Cement-maker Hauri in southern Germany was recently on the brink
of bankruptcy due to high energy costs.
But then came the AI.
The plant is now controlled automatically.
The software calculates exactly how the plant should be operated to
work effectively and efficiently, using the least
possible energy expenditure.
The AI replaced several highly paid skilled workers...
though no one was laid off.
"Because the plant runs much smoother and better and tracks all
process parameters, I can free up people to do other tasks that are
much more difficult to automate or cannot be automated at all.
And that makes the AI worthwhile."
Not all medium-sized companies can
afford to put up the money to invest in AI.
Another hurdle: the lack of specialists to implement the tech.
A fear of the technical complexity can also hold companies back.
"Very often it's not about technology, it's about the culture,
it's about having the access to data, sharing data that's yet again
the very human side of things and you have to take the people along."
However, German companies are still lagging behind.
An expert commission from the Centre for European Economic
Research ZEW has found that Germany and the EU urgently need to catch
up in the development and use of artificial intelligence.
Small and medium-sized enterprises have an especially large backlog.
According to a recent survey by the German Ifo Institute, only 13%
of German companies use AI, just under 10% plan to do so, and well
over a third of the surveyed companies are discussing possible applications.
"We are in production, technology, mobility, and medical and
these domains will use AI,
but they will need an improved version of AI
that would be able to provide certain guarantees, which is a
major topic in research."
It's clear that AI is a key technology
that will decisively shape economics and business worldwide in the coming years...
a reality that German companies need to quickly get to grips with,
or risk being left behind.