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About this Section

About this Section

The GoSmarter blog covers AI and digital transformation from a metals manufacturing perspective. Practical use cases, implementation guides, industry strategy, and plain-English takes on the tech that actually matters on the shop floor.

No fluff. No thought-leadership waffle dressed up as insight. Just practical articles written for people who run metal cutting, distribution, and processing operations.

Topics covered include mill certificate automation, rebar cutting optimisation, scrap rate reduction, EN 10204 compliance, inventory management for steel stockholders, and the practical realities of replacing spreadsheets with AI-powered workflows. The blog also covers industry news relevant to UK and European metals manufacturers — tariffs, standards changes, and technology developments that affect your margins.

Articles are written for production managers, quality managers, operations directors, and business owners in metals manufacturing. Each post focuses on a specific, solvable problem: how to reduce scrap on a saw line, how to stop losing mill certificates, how to automate the cert-to-stock link without an IT project.

For deeper, structured guides on specific topics, see the GoSmarter hub pages — pillar content covering cutting optimisation, mill cert automation, yield tracking, and more.

Change is hard but equipping your teams with the right tools makes it easier

As we see the back of 2021, another year of disruption and change, I reflect on organisational practices and share some thoughts on how to implement more effective change. Change is hard, so best to start with small doses of change.

Read More: Change is hard but equipping your teams with the right tools makes it easier

How AI can improve your logistics fast

Logistics businesses and logistics have a huge opportunity to unlock additional value in their business through the use of data and AI integration. Areas of improvement include streamlining operations, managing the supply chain, pricing dynamically, agile planning, and enhanced forecasting.

Read More: How AI can improve your logistics fast

Resilient supply chains: Microsoft technologies to assist with productivity and efficiency

Manufacturers can adapt to disruptions successfully, ensuring business continuity during distress, by building a resilient supply chain based on Microsoft tech. By modernising your supply chain you can optimise your workforce, build agile planning and distribution processes, enhance supply chain visibility, and maximise asset uptime and efficiency.

Read More: Resilient supply chains: Microsoft technologies to assist with productivity and efficiency

Industry 4.0 in a post-Covid world

Mckinsey’s report on manufacturing operations after Covid-19 takes an interesting look into the potential adoption pathways companies will take on the way to Industry 4.0 and some of the ways technology is changing the sector. It also identifies what ’lighthouses’, organisations successfully transforming at scale, are doing to make them succeed.

Read More: Industry 4.0 in a post-Covid world

6 board-level agenda items and how AI can help

Persistent COVID-19 uncertainty, disruptive technologies, and supply chain challenges are some of the big concerns facing manufacturing CEOs and corporate leaders right now. However, despite uncertainty, we are seeing some promising trends around automation and transforming processes from the back office to the factory floor. Here are the top six board-level agenda items and a look into how AI can help.

Read More: 6 board-level agenda items and how AI can help

Digitising your factory floor is hard

Digitising your factory floor is hard, that’s why we try to accelerate digital transformation in other operational areas. Focusing on helping workers, modernising core functions like Finance, and supporting your growth, gives you the opportunity to demonstrate value whilst gaining digital technology maturity. It’s hard to rapidly change, acquire expertise, and digitise the factory floor at the same time. By working in areas that are easier to change you can free up vital staff time to dedicate to the harder challenges.

Read More: Digitising your factory floor is hard

Upskilling for the green revolution

92% of manufacturers believe net zero will be achievable for their business by 2050. To make this reality, the government and industry need to put strategies in place that map out how they are going to unlock the skills needed for the green revolution. Make UK and Sage recently teamed up to release a report that investigates the subject and makes some recommendations for success.

Read More: Upskilling for the green revolution

The State of AI and learning from Transformers

Deloitte’s State of AI in the Enterprise report is an enlightening read. This edition focuses on becoming an ‘AI fueled’ organisation. The results come from a survey conducted on 2,875 executives from across the Americas, Europe and Asia. They separated companies into four groups based on their success with AI implementation and identified what was driving the success of the highest performers.

Read More: The State of AI and learning from Transformers

How you can turn an extra £100 per month IT spend into more than £4,000 of staff time savings monthly

Pressure to be more efficient has never been greater. The good news is there are so many helpful time-saving software as a service tools out there! We’ve made a list of some of the best.

Read More: How you can turn an extra £100 per month IT spend into more than £4,000 of staff time savings monthly

Procurement best practice – what manufacturers can learn

The National Audit Office (NAO) report on ‘Managing the Commercial Lifecycle’ is a great guide to improving your own procurement processes. Here we share some interesting findings and the key areas to make changes in.

Read More: Procurement best practice – what manufacturers can learn

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