British Steel has begun a study to explore the use of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the quality of its rail operations.
In partnership with the School of Engineering at the University of Leicester, the two aim to research whether AI can detect imperfections in the rail during the manufacturing process.
Dr Andy Trowsdale, technical director at British Steel, said: “Our rails are world class, meeting the strictest of standards. To help control product quality, we use six cameras to take over 4,000 images of each rail while it is being manufactured, generating over 100,000 inspection images every hour.”
He added: “As we take millions of photos of our rails each year, we want to explore if AI can reliably identify imperfections quicker than our current systems.
“If it can, it would enhance manufacturing performance, improve product quality and service delivery, and reduce rejection costs.”
The project is in the early stages, but British Steel say it is excited by its potential.
