Thyssenkrupp Materials Services has unveiled its latest Microsoft-supported AI solution, 'alfred', which has been integrated into the processes of the materials distribution and service provider.

Developed in-house, Alfred supports colleagues at Materials Services by dynamically managing the global logistics network with 271 warehouse sites and more than 150,000 products and services. As with his namesake – Alfred Krupp – alfred will help to optimise transport routes and thus save the transport of thousands of tons of material per year. In addition, materials will be available more quickly at the right locations in the future.
 
Klaus Keysberg, CEO of thyssenkrupp Materials Services, said: "With alfred, we are taking an important step towards making our processes even more efficient and optimising our value chain. At the same time, he gives us better insight into our customers' needs so that we can align our offerings accordingly. In the medium term, this holistic approach will also open up new business opportunities for us".
 
Using Big Data systematically
With AI, the approximately 14 million order items received annually by Materials Services can be processed and analysed much more efficiently. For the first time, the materials experts are also bringing company data together on a single platform. Using self-learning algorithms based on Microsoft Azure Machine Learning, alfred analyses all relevant information, generates important findings and supports employees with appropriate recommendations.

"The intention is very clear: With alfred we are improving our own processes so that we can serve our customers all over the world more efficiently," said Axel Berger, head of Digital Transformation Office at Materials Services.

In the company's own Digital Transformation Office in Essen, all strands of digitalisation flow together. Here, integrated teams of IT experts, engineers and business coordinators work under the direction of Axel Berger on various digitalisation projects that arise directly from the core business of Materials Services – including alfred. The materials experts were supported by Microsoft and its global cloud platform Azure. "Joining forces with Microsoft allows us to use advanced technologies for our in-house developments. This enables us to ensure that the projects are very closely linked to our core business on the one hand, and that they are technologically state-of-the-art on the other," said Berger. - TradeArabia News Service