Steel Inspection Certificate Processing with AI

19. February 2025

In the steel industry, accurate data extraction from material inspection certificates is critical for ensuring product quality and regulatory compliance. However, extracting key details such as charge, order numbers, and complex chemical composition tables is challenging, especially as each supplier uses different formats. Our solution, cbs AID (Advanced Integration of Documents), streamlines this process using artificial intelligence.

The Initial Situation

Our customer managed separate data extraction solutions for each supplier’s documents. This resulted in high maintenance costs, and yet no extraction accuracy approaching 100 % was achieved. In the case of rotated scans this approach resulted in errors, also multipage documents or inspection certificates that include multiple charges could not be extracted either. Therefore, a solution with one single, maintainable process yielding high accuracy is required, where cbs AID is the solution of choice.

Document processing in two steps

Step 1: Document Reading

cbs AID begins with the Document Reading step, ensuring every certificate is ready to be analysed. This step includes:

  • Rotation Detection & Correction: Our system automatically detects and corrects any document rotation.
  • Text Conversion: Scanned images of documents are converted into text with using optical character recognition.

This phase all documents are generalized, regardless of their format, making them ready for in-depth analysis.

Step 2: Document Understanding – Tailored for Steel Inspection Certificates

After Document Reading, cbs AID proceeds with Document Understanding. Here, the system performs a contextual document analysis to comprehend and extract important data:

  • Charge & Order Number Identification: Extraction of vital numerical information from a variety of layouts.
  • Complex Table Understanding: Application of advanced algorithms to accurately interpret dense chemical composition tables.

A key innovation is our Area of Interest Prediction. Our algorithm identifies the most likely locations of critical data (especially the chemical composition) within the document. By focusing on these areas, accuracy increases from to an outstanding 99.79 %.

The Technology Behind cbs AID

cbs AID leverages:

  • Multi-Modal Large Language Models (LLMs): These models understand both text and layout and ensure that data is interpreted in the same way as a human expert would.
  • Adaptive Algorithms: Continuous learning enables our system to process diverse formats and adapt effortlessly to novel challenges.

Benefits for Clients

cbs AID delivers near-perfect extraction accuracy that minimizes errors and upholds quality control. By automating manual processes, it boosts operational efficiency and reduces costs. A single process for all suppliers simplifies maintenance and eliminates frequent retrainings, while reliable data extraction ensures regulatory compliance.

Conclusion

cbs AID transforms the way steel inspection certificates are processed by combining our robust Document Reading with sophisticated Document Understanding. The incredible result of 99.79% extraction accuracy proves that a new era of document extraction has begun. cbs AID’s smart application of the latest AI technology outperforms traditional extraction methods in terms of quality, project speed and ease of maintenance.
Author and your contact person
Jannis Conen
Consultant
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