ABB transforms industrial operations with Microsoft Azure and AI-driven insight

ABB wanted to help energy-intensive industries meet stricter emissions and sustainability goals while maintaining efficiency, performance, and reliability. Traditional maintenance methods couldn’t keep up, creating the need for AI-driven resilience.

ABB used Microsoft Azure and Microsoft Azure Open AI to build the Genix Industrial AI Suite and Genix Copilot, an AI assistant that turns live data into instant guidance for engineers, combining ABB’s expertise with Microsoft’s cloud and AI strength.

Genix AI platform helps ABB customers deliver measurable changes across industries, from 25% efficiency gains in data centers to 18% energy savings in cement industries, while helping frontline engineers solve problems faster, avoid costly downtime.

“With ABB’s Genix Industrial AI Platform using Azure OpenAI Service, customers in energy- and asset-intensive sectors achieve measurable impact—15–18% energy optimization in across critical processes in energy intensive industries such as cement, significant savings in data centers, lower carbon footprint, and improved reliability.”

Rajesh Ramachandran, Global Chief Digital Officer, Process Automation, ABB

When a motor grinds to a halt in a steel mill or an emissions sensor falters at a power plant, the fallout is immediate: lost output, regulatory risk, and wasted resources. ABB has operated in that space for more than 140 years, supplying automation, electrification and digital systems that keep the world’s industries running. The company doesn’t stop at building physical equipment; it also develops the intelligence that helps those assets perform better, through software and digital platforms that monitor conditions, help prevent failures, and improve efficiency.

That dual capability gives ABB a rare vantage point on today’s industrial challenges. Energy-intensive industries face stricter emissions rules, rising sustainability targets, and pressure to operate at near-perfect availability with fewer skilled resources. In addition to traditional methods of maintenance and compliance, ABB recognized the need to advance new approaches to help industries stay resilient, meet regulations, and prepare for a more sustainable future.

“When an operator scans a QR code on an analyzer, Genix Copilot retrieves live diagnostic data and uses Azure OpenAI Service to suggest immediate actions. It helps customers resolve issues faster, reduce travel, and significantly improve efficiencies with first-time-fix rates which also contributes to lower emissions and resource use.”

Anshul Arora, Digital Product Manager, Measurement & Analytics, ABB

Shaping intelligence from complexity

Many industries struggle to access data across operational technology (OT), information technology (IT), and engineering technology (ET) systems, lacking unified view needed for efficient decision making.

To address this, ABB built Genix, an Industrial IoT and AI platform that connects and contextualizes data across industrial systems, turning them into actionable insights and automating actions towards autonomous operations. With Microsoft Azure and Azure Open AI Service, Genix combines ABB’s technology and domain expertise with secure cloud infrastructure and scalable AI to deliver real-time guidance and predictive insights. Genix Copilot turns operational data to actionable insights, for teams across the shopfloor and beyond. This allows faster decision making, improving asset performance, reliability and sustainability across operations.

Genix Copilot connects live operational data with ABB’s deep engineering knowledge, giving teams context-specific insight that used to require time-consuming analysis or escalation to experts. Rajesh Ramachandran, Global Chief Digital Officer, Process Automation at ABB, says this combination of cloud and AI plus ABB’s expertise is driving measurable progress. “With ABB’s Genix Industrial AI Platform using Azure OpenAI Service, customers in energy- and asset-intensive sectors achieve measurable impact—15–18% energy optimization across critical processes in energy intensive industries such as cement, significant savings in data centers, lower carbon footprint, and improved reliability.”

In the field, technicians and engineers can access that intelligence instantly. ABB developed a QR-code process that ties Copilot to live diagnostic data from sensors and analyzers. “When an operator scans a QR code on an analyzer, Genix Copilot retrieves live diagnostic data and uses Azure OpenAI Service to suggest immediate actions,” says Anshul Arora, Digital Product Manager, Measurement & Analytics at ABB. “It helps customers resolve issues faster, reduce travel, and significantly improve operational efficiency and first-time-fix rates, which also contributes to lower emissions and resource use.”

For ABB, the goal is to create a seamless bridge between physical systems and digital insight. “AI helps our customers in many different areas,” explains Gino Hernandez, Head of Global Digital Business, Energy Industries at ABB. “We focus on asset optimization, predicting failures, analyzing energy use, and helping customers improve efficiency. With Genix Asset Performance Management (APM), we use generative AI to improve the reliability of critical assets by up to 15% for our customers.”

“ABB Genix uses AI to bring predictability to operations, reduce uncertainty, and avoid costly downtime. By optimizing workflows from field operations to the entire enterprise, organizations achieve greater efficiency, significant cost savings, and improved profitability.”

Gino Hernandez, Head of Global Digital Business, ABB

Turning industrial challenges into measurable change

Across industries, ABB’s customers are now seeing measurable, long-lasting results. The shift delivers not only greater efficiency and reliability but also measurable reductions in energy use, waste, and emissions. These outcomes show how industrial AI can drive both performance and sustainability at scale.

“With Genix Copilot, we have unlocked the power of generative and agentic AI from shop floor to top floor, cutting troubleshooting time by 60-80%,” says Ramachandran. “Genix Copilot on Azure Open AI Service is reshaping industrial performance and advancing environmental goals, turning data into real outcomes for customers across very different sectors.”

That progress is only the beginning. “ABB Genix uses AI to bring predictability to operations, reduce uncertainty, and avoid costly downtime,” adds Hernandez. “By optimizing workflows from field operations to the enterprise, organizations achieve greater efficiency, significant cost savings and improved profitability.”

By harnessing the transformative power of Azure and Azure OpenAI Service, ABB is not just advancing intelligent technology, it is redefining what’s possible for global industry. Together, we are paving the way for a future where innovation drives sustainability, safety, and operational excellence on a worldwide scale.

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“With Genix Copilot, we have unlocked the power of generative and agentic AI from shop floor to top floor, cutting troubleshooting time by 60-80%. Genix Copilot on Azure Open AI Service is reshaping industrial performance and advancing environmental goals, turning data into real outcomes for customers across very different sectors.”

Rajesh Ramachandran, Global Chief Digital Officer, Process Automation, ABB