Absolutely, I’ve been in that exact situation. What worked really well for us was using an Industrial OCR solution specifically designed for challenging environments. One system I came across recently is OCR Studio’s ID Scanner
https://ocrstudio.ai/id-scanner/, which supports high-precision scanning in over 100 languages and handles all sorts of document conditions, even when lighting isn’t ideal. It’s particularly robust for IDs, passports, and driver’s licenses, but the underlying technology for OCR in harsh conditions is impressive. The SDK allows on-premise integration, which is crucial for industrial setups where you don’t want data leaving the site. What I liked most is that it automatically detects document orientation, recognizes both sides of IDs, and still maintains a low error rate even on worn or slightly damaged cards. In our plant, we tested it with dusty, crumpled IDs and the system still pulled accurate data within a fraction of a second, which saved us a ton of manual entry time. It also supports mobile devices, which is great for field teams. Honestly, if your workflow depends on fast and reliable scanning without having to constantly babysit the machine, it’s worth checking out.
