Revolutionizing Customs Declarations: AI & OCR in Practice.

Few topics today generate as much interest as Artificial Intelligence (AI). It plays a crucial role in technological advancement and has evolved into a major research field, shaping the future of business processes, corporate models, and entire industries. Science and research continuously provide new insights to help organizations develop innovative technologies for process optimization. A key driver of this progress is the exchange between theoretical approaches and practical applications.

Contents:

Revolutionizing Customs Declarations: AI & OCR in Practice

ECAI – Europe’s Leading AI Conference

27th European Conference on Artificial Intelligence (ECAI)

Automated Customs Declarations with AI & OCR

AI-Powered Optimization of Logistics Processes

Scientific Relevance and Publication

ECAI – Europe’s Leading AI Conference

Founded in 1982, the European Association for Artificial Intelligence (EurAI) is a key voice in AI research. In addition to promoting advancements in artificial intelligence and establishing ethical standards, EurAI fosters networking and knowledge exchange within the international AI community. It also organizes high-profile workshops and conferences, including the prestigious European Conference on Artificial Intelligence (ECAI).

One of the standout moments for us was ECAI 2024, where our developer Maciej Krzan was invited to present his research alongside Dr. hab. Helena Dudycz (Prof. UEW) and Dr.-Ing. Maciej Suchomski (XTRAS forward thinking GmbH & Co. KG). We will explore their findings in more detail in this article.

27. European Conference on Artificial Intelligence (ECAI)

The 27th European Conference on Artificial Intelligence (ECAI) was held under the motto: “Celebrating the past. Inspiring the future.” x This theme highlighted both the conference’s 50-year tradition and its focus on driving progress and innovation. Over five days in Santiago de Compostela, more than 200 scientific presentations and talks explored the latest methodologies and applications of artificial intelligence. Particular emphasis was placed on practical research projects that enhance efficiency and automation across various industries.

During the IMIS 2024 Workshop (Intelligent Management Information Systems) at ECAI, Maciej Krzan presented his research titled:
“Artificial Intelligence in the Automation of Customs Declarations: A Case Study of an International Logistics Company.”
This study focuses on integrating advanced Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technology and AI into existing systems for customs declarations, making the process more efficient and error-free.

Automated customs declaration with OCR and artificial intelligence

Customs declarations are a critical component of international trade and are subject to complex regulations. Manual processing of these documents is not only time-consuming but also prone to errors. The research conducted by Maciej Krzan, Helena Dudycz, and Maciej Suchomski introduces an innovative prototype that significantly optimizes this process.

The combination of OCR technology and AI makes it possible to precisely extract relevant information from documents and automatically transfer it to an ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) system, such as our Xfreight software, of an international logistics company. This saves a considerable amount of time and significantly reduces the error rate. In particular, the processing of large volumes of data can be made more efficient with this technological solution.

AI-Powered Optimization of Logistics Processes

The implementation of AI in the logistics sector has been the subject of intensive research for years and is increasingly being put into practice. Especially in areas where large volumes of structured and unstructured data need to be processed, AI offers significant advantages. The solution presented not only makes it possible to automate the customs declaration process, but also to ensure consistent and error-free document creation. This is particularly important for companies operating internationally, as incorrect declarations can lead to delays, additional costs and even legal problems. Another advantage of the system is its scalability. Companies that have to process a large number of customs documents every day benefit in particular from the ability to handle the process in near real time using AI and OCR technologies.

In view of the ongoing digitalization in the logistics industry, the automation of customs declarations is an important step towards more efficient and smoother international goods processing. Future developments in this area could lead to AI-supported systems being further optimized and integrated into other areas of logistics.

Scientific Relevance and Publication

The results of this research have been published in the prestigious Springer book series under the title „Emerging Challenges in Intelligent Management Information Systems. Proceedings of 27th European Conference on Artificial Intelligence ECAI 2024 – IMIS 2024 Workshop. Volume 1.“ has been published. The publication contributes to the scientific debate on the role of AI in process automation and shows practical ways in which modern technologies can be used to optimize administrative processes.