Engel Teases Generative AI Assistant at Digital Days Event

During its Digital Days event held June 18-20 at its facilities in Schwertberg and St. Valentin, Austria, Engel hosted more than 400 attendees offering presentations on its current and future digital offerings, including customer stories of successful digitalization of operations.

In one presentation, Malcolm Werchota, head of generative AI at Triple Eight Solutions and co-founder/COO at CoatingAI, Switzerland, spoke about “AI in Industry — Has the Future Already Begun?” Highlighting the benefits of artificial intelligence for the industry, Werchota introduced the prototype of Engel GPT — a large language model that Engel positions as “reducing the need for internal emergency services.”

The supplier said Engel GPT will give injection molding company employees direct access to machine and process data on the shop floor. Using voice input, molders can access “extensive and interconnected knowledge,” with the system integrated directly into the customer portal. 

Engel noted that the system prototype on display at the large-machine manufacturing center in St. Valentin drew a steady crowd. At additional stations, Engel presented the practical implementation of digital products and assistance systems, including stories from Engel’s customers.

An Engel spokesperson declined to provide a release date for Engel GPT noting the dynamic nature of large-language models and adding that Engel’s internal AI team joked that every two weeks they could completely change the Engel GPT presentation.

Engel’s positions its digitalization tools as serving to optimize production, reduce energy costs, improve quality and address the skills shortage. The company stated that going forward it sees injection molding’s future increasingly tied to the use of AI and digital twins for process optimization.