From 14 to 17 October, Zetamotion exhibited at Vietnam VTG VFM 2026 at SECC in Ho Chi Minh City. It brought together our Hong Kong commercial office and our engineering and AI team in Vietnam for a week of content capture, cross-team bonding and exhibiting.
Setting up in Ho Chi Minh City
The team from the Hong Kong commercial office (Mike Kurzewski, Xandra Khan and Otis Walker) landed in Ho Chi Minh City on Sunday night, ready for a busy week.
Monday and Tuesday went on preparation for the event: testing, content capture, and a valuable chance for the commercial team to spend time in person with our brilliant engineering and AI team in Ho Chi Minh. The engineers took the commercial team through the Shoe Box inside and out, which came in handy once the questions started on Wednesday.
Zetamotion works as a broad automated inspection company across manufacturing. For VFM, we had a sharper focus: the fast-growing footwear manufacturing industry in Vietnam. Vietnam is one of the world’s most important shoe-producing countries, and quality control on the production line is still mostly done by hand. It’s an industry built for what we do.
Meet the Shoe Box
Our centrepiece for the week was the Spectron Shoe Inspection Station 01 (SSIS01), fondly nicknamed the “Shoe Box”.
We knew the event would be packed with exhibitors and guests from every point in the shoe production line, from materials to logistics and everything in between. We went into Wednesday morning confident that, within this busy ecosystem, the Shoe Box could serve as the focal point of automated quality control.
The Shoe Box delivered. Its sleek metal design, fitted with bright lighting and five cameras and linked to Spectron, our machine vision AI, turned heads from the opening hour. Visitors could place a shoe inside and watch Spectron inspect it in real time, which made the technology easy to understand without a slide deck or a sales pitch.
The Shoe Box on our stand is a demonstration of the principle. On a factory floor, the same technology can sit over a conveyor, run as several stations side by side, or be built with an open base so the sole can be inspected too. Every installation is designed around the line it serves.
The answer was yes
Each passing visitor brought something with them: an inquisitive look, an idea of how their business might work with ours, or a handful of technical questions for our engineers to dig into. The stand had a real buzz, with several teams crowding around the Shoe Box at any given time to test it for themselves.
The questions came thick and fast, and the same few came up again and again. Here is what visitors asked most, and what we told them:
- Can you scan the bottom of the shoe? Yes. Cameras can be positioned to inspect the sole as well as the upper.
- Can you sort shoes after inspection? Yes. Passed and failed pairs can be routed automatically to packing, repair or re-inspection.
- Can you compare the left and right shoe? Yes. Spectron can check both shoes in a pair against each other so mismatches are caught.
- Can you inspect both shoes at once? Yes. A station can be set up to inspect a full pair in one pass.
That answer says a lot about how Zetamotion works. We build bespoke solutions around each manufacturer’s needs, so the system fits their line, their products and their processes. A brand checking finished uppers, a supplier inspecting materials and a factory looking at final assembly all face different defects and different constraints. Spectron is designed to adapt to each of them.
Over four days, the conversations at our stand covered nearly every stage of footwear production. That breadth is exactly why we came. It confirmed that automated visual inspection has a place throughout the supply chain, from raw materials to the finished shoe.
Read more on our footwear inspection solutions here.
What comes next
VFM 2026 was a strong start for Zetamotion in Vietnam’s footwear sector. Our teams in Hong Kong and Vietnam work together every day across both offices, and a week on the same stand was a welcome chance to work shoulder to shoulder and share the buzz in person.
Interest in the Shoe Box carried well beyond the four days. Follow-up is underway with visitors who asked for a technical discussion, a site visit or a pilot on their own production lines, and our engineers are already scoping the integration questions raised on the stand.
The pace stays high. The coming weeks bring further demonstrations, a run of follow-up calls with manufacturers, and new footage from the Ho Chi Minh team for our channels. Expect more on what we learned from the manufacturers we met and on how Spectron is being tailored for the footwear sector.
Frequently asked questions
Is the Shoe Box how inspection would work in my factory?
The Shoe Box is a demonstration of the principle. In a factory, the same technology can sit over a conveyor, run as several stations side by side, or be built with an open base for sole inspection. Every installation is designed around the line it serves.
Will it fit into my existing production line?
Yes. Our inspection stations are modular and sit directly on existing lines, so you can add automated inspection one station at a time without reworking the rest of the line.
Can it scale across a whole factory?
Yes. A setup can start with a single station and grow to dozens across multiple lines, in whatever configuration your production needs.
What happens after a shoe is inspected?
Every inspection is recorded in Spectron, so quality teams can review results and track defects over time. Shoes can also be sorted automatically for packing, repair or re-inspection.
Does Zetamotion only work with footwear?
Zetamotion builds AI visual inspection systems across manufacturing. Footwear is a major focus for us, especially in Vietnam.
Is there local support in Vietnam?
Yes. Our engineering and AI team is based in Ho Chi Minh City and supports customers in Vietnamese.
How do we get started?
Start with an introductory call. From there, we can test Spectron on samples of your shoes, including in-lab sessions at our Ho Chi Minh City office, before visiting your factory and moving to a pilot on your own line.
If you caught our stand and want to learn more, or want to see how we could help you, contact us here.
