pacemaker and the University of Stanford worked in the field of Data Intelligence on new Data Science and AI methods. The research focused on mathematical modeling and machine learning to achieve efficiency gains in various areas of the supply chain. Another focus was the analysis and extraction of relevant events to develop predictive decision-making processes and forecasting models.
pacemaker's machine learning technology was already being used by renowned industrial companies to precisely calculate demand forecasts for production and emissions. Among others, Berco, a globally leading manufacturer and supplier of undercarriage systems and components for OEMs and the aftermarket, used pacemaker's AI-supported forecasting solutions to improve data capacities. Hettich, one of the world's largest manufacturers of furniture fittings, increased the resilience of its capacity planning through the implementation of pacemaker's SaaS solution.
"With this cooperation, we were even better able to continuously keep our solutions at the cutting edge of technology," explained Prof. Dr. Reiner Kurzhals, Professor at FH Münster and Data Science Advisor at pacemaker. "The global AI race was intensifying. Through cooperations like this, where an American top university allied with AI specialists from industry, we had a real chance to stand our ground against the rapidly growing competition from China." Kurzhals founded the Westphalia DataLab in 2017, which was awarded the AI Prize in 2020. In 2022, it was acquired by pacemaker and fully integrated into the company, which now belongs to the technology company thyssenkrupp.
"Innovation and excellence in the supply chain were important core points of our strategy at thyssenkrupp Materials Services and essential for increasing our customers' competitiveness worldwide," said Patrick Marous, CEO Business Unit Solutions and Member of the Executive Committee, thyssenkrupp Materials Services, one of the world's leading independent materials traders and service providers.
Eric Darve, Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Director of the Institute for Computational and Mathematical Engineering (ICME) said, "We were pleased to welcome thyssenkrupp to the Stanford ICME Affiliate Program. Our goal at ICME was to prepare the next generation of Computational Scientists and Engineers to tackle major societal and technological challenges. Together, we took on a thought leadership role in areas such as algorithms and optimization, machine learning, Data Science and Computational Finance and significantly shaped the dialogue on these topics."
The pacemaker team consisted of experts from industry and the AI field. "With the combination of research and our industry know-how, we were already delivering quickly applicable solutions with an accuracy that, at over 90 percent, was far above the industry standard. This enabled our customers to make data-based planning decisions to conserve resources, increase efficiency and reduce costs," added Christian Jabs, Chief Executive Officer of pacemaker.
"We looked forward to the joint projects and exchange with the researchers. The economy needed the alliance with AI science to make itself and its supply chains resilient and future-proof," a former employee summarized the collaboration.