Artificial Intelligence is a clear priority for DataProphet, a South African firm that uses AI to enable manufacturers to step towards autonomous manufacturing.
DataProphet announced on Wednesday it has entered an industry-exclusive partnership with Norican, a metallic parts enhancement company, to bring meaningful AI applications into real-life foundry environments.
The partnership follows a number of joint innovation projects carried out over the past 12 months with Norican brand DISA, a supplier of green sand foundry technology.
The results of these projects are already maturing into products and the first commercial AI application developed under the collaboration is scheduled to go live in a customer production in a few months.
“We know foundries and how they work, DataProphet really knows AI. Together, we can bring practical AI applications into foundries faster – applications that will have a tangible impact for our customers now, not in a distant future,” Anders Wilhjelm, CEO of Norican Group, says.
“In DataProphet, we have found a partner who shares our pragmatic attitude and our passion for helping foundries work ever more productively and resource-efficiently. We have started with DISA applications, but we will fast forward to the full brand portfolio and beyond soon.”
The new AI applications developed as part of the partnership are equipment-agnostic, meaning they will be available not only on solutions from the other Norican brands (Italpresse Gauss for die casting, StrikoWestofen for high-end furnace technology and Wheelabrator for surface preparation), but will also work with non-Norican equipment.
“We first came across DISA when we worked on a project with a forward-looking foundry in South Africa, where we helped reduce defects by 40% over 24 months and achieved 0% defects for up to three months. Working closely with an equipment manufacturer of DISA’s deep expertise allows us to make a genuine difference to operations,” Frans Cronje, CEO and co-founder of DataProphet, adds.
“The team at DISA understand where foundries are on their data journey – where to look for the largest gains, which data to collect and use, which problems to tackle first. Too often AI is a solution without a problem; together, we can make it a powerful tool that solves real operational issues.”
