You simply can't miss Future Steel Forum 2019

The Future Steel Forum has been a pioneering conference. When it was launched in 2017, I can’t think of any organisation running a similar event in the steel space.

Recently, however, other organisations have announced their own events. Notably, the US-based Association for Iron & Steel Technology (AIST) offered its members a ‘Digital Transformation Forum for the Steel Industry’ and it was good to see some familiar faces on their schedule of presentations.

This year the Future Steel Forum offers delegates an exciting programme, including, for the first time, a Chinese steelmaker, the Rockcheck Steel Group. Delegates will hear from the company’s chief executive officer, Catherine Zhang, who will offer her perspective on the Chinese approach to digitalisation and steelmaking.

From the USA, Dr. Lane Thames from Tripwire Inc’s Vulnerability and Exposure Research Team, will discuss Fog Computing, the Cloud and cybersecurity. Stephen Pratt, founder and CEO of San Francisco-based Noodle AI, a company involved in the development of Big River Steel’s Osceola ‘learning mill’ in Arkansas, will look at artificial intelligence, as will Patrick Henz from Primetals USA.

Among many notable speakers from Europe, Costanzo Pietrosanti, chair of the Smart Factory Focus Group at ESTEP, will look at industrial cybersecurity. There will be papers from Primetals Technologies, PSI, SMS group, Fives, Tenova and Danieli, not to forget a panel discussion on Industry 4.0 and the Workforce following a presentation from Professor Farrokh Mistree of the University of Oklahoma entitled Frontier Issues for Succeeding in a Digitalised World. Professor Mistree will be on the panel alongside Liberty House Group’s Eric Vitse, IBM’s José Favilla and Fives’ Kriistian Van Teutum. And if that’s not enough, there will be a presentation from POSCO on the ‘smartisation’ of ironmaking.

To register for the conference and to see the full two-day programme, simply visit www.futuresteelforum.com