New partnership to transform customer support and staff training through AI
A partnership between the University of Huddersfield and a local manufacturer aims to develop a new AI-powered system to transform customer support and staff training.
Academics from the University’s Centre for Autonomous and Intelligent Systems (CAIS) are collaborating with Huddersfield-based industrial fan manufacturer Woodcock & Wilson via a 27-month Knowledge Transfer Partnership.
Dr Emmanuel Papadakis and Dr George Bargiannis, of the University’s Department of Computer Science, are leading the project. In addition, Rohan Jadhav has joined the University, having been appointed as the KTP associate for the duration of the project and is expected to be hired by Woodcock & Wilson at the end.
The company needs support to develop an innovative artificial intelligence system that can transform both external customer support and internal staff training operations. The system will enable 24/7 support availability to customers globally and facilitate knowledge access and retrieval for employees who may be less experienced.
The partnership will provide expertise from the University’s CAIS to embed new capabilities within Woodcock & Wilson in AI-powered automation, including advanced knowledge management and employee support, data-driven insights, scalable support infrastructure and enhanced real-time customer support operations.
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The dedicated KTP associate will focus on transferring knowledge to design, develop, test and refine the envisioned intelligent system and will integrate it within Woodcock & Wilson’s processes and operations.
The key innovation lies in the use of multimodal and agentic AI that brings together knowledge graphs and generative and conversational AI. This will deliver an intelligent system that is powered by a curated knowledge base and uses human-in-the-loop training to continuously improve accuracy and conversational abilities.
The project is expected to have a transformative effect on the company in terms of how both customer support and employee training are carried out, allowing the company to scale up operations and expand to overseas markets.
Dr Papadakis commented: “This project is an excellent opportunity to showcase the benefits of combining different types of AI within a sophisticated agent-based architecture, leveraging knowledge graphs as an adaptable and explainable resource, and a range of generative and conversational AI to harness that knowledge for customer-facing and internal interactions.”
Dr Bargiannis, Deputy Director of CAIS, added: “The multimodal nature of data involved in Woodcock & Wilson’s processes makes this project quite challenging, as the developed system will need to be capable of processing and understanding textual, numerical and visual data.”
Abd-Al Basit, Chief Engineer of Woodcock & Wilson, which is based in the Crosland Hill area of Huddersfield, commented: “This collaboration marks a major step forward for Woodcock & Wilson. The AI system developed through this partnership will help us enhance our customer experience, empower our staff, and position the company for significant growth in both UK and international markets.”
The current KTP follows on from an earlier Accelerated Knowledge Transfer project, where Dr Bargiannis and Dr Papadakis worked with Woodcock & Wilson to develop a limited prototype of the envisioned system, confirming its feasibility.
Abd-Al Basit and Hisham Yahia will supervise the KTP associate at Woodcock & Wilson. Abd-Al Basit initially joined the company as a KTP associate in a previous partnership with the University, demonstrating the long-term value of KTPs in fostering innovation and collaboration.
For more on the University's KTP programme
Knowledge Transfer Partnerships are government-funded programmes aimed at helping UK businesses improve competitiveness, productivity and performance. They are match-funded through Innovate UK, the UK’s innovation agency, and part of UK Research and Innovation, and are a fantastic opportunity for businesses to access academic expertise, drive innovation, and achieve lasting impact.
The programme involves a collaboration between an organisation, a university and a graduate associate who is funded for the duration of the project. The University of Huddersfield currently has a portfolio of around 20 Knowledge Transfer Partnerships, attracting a total of around £5 million in funding.