A production line clearance system comprising a plurality of cameras (4, 11), means to mount the cameras at strategic location of a production line, and a digital data processor configured to process images from the cameras according to algorithms to generate an output indicative of line clearance status, wherein the processors are configured to: implement an inspection process for each of a stream of live input images acquired by a camera with use of a plurality of reference images, in which a pass output is provided for a live input image if it matches at least one of said reference images, and a fail output is provided if such a match is not found and a further process is performed to check with feature detection operations (413, 414) that the live input image is not mis-aligned and, after realigning the live input image, does not match a reference image, and wherein: the processor is configured to execute software in a microservices architecture, the microservices include authentication service microservices implementing user management and security of user sessions for a line clearance assistant interface, settings service microservices providing a common settings pool for all microservices, and audit service microservices for performing writes and reads to audit logs for full activity tracking on the system, the microservices include queue microservices providing a messaging system between microservices, and replicated database microservices for a highly available database replicated over several nodes, and the processor is adapted to be linked with manufacturing equipment to provide control signals for automated prevention of resumption of production when a line is not in an approved clear state, and to automate the release of a line for the start of the next batch. implement an inspection process for each of a stream of live input images acquired by a camera with use of a plurality of reference images, in which a pass output is provided for a live input image if it matches at least one of said reference images, and a fail output is provided if such a match is not found and a further process is performed to check with feature detection operations (413, 414) that the live input image is not mis-aligned and, after realigning the live input image, does not match a reference image, and wherein: the processor is configured to execute software in a microservices architecture, the microservices include authentication service microservices implementing user management and security of user sessions for a line clearance assistant interface, settings service microservices providing a common settings pool for all microservices, and audit service microservices for performing writes and reads to audit logs for full activity tracking on the system, the microservices include queue microservices providing a messaging system between microservices, and replicated database microservices for a highly available database replicated over several nodes, and the processor is adapted to be linked with manufacturing equipment to provide control signals for automated prevention of resumption of production when a line is not in an approved clear state, and to automate the release of a line for the start of the next batch. the processor is configured to execute software in a microservices architecture, the microservices include authentication service microservices implementing user management and security of user sessions for a line clearance assistant interface, settings service microservices providing a common settings pool for all microservices, and audit service microservices for performing writes and reads to audit logs for full activity tracking on the system, the microservices include queue microservices providing a messaging system between microservices, and replicated database microservices for a highly available database replicated over several nodes, and the processor is adapted to be linked with manufacturing equipment to provide control signals for automated prevention of resumption of production when a line is not in an approved clear state, and to automate the release of a line for the start of the next batch.