New collaboration must make production in Dutch manufacturing industry smarter

KickstartAI, GOMA, EZK, FME and Koninklijke Metaalunie start pilot for smarter production

DELFT / HENGELO (GLD) - KickstartAI, GOMA, the Ministry of Economic Affairs, FME and Koninklijke Metaalunie have started a collaboration to organize production in the Dutch manufacturing industry more intelligently. After several round table discussions and interviews with companies and members of FME and Koninklijke Metaalunie, this has been developed into a concrete pilot. The collaboration will start at GOMA in Hengelo (GLD) and focuses on the development of an AI solution that should lead to actual adoption in business operations, expected in the last quarter of this year.

The reason for the pilot is clear: more and more manufacturing companies are dealing with high energy costs, pressure on the electricity grid and persistent labor market shortages. At the same time, the need for smarter ways to plan and manage production processes is growing. Within this pilot, the parties involved are investigating how AI can contribute to better-informed choices in production planning, with the aim of significant savings on annual energy costs and greater predictability of production costs.

GOMA is a family business in metalworking, active since 1962, and within this pilot forms the practical environment in which the solution is developed and tested. At the moment, data is being collected, partly by being regularly present at GOMA to map out the production process and the data landscape. Based on this, work is also being done to sharpen the potential business case.

The pilot revolves around the question of how production can be organized smarter based on, among other things, energy use, energy costs and available capacity. In addition, it looks at how AI can help to support production processes in such a way that companies can better respond to fluctuations in energy prices and grid load, without making concessions to the practice of the work floor.

General Director GOMA Tom Kreunen: “For us, only one thing ultimately counts: Is it ultimately also really usable with actual impact on our business operations? Precisely for that reason, this pilot is relevant, not only for GOMA, but also for other companies that run into the same limits. If we get better insight into where and when we consume energy, we can also better assess how we can organize our planning smarter.”

“KickstartAI wants to set a broader movement of successful AI applications in motion,” says Erick Webbe, CEO of KickstartAI. “There is a lot of attention for AI, but ultimately it is about solutions that work in practice and have real impact on business operations. With GOMA, we want to show how you get from exploration and analysis to concrete application. If that succeeds, an approach arises that is also scalable for other companies and possibly even for entire sectors.”

About KickstartAI: 

KickstartAI's mission is to accelerate the adoption of AI in the Netherlands. To achieve this, the organization collaborates with businesses and society to develop practical AI solutions for their most pressing challenges. With a rapidly growing community of over 7,500 data scientists, software engineers, and AI experts, KickstartAI brings together the pioneers in the field of AI in the Netherlands to exchange ideas, best practices, and knowledge, thereby stimulating AI talent in the country. The organization was founded by Ahold Delhaize, ING, KLM, and NS with the aim of giving the AI ecosystem in the Netherlands a boost.

Contact person: Rutger Huizenga, rutger.huizenga@kickstart.ai, Ioanna Lykiardopoulou ioanna.lykiardopoulou@kickstart.ai