Tom Salembien | AI & ML Solutions Architect

Case Studies

where research meets production

Three years of applied AI/ML engineering across luxury manufacturing, supply chain optimization, and medical imaging.

Richemont

Aesthetical Quality Control

AI/ML Engineer & Computer Vision Scientist · Apr 2023 – Present · Neuchâtel, Switzerland

Automating aesthetical and dimensional quality inspection for luxury manufacturing. The challenge: industrial-grade accuracy meeting luxury-grade standards, where every fraction of a pixel matters and false positives are as costly as missed defects.

Subpixel Image Alignment

High-precision image registration for multi-gigapixel imagery, achieving subpixel accuracy on production captures.

OpenCVNumPyCUDANative extensionsMemory optimization

Sub-pixel accuracy on production imagery

Multi-gigapixel processing on standard hardware

View details

Developed and benchmarked advanced image alignment algorithms to register high-resolution captures of watch components with subpixel precision.

Techniques

Subpixel registrationHomography estimationPhase correlationFeature-based alignment

Feature Engineering & Dimensionality Reduction

Advanced feature extraction and manifold visualization for high-dimensional quality metrics, enabling interpretable decision boundaries and robust feature selection pipelines.

scikit-learnNumPyPythonManifold visualization

Interpretable quality feature spaces

Robust feature selection pipeline

View details

Researched and implemented specialized dimensionality reduction techniques to transform high-dimensional image data into discriminative, compact feature representations. Explored manifold learning approaches tailored to the specific structure of surface inspection data, enabling more effective downstream anomaly detection.

Techniques

Unsupervised methodsManifold learningManifold visualizationCustom feature extraction

ML & Deep Learning Anomaly Detection

Production-grade anomaly detection combining statistical methods with deep learning architectures for automated aesthetical quality assessment at scale.

PyTorchscikit-learnStatistical anomaly detectorsDeep learning architectures

Production-grade detection accuracy

Automated quality classification

View details

Built a comprehensive anomaly detection pipeline that combines classical machine learning approaches with deep learning architectures for identifying aesthetical defects. Each model family brings complementary strengths statistical robustness from classical methods and pattern sensitivity from deep networks enabling high recall with controlled false-positive rates.

Techniques

Statistical anomaly detectorsAutoencodersDeep learning architecturesEnsemble methods

Depth Estimation & 3D Reconstruction

3D depth estimation with normal, texture, and shape reconstruction for surface inspection beyond 2D appearance.

PyTorchOpenCVNeural surface modelingDepth estimation methods

Surface geometry beyond 2D appearance

Classical and neural methods combined

View details

Explored 3D depth estimation and surface-reconstruction methods to recover physical geometry from image captures covering depth, normal, texture, and shape reconstruction through both classical and neural approaches. The goal: enable inspection that accounts for surface geometry curvature, micro-relief, and local deviations rather than 2D appearance alone.

Techniques

3D depth estimationNormal reconstructionTexture reconstructionShape reconstructionClassical and neural methods

Software Architecture & Packaging

Modular pipeline architecture with vector similarity search, optimized memory management, and real-time processing throughput on standard industrial hardware.

FastAPIDockerPythonRelational databasesVector search librariesCUDA

Modular, configuration-driven architecture

Real-time processing throughput

View details

Designed the overall software architecture for the quality control system from image acquisition through processing stages to result storage and visualization. Built robust data pipelines that orchestrate multi-stage workflows, handle error recovery, and maintain data lineage across the full inspection chain. The architecture supports modular algorithm swapping and configuration-driven pipeline composition.

Techniques

Pipeline orchestrationConfiguration-driven designError recoveryData lineage trackingModular architecture

MLOps & Deployment

Containerized production deployment with CI/CD pipelines, monitoring, and web-based dashboards for operator and stakeholder reporting.

