FLSmidth has signed an agreement with Microsoft aimed at accelerating its digital journey, co-innovating and improving existing offerings, advancing its MissionZero sustainability ambition, and speeding up the delivery of productivity enhancements to customers. “The collaboration also seeks to increase our ability to demonstrate technological leadership in mining and cement in support of customers’ sustainability and productivity goals.”

Together with Microsoft, FLSmidth says it will “work to deliver on a roadmap of initiatives and technologies to help customers become more productive and sustainable in their operations. This roadmap outlines three waves of technology advancements and how we aim to collaborate with and support customers. The first wave is focused on accelerating our Internet of Things journey through Microsoft Azure, increasing the array of connected assets and delivering insights that will improve the efficiency of our customers’ activities.”

In the second wave the goal is to focus on applying Azure Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence and Digital Twin technology to help FLSmidth offer customers novel and value-adding business models (eg equipment and performance as a service).

In the third wave, FLSmidth and Microsoft aim to establish an ecosystem together with its customers and partners, where members exchange and enrich data, and create a digital marketplace that supports increased sustainability in mining and cement. Initiatives in this wave could focus, for instance, on improving traceability of the environmental footprint of associated activities and material flows.

Reflecting on the new collaboration, Mikko Tepponen, Chief Digital Officer at FLSmidth, comments: “This relationship is a significant step on FLSmidth’s digital journey and one that will help us deliver some of the very best productivity and sustainability enhancing digital solutions to our customers. It will quicken our journey and increase our ability to provide top-in-class digital solutions to customers.”