Watch Taking a Sledgehammer to Bottlenecks 🎥 as Ruth & Steph show how AI actually fixes margins.

Artificial Intelligence

AI for Metals Manufacturing

AI isn’t one thing. It’s a shorthand for a dozen different technologies: machine learning, computer vision, natural language processing, and optimisation algorithms. Each solves a different class of problem.

For metals manufacturers, the most valuable applications are narrow and practical. AI that reads mill certificates in seconds and extracts every heat number, grade, and mechanical property without anyone typing a thing. AI that calculates optimal cut sequences for bar, rebar, and structural sections, cutting scrap by up to 50%. AI that monitors stock levels in real time and flags reorder points before you run short.

None of this requires a data science team or a rip-and-replace ERP project. The best metals AI sits on top of what you already have: your spreadsheets, your email inbox, your existing ERP. It adds intelligence where it counts. You pilot on one product family. You go live in a day. You scale when it works.

Posts here cover practical implementations for metals manufacturers: certificate automation, cutting optimisation, inventory intelligence, and what to expect when you bring AI into a shop that’s been running on Excel and tribal knowledge.

Start with the problem you want to solve. Let the maths do the rest.

Advancing Digitalisation in the Midlands

CEO Ruth Kearney to speak at Advanced Technologies Industries & Manufacturing Cluster.

Toolkits for Smart Manufacturing

CEO Ruth Kearney presents ‘Toolkits for Smart Manufacturing’ to the industry cohort taking the ‘Certificate in Leadership in Digitalisation of Manufacturing’.

Cardiff AI Company appoints new CEO as it expands operations

Artificial Intelligence (AI) company Nightingale HQ appoints Ruth Kearney as its new CEO.

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.

Steph Locke elected to EU Steering Committee for AI

Accelerating the voice of SMEs across Europe and driving more inclusive AI policy.

Microsoft podcast - A bit of AI

Steph Locke talks A bit of AI with Microsoft cloud advocates Henk & Amy.

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.

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.

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.

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.