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Big River Steel has contracted with Noodle.ai, a San Francisco-based artificial intelligence company, to use AI technology to optimize operations at the new, $1.3 billion scrap recycling and steel mill in Osceola, Ark.

Big River Steel claims to be the world’s first smart steel production facility, designed to be both environmentally resourceful and technologically advanced. Noodle.ai’s predictive AI engine, configured on its industrial operations platform called the BEAST, will help optimize a vast array of functions throughout the mill. “This mill possesses a rich trove of sensor data for our platform to leverage, allowing us to help unlock breakthrough improvements in areas such as maintenance planning, production line scheduling, logistics operations and environmental protection,” says Stephen Pratt, CEO of Noodle.ai.

“Our mill is analogous to a driverless car. The first day, the car doesn't know how to drive itself, but the more it drives the more it learns,” says Dave Stickler, CEO of Big River Steel. “The AI algorithms will allow the mill to react to production challenges automatically.”

In January, the mill’s first full month of production, Big River Steel produced a record 63,000 tons of hot-rolled steel.