AI chatbot technology to transform customer support

Grease Guardian designs and manufactures automatic grease removal devices (AGRDs) for hotels, universities, airports, marine vessels, and food processing facilities. With operations in Newry and New York, the company has built a strong reputation for product excellence and compliance-focused grease management solutions.

The Challenge

As Grease Guardian’s U.S. customer base grew, providing timely and consistent support became increasingly difficult. Customers frequently contacted the team directly for troubleshooting, spare part identification, and maintenance queries, creating a heavy workload for engineers. This manual support model led to slower response times, repeated queries, and high operational strain. The company saw an opportunity to introduce an AI-driven chatbot to automate frontline support, ensure 24/7 assistance, and maintain the same high standards of safety, accuracy, and customer care.

 

The Solution

Working with Hartree Centre NI Hub, Grease Guardian explored and tested AI chatbot solutions to modernise customer support. Three chatbot prototypes were built and evaluated across Chatbase, Zapier Chatbots (Beta), and Botpress using a shared framework aligned with the company’s service standards. Each prototype provided step-by-step diagnostics, spare part recommendations with direct links, safety guidance, and escalation to service partners when needed. The platforms were assessed for usability, integration potential, NLP accuracy, cost, and scalability. Chatbase emerged as the preferred option due to its intuitive interface, seamless website integration, strong performance, and affordability, offering an ideal fit for Grease Guardian’s technical and operational needs.

 

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Georgia Bannon, Grease Guardian

“Jade at Hartree gave us a strong foundation to build from. Chatbase was one we were excited about that effectively supports minor issues and provides step-by-step diagnostics for our Grease Guardian units, complete with spare parts links. While escalation to service partners wasn’t fully realised, the experience highlighted new opportunities for development, particularly in managing customer follow-ups where contact details aren’t shared due to GDPR. We’re now exploring ways to enhance functionality further, including secure image and video uploads and automated follow-ups via embedded forms, to deliver even more responsive support.”


Project Impact

By adopting an AI-driven support approach, Grease Guardian is positioned to enhance both customer experience and internal efficiency. The chatbot will enable faster, more accurate responses to service queries, helping customers identify issues and order parts with minimal delay.

Expected benefits include: 
  • Reduced manual support workload, freeing staff to focus on complex enquiries
  • Quicker issue resolution and improved response times
  • Increased spare part sales through seamless online links
  • Greater customer satisfaction driven by round-the-clock, consistent support.

Further Information

This work was completed as one of our data projects. Our projects are up to 12 weeks in duration. We will work alongside your business to scope your project, demonstrate proof of concept, and explore options to deploy it within your business. If you would like to learn more about the Hartree Centre Northern Ireland Hub and our Programme, please get in touch with us at: info@hartreeni.uk

Our Impact on UK Industry and Society

The Hartree National Centre for Digital Innovation enables businesses to acquire the skills, knowledge and technical capability required to adopt digital technologies like super computing, data analytics, artificial intelligence (AI) and quantum computing. The SME Engagement Hubs play a key role in offering targeted support for business challenges in their region, creating value and generating economical and societal impact for the UK.