ABB embraces Azure OpenAI Service to help make industrial sector leaner and cleaner

ABB’s IoT and AI suite, ABB Ability™ Genix, gave customers insight into manufacturing and operations status. But extracting those insights required advanced skills.

ABB leveraged Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service to integrate generative AI into the Genix platform, powering Genix Copilot. This solution enables users to interact using natural language to obtain answers to critical questions in real time.

ABB customers using Genix Copilot can see up to 35% savings in operations and maintenance, and up to 20% improvement across energy and emission optimization. ABB sees about an 80% decrease in service calls with Genix Copilot self-service.

ABB, a global leader in electrification and automation, had developed an industrial IoT and AI suite. This platform, called ABB Ability™ Genix, helps customers analyze key functions in their industrial operations, such as asset and process performance, energy optimization, and emission monitoring, and provide real-time operational insights.

“For instance, the Genix continuous emission monitoring system can observe and analyze up to 110 different parameters across multiple devices. Based on this data, the system will deliver actionable insights on Genix cloud running on Microsoft Azure. Some statuses triggered might be critical alarms,” says David Lincoln, Digital Lead at Measurement and Analytics, ABB. But, he continues, “the skill sets that are needed to interpret that data and volume of data are quite often demanding, and so we felt we could fill that gap with generative AI technology.”

Transforming a global industry

With a vision to not just transform this platform for its customers, but to influence the manufacturing and production industry as a whole, ABB worked with Microsoft to bring generative AI to the table via Azure OpenAI Service. “We’re taking the intelligence of our systems and merging it with the intelligence within our customers’ environments, and correlating information that had not been correlated in the past,” says Gino Hernandez, Digital Lead at Energy Industries, ABB. “Then the customer can ask very specific questions, in natural language, and get very specific answers and specific help.” The generative AI–powered analytics suite is called Genix Copilot.

We made a strategic decision to collaborate with Microsoft to use generative AI to solve some of the most complex problems in the industrial landscape.

Rajesh Ramachandran, Global Chief Digital Officer for Process Automation, ABB

Collaborating for problem solving

“ABB is helping our customers to outrun, leaner and cleaner. We made a strategic decision to collaborate with Microsoft to use generative AI to solve some of the most complex problems in the industrial landscape,” explains Rajesh Ramachandran, Global Chief Digital Officer for Process Automation at ABB. “We want to enable billions of better decisions on the industrial side,” he adds. “We are in a new era of user interactions and user experience. A strong, seamless collaboration between the shop floor and the enterprise needs a different level of AI capabilities. At the right time, the generative AI came in.”

Achieving sustainability goals

A factory floor where AI isn’t just a tool but an integral part of the operation, guiding every decision and optimizing every process, creates a safer work environment. It promotes smarter operational practices and drives sustainability. One example of Genix Copilot helping to reduce carbon emissions is when a customer asks, “What’s the status of carbon emissions across all our plants?” Genix Copilot not only narrates the information but also warns that a plant will soon breach its carbon emissions cap. Then the solution recommends specific steps to avoid a breach.

By embedding Genix Copilot capabilities with ABB’s industrial digital solutions, customers can see up to 35% cost savings in operations and maintenance, boost production efficiency by 30%, and drive up to a 20% improvement on sustainability across energy and emission optimization. 

Microsoft brings the technology expertise and we bring the industrial application. Together, we are transforming industry.

Rajesh Ramachandran, Global Chief Digital Officer for Process Automation, ABB

Realizing business value

While the potential for global transformation in the industrial sector fuels ABB, “this is also giving us a big competitive advantage with our customers,” says Ramachandran. “With Genix Copilot as a service, we see considerable momentum in adoption.” In addition, ABB service teams use Genix Copilot for customer support. “We are seeing approximately 80% reduction in level 1 and level 2 service calls because they can be taken care of by Genix Copilot self-service capabilities before those calls need to reach a support agent,” he notes.

“Microsoft and ABB have a strategic alliance, and this is a new dimension with generative AI. The experience has been collaborative and fantastic. Microsoft brings the technology expertise and we bring the industrial application,” says Ramachandran. “Together, we are transforming industry.”

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