DockerCI/CD pipelinesWeb-based dashboardsMonitoring

Deployed in production

Iterative, versioned release cycles

Selected Projects

Selected Engagements

Kering (Capstone Project)· 2023

Supply Chain Replenishment Optimization

Project Lead & Developer

PythonReinforcement LearningStatistical ModelingSimulationPandasNumPyPythonReinforcement LearningStatistical ModelingSimulationPandasNumPy

Challenge

Kering's luxury retail warehouses faced a classic inventory dilemma: minimize average stock levels to reduce carrying costs while keeping missing sales below acceptable thresholds. Static replenishment rules could not adapt to seasonal demand shifts and promotional events, leading to either excess inventory or costly stockouts.

Approach

Explored and developed a dynamic replenishment algorithm with statistical demand modeling and reinforcement learning.

Reduced average stock levelsControlled missing sales rateValidated via simulation backtesting

Bracco Suisse SA· Jun – Aug 2022

Liver Lesion Classification from Contrast-Enhanced Ultrasound

Data Scientist Intern

PyTorchMedical ImagingCEUS ProcessingPythonDeep LearningPyTorchMedical ImagingCEUS ProcessingPythonDeep Learning

Challenge

Bracco Suisse needed to improve diagnostic confidence in contrast-enhanced ultrasound examinations by automatically classifying liver lesion types from noisy, low-contrast CEUS images where temporal contrast dynamics and image artifacts make standard classification approaches unreliable.

Approach

Designed custom neural network architectures for CEUS image processing, implementing domain-specific augmentation strategies that account for ultrasound artifacts, contrast agent dynamics, and temporal perfusion patterns. Built a preprocessing pipeline tailored to the unique characteristics of contrast-enhanced ultrasound data.

Multi-class lesion classificationCEUS-specific preprocessing pipelineDomain-adapted augmentation strategies

from industry to academia

Specialized Research

Research Initiatives

01Academic Research

2022

Protein Functional Classification

Bioinformatics challenge classifying proteins into 18 functional categories using both amino acid sequences and 3D structural graph data.

PyTorchGNNCNNLSTMscikit-learn

02Academic Research

2022

Embryo Survival Prediction from Time-Lapse Video

Predicting developmental state of bovine embryos at 192 hours post-fertilization using time-lapse video analysis with temporal deep learning.

PyTorchCNNLSTMResNetTransfer Learning

03Academic Research

2022

Real-Time Stock Market Prediction

Real-time stock market prediction system leveraging big data infrastructure and online learning methods across global companies (Google, Apple, BNP Paribas, Alibaba, Novartis).

KafkaHadoopSparkCassandraRiver

04Academic Research

2022

Parkinson's Detection via Gait Analysis

Machine learning investigation detecting early-stage Parkinson's disease through gait analysis data, with strong emphasis on model interpretability for clinical trust.

XGBoostRandom ForestVAESHAPExplainable AI

01Academic Research

2022

Protein Functional Classification

Bioinformatics challenge classifying proteins into 18 functional categories using both amino acid sequences and 3D structural graph data.

PyTorchGNNCNNLSTMscikit-learn

02Academic Research

2022

Embryo Survival Prediction from Time-Lapse Video

Predicting developmental state of bovine embryos at 192 hours post-fertilization using time-lapse video analysis with temporal deep learning.

PyTorchCNNLSTMResNetTransfer Learning

03Academic Research

2022

Real-Time Stock Market Prediction

Real-time stock market prediction system leveraging big data infrastructure and online learning methods across global companies (Google, Apple, BNP Paribas, Alibaba, Novartis).

KafkaHadoopSparkCassandraRiver

04Academic Research

2022

Parkinson's Detection via Gait Analysis

Machine learning investigation detecting early-stage Parkinson's disease through gait analysis data, with strong emphasis on model interpretability for clinical trust.

XGBoostRandom ForestVAESHAPExplainable AI

Let's Talk

Let's discuss your next project

Every engagement starts with a conversation. Tell me about your challenge.

DISCUSS YOUR PROJECT Explore Services