GEA plans to make the Complex Engineer-to-Order process simpler

GEA new AI solution. — Photo courtesy of GEA.

GEA, together with NTT DATA and Microsoft, has developed a solution that uses artificial intelligence (AI) and cloud technologies to structure the Complex Engineer-to-Order (ETO) process and make it more efficient.

This enables companies to generate precise and consistently high-quality quotes more quickly, thus increasing their chances of winning business, stated GEA.

In late 2024, GEA approached NTT DATA and Microsoft with a clear request: to develop a solution that would make the ETO process more efficient and reduce the high level of manual effort involved. Together, they created an AI-powered application that extracts relevant requirements from technical specification documents, classifies and assigns them to the appropriate departments. This speeds up the processing of tenders, reduces the risk of errors and enables a structured and transparent distribution of tasks.

"Until now, the processing of complex tenders required a lot of manual effort, was risky and took a long time," says Dirk Hejnal, Chief Service Officer of the GEA Separation & Flow Technologies division. "We actively sought a solution and approached NTT DATA and Microsoft with our requirements. By combining our expertise, we developed a practical application that will significantly improve our processes in the long term. Furthermore, consistently high-quality quotes and proposals give us and our customers a clear competitive advantage."

Thanks to close collaboration, the solution was implemented in a short time. "GEA provided a clear vision that sparked the momentum for this project," explains Torsten Albrecht, senior vice president and Head of Industry at NTT DATA DACH. “By leveraging cutting-edge technologies, we successfully addressed the complex requirements and designed an innovative, market-ready AI-powered solution. The excellent partnership with GEA and Microsoft has been crucial to the successful realization of this project, which impressively demonstrates the tangible advantages that AI provides to companies."

Edith Wittmann, general manager enterprise Commercial at Microsoft, adds: "Our cloud platform provides the foundation for innovative applications – but it takes close collaboration with an experienced industrial company like GEA to create solutions that truly work in practice. The partnership with GEA and NTT DATA has been extremely productive and highlights how technology can optimize industrial processes."