Graduate Seminar Series
December 02, 2022
12:20 p.m. ET
Porter Hall - Room 100
Metals Industry Meets Data Science
The metals industry is since some years now in its most fundamental transition because of decarbonizing and digitalization of the production. High plant availability, consistent plant condition, and maximum product quality are key performance indicators in plant operation. Today, it is increasingly important to produce in a resource-saving and sustainable manner. To reach these goals, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) have made great progress in recent years and have reached maturity for applications in the industrial manufacturing, where they are now being used more and more.
To meet the challenges of digitalization and Industry 4.0, companies in the metals industry need to build up new performance-based business models in particular to forster service business within a longterm partnership with the customers. After introducing SMS group and the principal process steps of steel making, within the seminar an overview of the actual challenges of decarbonizing steel industry will be given and how to combine it with digital tools. Furthermore, the vision of the autonomous plant will be explained. Followed by challenges of digitalization in steel industry and an intro to AI algorithms. Several use cases will show the application potential of data science in steel industry. Finally, offers for internships or thesis topics will be introduced to the students.
Katja Windt, Chief Digital Officer, SMS Group
Katja Windt is Chief Digital Officer and member of the Managing Board of SMS group, global market leader in metallurgical plant engineering with headquarters in Düsseldorf. Around the world, SMS group has approximately 14,000 employees who generated sales of 2.6 billion euros in 2021.Following her degree in mechanical engineering at Leibniz University Hannover – including a stay at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) as a visiting scholar – she completed her doctorate at the Institute for Production Systems and Logistics in 2000 and subsequently took up the position of head of department at the Institute for Production and Logistics (BIBA) at the University of Bremen. In 2008, Katja Windt was appointed chair of Global Production Logistics" at Jacobs University. As a member of a specialist research unit working in the field of autonomous control", she and her team explored new algorithms for planning and controlling production systems. Before joining SMS group in 2018, she was President of Jacobs University Bremen for four years and successfully restructured the private international university.As well as being a member of the German National Academy of Science and Engineering (acatech) and the National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina, Windt is a member of the Board of Governors of Technion – Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa as well as the Board of the German Logistics Association (BVL), and she is active in various supervisory boards in the business and commerce sector. Katja Windt has been distinguished with prestigious awards.
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November 4 2025
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