Last month, the final event of the AI Transfer Plus programme funded by the Bavarian State Ministry of Digital Affairs took place in Munich, at which the focus was on the exchange between science, politics and industry about innovative artificial intelligence (AI) solutions.
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Wenzel Group GmbH & Co KG — one of the world’s leading solution providers of industrial measurement technology with more than 12,000 installed machines, 500 employees in more than 50 countries, and a UK subsidiary in Coalville — Klara Wenzel (pictured right on the Wenzel stand at the event) and Sebastian Lutz (the company’s head of ‘CT Technology’), presented the results of the company’s AI developments.
As part of the programme, Wenzel has developed ‘an intelligent chatbot’ that is to be used for ‘internal and external knowledge management’. Mr Lutz said: “The aim is to both optimise internal work processes and to improve communication with customers, thereby relieving support and sales teams and increasing customer service efficiency. The project demonstrates how medium-size companies can benefit from AI through sustainable process optimisation and innovative solutions.”
Explaining the particular challenges of implementing the project, Mr Lutz concluded: “Pre-processing the data in particular was a challenge when implementing our chatbot platform, as the quality of the answers depends largely on this. We have now reached a very satisfactory level and want to make the application available to users as a next step.”
On the Wenzel stand, the company’s AI solution was presented using a poster that summarised the most important use cases and learnings of the project. The stand was visited by Dr Fabian Mehring, the Bavarian Minister of Digital Affairs, who sought an exchange with the participating companies.
The AI Transfer Plus program is a funding programme in Germany that ‘holistically accompanies companies into the AI era’. It is funded by the Bavarian State Ministry of Digital Affairs and by AppliedAI Initiative GmbH. Participating companies receive support from regional AI centres located at universities across Bavaria.
Mr Lutz concluded: “The findings show that the preprocessing and qualitative preparation of data are decisive for the success of AI projects. Through iterative development, the chatbot could be specifically adapted to the needs of the company and users. This not only creates a solid basis for further AI initiatives but also sensitises the workforce to the potential of the technology.”