When we install a stove in a home, our work does not end with the first ignition. In fact, that is when it truly begins.
A pellet stove becomes part of the daily life of those who purchase it: it warms rooms on winter evenings, accompanies the rhythms of the home, and becomes part of the habits of those who use it every day. Technical assistance is not simply an after-sales service, but an essential part of our customers’ experience.
This awareness gave rise to B-SMART, a project that brings artificial intelligence to the heart of Palazzetti’s support services—not as an exercise in technological style, but as a concrete tool to improve response times, diagnostic accuracy, and the overall experience for those who use our products every day.
What is the B-SMART project?
B-SMART is the natural evolution of a journey that combines manufacturing tradition with digital innovation. It is an ambitious project with a very clear goal: transforming the enormous wealth of technical knowledge accumulated over the years into an intelligent, always-available, always-up-to-date tool.
The meaning of the acronym
B-SMART stands for Biomass Stove Maintenance Assistance Repair Ticketing. The name says it all: maintenance, assistance, repair, and ticket management—in other words, the entire after-sales ecosystem for our wood and pellet stoves.
This is not simply ‘software’, but an advanced system designed to support service centres across the country through a virtual agent based on generative artificial intelligence.
Why B-SMART was created
Over the years, we have collected thousands of service reports, technical tickets, manuals, information notes, and resolved cases. An immense wealth of information. But for this wealth of information to be truly useful, it must be accessible, structured, and—above all—searchable.
B-SMART was created precisely for this purpose: to enhance data and return it in the form of targeted suggestions. The goal? To reduce diagnosis times and share our technical experience with the entire service network.
This journey did not start from scratch. Before B-SMART, we developed SUPERAT, a project focused on internal technical support that represented the first step toward integrating artificial intelligence into our processes.
While SUPERAT has optimised and streamlined internal processes, B-SMART goes one step further: extending artificial intelligence to the network of field partners, bringing innovation directly where technical intervention takes place and transforming corporate knowledge into concrete, everyday support.
How the artificial intelligence–based virtual agent works
Behind its ease of use lies a profound, methodical, almost artisanal effort—just the way we like it.
The hidden treasure: data, tickets, and technical reports
Every technical intervention tells a story: a problem, a context, a solution. Over the years, these stories have multiplied, becoming a mine of information.
B-SMART analyses reports, tickets, manuals, and technical documentation, transforming this archive into a system that can be consulted in real time by service centres.
Data quality and information rationalisation
Before ‘feeding’ the virtual agent, it was necessary to clean up the data: eliminate duplicates, rationalise documents, and ensure consistency. This data-quality process is essential to guarantee accurate and relevant responses.
Artificial intelligence works best when it starts from a solid foundation.
Intelligent filtering and targeted responses
One of the most delicate aspects was filtering: ensuring that, for a specific stove model, only information relevant to that product is returned.
The result is a system capable of providing targeted suggestions consistent with the model, the issue, and the product’s service history. Not generic answers, but concrete indications.
What changes for service centres (and end customers)
Technological innovation only makes sense when it generates real benefits—here, the change is tangible.
- Reduced diagnosis times: Quick access to previously resolved cases means shorter time between problem and solution. Less waiting, faster interventions, greater operational efficiency.
- Immediate access to product history: The agent allows partners to consult the technical history of a specific product. Knowing what has already been done, which components have been replaced, and what critical issues have emerged over time enables more informed intervention.
- Greater precision, greater reliability: More accurate diagnoses mean fewer attempts, fewer errors, and fewer repeat interventions. For the end customer, this translates into one very simple thing: trust. And trust, in the world of domestic heating, is everything.
A network project: the value of collaboration
B-SMART is a project co-funded under the IRIS programme and developed together with the SMACT Competence Centre, a reference point for digital transformation, and AiperTech, a Friuli-based centre of excellence in AI research.
The contribution of qualified partners such as LEF – Lean Experience Factory – and the Alto Adriatico Technology Hub, which supported Palazzetti in development, testing, and validation phases, was also fundamental.
This teamwork demonstrates how true innovation is always a shared journey.
The future of technical assistance has already begun
B-SMART is not a point of arrival, but the beginning of a journey. After field tests with a select group of partners, the goal is to gradually extend the virtual agent to the entire assistance network, making this tool an integral part of daily field activities.
At the same time, the project will continue to evolve: its functionality will be expanded to make access to information materials even easier, improve integration with existing digital tools, and offer new ways of intelligently querying data.
Looking ahead, the potential of artificial intelligence will support not only after-sales activities but also the sales network, making the dialogue between product, partner, and end customer increasingly smooth.
