TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan's largest steelmaker CSC Corporation implemented an intelligent temperature control system for hot rolling mill furnaces, harnessing AI to reduce energy costs and carbon emissions.

CSC used the Internet of Things, big data, and cloud computing to upgrade its automated steel production system to an intelligent system. According to CSC, AI projects will create annual benefits of NT$1.6 billion (US$48.5 million), per CNA.

CSC also introduced AI technology to the No. 2 sintering machine, which can predict and adjust temperatures in the sintering process, reducing energy loss associated with manual control, and increasing sintered ore production yield by 4%. This upgrade is estimated to reduce carbon emissions by 22,000 tonnes annually.

Another steel mill, Yieh Phui, built a steel plate surface inspection system using machine vision to detect surface defects, assisting manual inspectors. The intelligent detection system is more accurate than the naked eye and can unify the judgment standards for defect detection.

Taiwan’s cement industry is also embracing AI technology. Taiwan Cement said its European subsidiary, Cimpor, uses drones, smart glasses, and AI machine vision to conduct factory inspections and environmental monitoring, providing real-time warnings for occupational safety and environmental risks.

Taiwan Cement also announced cooperation with a UK technology company to introduce AI to monitor the health of cement plant equipment, reduce energy waste, and improve operational efficiency. Another cement maker, Asia Cement’s ready-mixed concrete subsidiary, Yatung, has also introduced 53 robots to improve production efficiency.

Milton King (金崇仁), president of Yatung, said the company has successfully transformed from a traditional industry into a highly efficient intelligent enterprise through cooperation with the Taiwan AI Academy to train 50 supervisors.