AWS is Powering Automation in Steelmaking with ArcelorMittal

ArcelorMittal announced a strategic collaboration with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to accelerate industrial automation across its operations through advanced cloud, AI and edge technologies.

The collaboration brings AWS cloud and AI capabilities directly to ArcelorMittal’s manufacturing processes.

According to Deloitte, 44% of energy, resources and industrial (ER&I) organisations classify AI as “highly important” to the manufacturing function in the next five years.

The collaboration between AWS and ArcelorMittal

ArcelorMittal will converge some of its operational technology and IT on AWS infrastructure, extending cloud and AI to the edge of its production environments.

Tanuja Randery, Managing Director and Vice President, EMEA, AWS, says: “ArcelorMittal is rethinking how steelmaking works, from predictive maintenance on furnaces and other industrial installations, to AI-driven energy optimisation. 

“By bringing AI to the point of production, they are creating new ways of running safer, more efficient operations across steelmaking sites in 14 countries. We are delighted to work with customers who think at this level and AWS is proud to support ArcelorMittal’s ambition with cloud, edge and AI technology built for industrial scale.”

AI on the plant floor and digital twins

A report from Deloitte notes that unlike many other industries where digital data plays a central role, ER&I still revolves around physical work and physical assets, with many of those assets geographically scattered and disconnected from digital networks.

The report notes that widespread deployment of Internet of Things (IoT) related technologies is starting to fill this data void. 

ArcelorMittal says that by using AWS services across industrial IoT, real-time sensor data and machine learning, the company will deploy AI at the point of production, enabling predictive maintenance, computer-vision quality control, process optimisation and digital twins of its physical assets and production lines.

Nik Puri, Group CIO & CISO at ArcelorMittal, says: “The next frontier of digital transformation for steel is on the plant floor. With AWS, we are bringing cloud and AI directly to the point of production, connecting our assets and building plants that sense, learn and optimise in real time. 

“By converging our operational and information technology on a single secure platform, we are moving to digitally enabled operations: safer for our people, more reliable in output, and more sustainable by design. This is how we industrialise AI at scale across the steelmaking value chain.

Amazon's training program

As deployments of AI are increasingly rolled out across production lines and in planning operations, training a workforce of staff and equipping them with the skills needed to utilise new technologies is often seen as a top barrier to deploying AI. 

Deloitte positions lack of internal AI expertise as a top obstacle to deploying AI. It says that developing a pool of resources with expertise in AI, data science and data engineering to serve as a focal point for all AI-related activities and investments is a necessity.

The collaboration between AWS and ArcelorMittal seeks to address this. Further to advancing digital and AI adoption at scale, AWS will design and deliver a comprehensive education programme for ArcelorMittal’s global workforce.

Low carbon steel

In addition to the cloud and AI collaboration, Amazon has entered into a multi-year Supply Framework Agreement with ArcelorMittal for the supply of structural steel across Europe and the UK. 

ArcelorMittal will supply its lower-carbon XCarb steel for use in Amazon operations facilities and AWS data centres, supporting Amazon’s goal to reach net-zero carbon by 2040. 

ArcelorMittal says the agreement reflects both companies shared ambition to advance the decarbonisation of construction at scale.