AISTech 2026 - Pittsburgh recap

AISTech 2026 in Pittsburgh is finished. It was a busy week with many meetings, many discussions, and many people from the steel industry in one place.

Before the exhibition even started, I had a very good roadtrip from Washington to Pittsburgh with two colleagues from Stein Injection. We started very early in the morning at 3 AM. Then we drove about 4 hours. After that we had 1 hour for shopping, and later we still had to deal with the Pittsburgh marathon traffic. It was a small struggle to reach the exhibition ground, but we made it in the end.

This year our booth was also different. We did not ship everything in the normal way. Most parts were transported in luggage. We carried equipment piece by piece through airports and built the booth on site. Not perfect, but it worked.

One important problem: our main analyzer did not arrive on time.

Because of a missing Carnet document, customs kept the device. So during the exhibition we had the booth, but not the system itself.

This created something we did not plan: the “invisible device.” People came to the booth, asked where the system was, and we explained the technology without showing the machine. It led to many technical discussions anyway, but of course it was not the ideal situation.

After the exhibition, everything was solved. The analyzer is now released and working again.

Today it is back on the road in the USA for real plant visits and demonstrations.

Now we move from exhibition discussions to real steel plants. Converter, EAF, ladle metallurgy — where the process really happens and where timing matters.

If you missed the system in Pittsburgh, you can still see it. We are planning a roadtrip to different steel plants. You can join us, or we can come directly to your site for a short demo.

AISTech was also a good moment to meet long-term partners and friends again. Many we already know for years. Good and simple conversations. Not only business, also trust and continuity.

We did not save the world. It was just an exhibition. But it was a good week with real people, real problems, and real interest in slag analysis.