Steel Products

SMU Steel Summit: Pratt to Noodle on Supercomputing
Written by Tim Triplett
March 7, 2018
Not long ago, supercomputers were few in number and basically only accessible to the likes of university research labs and government agencies. Today, ready access to supercomputing technology is poised to change the business world, says Stephen Pratt, co-founder of Noodle.ai, a San Francisco-based enterprise artificial intelligence company.
Pratt has a long and impressive resume as a pioneer in creating world-class technology, but he is also known as an instigator and an agitator. He will explain how the coming “digital disruption” of business stands to transform even a mature industry like steelmaking, in his remarks during Steel Market Update’s Steel Summit Conference Aug. 27-29 at the Georgia International Convention Center in Atlanta.
Noodle.ai’s supercomputing platform, known as “The Beast,” incorporates predictive AI, with its machine-learning algorithms, to leverage a host of information to help a company, such as a steel mill, optimize production, maintenance and logistics. “The processing power and data you can take into account today to make decisions is amazing. People still making decisions using spreadsheets will be out of a job in 3-5 years. If you are not using supercomputers to crunch data to make critical business decisions, you will be left behind,” Pratt predicts.
One of Noodle.ai’s customers is Big River Steel, which opened the industry’s first “Smart Mill” in Osceola, Ark., last year. Comments CEO David Stickler: “We are looking forward to challenging industry norms by mining the treasure trove of data that Big River Steel is uniquely positioned to collect and analyze. The use of artificial intelligence tools will allow us to identify mathematical correlations that we believe will allow us to drive costs out of the production process while at the same time enhancing the quality of the steel that we produce.”
“Humans are really good at strategy, being creative, leading people, but they are naturally very poor statisticians,” Pratt adds. “It is really important that executive teams develop the discipline of understanding what humans are good at doing and when they should use supercomputers. It’s the teams that get that blend right that will really excel.”
To learn more and to register, visit www.SteelMarketUpdate.com/Events/Steel-Summit

Tim Triplett
Read more from Tim TriplettLatest in Steel Products

US rig count slips, Canada ticks higher
ncreases through September, according to the latest Baker Hughes rig count data.

CRU: EC to toughen steel safeguards
The European Commission proposes cutting its steel import quota by almost half, with volumes exceeding the limit facing 50% duties. The region’s steel industry welcomes the move, while other steel-producing nations fear the consequences. CRU published an insight before this announcement, noting that more restrictive trade policy could significantly raise the cost of marginal supply […]

US and Canadian rig counts stabilize
US counts continue to hover just above historic lows, while Canadian figures remain comparatively healthy.

Plate market sources critique mill hikes amid current market conditions
Following spot market plate price increase notices issued by domestic mills this past week, participants are contemplating the rationale behind the increases and whether they will stick. Some sources anticipate that current market conditions will shift in November and believe the increases may set a new "pricing floor."

Oregon Steel Mills lifts plate prices by $60/ton
Oregon Steel Mills has joined other producers in announcing a price increase of at least $60 per short ton on steel plate.