Gen AI ‘vault’ will preserve knowledge from industry experts
16 April 2025 
Image: AdobeStock
ABB has announced a generative AI-driven tool designed to solve the problem of knowledge being lost in industrial environments. Called Industrial Knowledge Vault, it can store and safeguard critical expertise, while transforming that knowledge into step-by-step workflows, allowing workers to access and apply best practices, and helping businesses to run leaner while operating safely.
ABB says that tests have shown that the Vault can cut workflow creation efforts by 85%, increase team productivity by 45%, and reduce human errors by up to 90%.
As experienced employees retire, the loss of their decades of knowledge threatens operational continuity, efficiency and innovation. Traditional documentation is often fragmented, requiring significant manual effort to compile, interpret and apply. The new tool addresses this by capturing and structuring expertise in a secure central repository that can be accessed using natural language conversations.
Developed in collaboration with Microsoft, Industrial Knowledge Vault uses ABB’s Genix CoPilot and Microsoft’s Azure OpenAI service to analyse and synthesize information into actionable procedures, allowing workers to retrieve insights via an intuitive, conversational interface.
The tool allows workflows to be generated using natural language inputs to create structured procedures in seconds, eliminating the need to parse documents manually. Its policy and procedure management capabilities ensure up-to-date, role-based access to critical operational knowledge, streamlining compliance and version control.
The tool also provides real-time guidance and decision support, offering workers immediate insights, shortening the learning curve, and enhancing operational performance. The solution can be deployed across the cloud, on site, or via ABB SaaS (software as a service).
“Industries everywhere are facing a critical knowledge gap as a generation of experienced workers retire and take their invaluable expertise with them,” explains Sanjit Shewale, ABB’s global head of digital for Process Industries. “Our Industrial Knowledge Vault tackles this challenge head-on by providing a secure and accessible platform to enable businesses to do more with digital. By capturing, preserving, and sharing this vital knowledge, businesses can ensure operational continuity and empower workforces with in-the-moment information to perform their jobs smarter, faster, and more sustainable.”
The Vault learns continuously from real-world operations, refining workflows and best practices to drive continuous improvement. By integrating with existing industrial systems, it enhances collaboration between field workers and control rooms, providing real-time visibility into job status and operational procedures which can reduce bottlenecks and improve overall process function.
