

What it's actually about

The questions that come up in these rounds look remarkably similar across industries:

  • Where do you sensibly start? Not "AI across the company," but the one process that already hurts today — recurring complaints, inspection reports, 8D reports, FMEA preparation.
  • What happens to our data? What can go into a cloud model, what belongs on a local machine, and how to justify that internally in a way that holds up.
  • How do people stay in charge of the decision? AI provides structure and a proposal; the judgement stays with the quality team. That isn't just a matter of principle — it's also the practical answer to many EU AI Act requirements.
  • What has genuinely worked — and what hasn't? The most honest, and usually most valuable, part of the evening.

My contribution as a speaker is the practical part: what AI can already handle well in real quality processes, where the limits are, and where projects in manufacturing typically fail. Not as a vision of the future, but through cases participants recognise in their own plant the next morning.

What's on the agenda on 3 September

The evening opens with a keynote from TRUMPF's AI Lab on their own AI journey — a manufacturer's honest account of the road they took, not the glossy version. Short impulse talks and moderated rounds follow, shaped by TQU GROUP, MachX and Bergmaier Innovations. The substance: a realistic assessment of what can actually be automated in quality management, what AI does to audits, management systems and complaint processes — and, in a use case sprint, turning ideas into one concrete next step. The participants themselves decide which topics come up.

Who it's worth attending for

The series is aimed at quality management leaders and decision-makers responsible for processes, audits, AI adoption or regulatory requirements. Deep AI knowledge isn't required — just a willingness to share your own situation openly. People who arrive with one concrete question usually leave with several usable answers.

Thanks to the hosts

An evening like this does not happen automatically. Thanks to the TQU GROUP, who have run this series for a long time and given it its structure — and to TRUMPF, who are hosting the September session at their site in Ditzingen and opening it up for an open exchange about AI. That openness is exactly what turns an event into a conversation everyone takes something away from.

Come and join us

Thursday, 3 September 2026, from 6:30 p.m., at TRUMPF SE + Co. KG in Ditzingen — free of charge. The groups are kept deliberately small so the exchange actually works, so early registration is recommended:

→ Register for TQU GROUP's AI & Q Stammtisch

If you're coming: bring your concrete case. That's what makes the evening valuable.

To see what one of those practical cases looks like as a finished tool: 8D Checker.