Universities and companies will join hands to build smart factories in Ulsan region. The main purpose of this is to improve the competitiveness of local industries via manufacturing innovation, which combines big data and artificial intelligence (AI), and to create an examplary case of successful smart factory construction.
On June 10, UNIST held a meeting to undertake the ‘Manufacturing Data Analytics-based Smart Factory Implementation Project,’ together with the small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Ulsan region, including Hanguk Mold Co., Ltd. and KPX Chemical Co., Ltd. This project, which will run through the end of this year, aims to increase both production quality and quantity and produce tangible results based on the manufacturing data of each company.
Participating companies will invest 300 million KRW, which includes government grants and other financial aid, to advance smart factories. Each company will carry out detailed research and analysis, needed to resolve quality issues and higher defect rates, which come from the production processes, and to facilitate quality and process improvement, as well as optimization.
In the afternoon, a kick-off meeting was held at KPX Chemical Ulsan Plant. l Image Credit: School of Management Engineering, UNIST
This project is supported by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups (MSS) and the Smart Manufacturing Innovation Promotion Group, and is organized by the Korea Smart Manufacturing Industry Association (KASAD). UNIST will establish a consortium with InterX Co., Ltd., a local manufacturing AI service and big data expert, in carrying out the project. InterX Co., Ltd. will serve as a supplier that is responsible for overall data acquisition, as well as the development for big data based analytical model and data service system. In turn, the School of Management Engineering at UNIST will provide support for big data analytics and AI technology.
With more and more manufacturers turning to smart facilities, this project aims to collect the resources needed to provide best practices for constructing successful smart factories that manage the entire cycle, including data collection, data storage, data analysis, and data application.
Dean Dong Sub Kim of Management Engineering at UNIST explains the overall purpose of the project. l Image Credit: School of Management Engineering, UNIST
“We anticipate that this exemplary case of smart factory construction in Ulsan region will make a great deal of progress in terms of heightening the national smart factory policy,” says Dean Dong Sub Kim (School of Management Engineering, UNIST).
Meanwhile, UNIST has actively been facilitating the said project by recruiting companies that are interested in the said project since May of this year and present them with the purpose of the project, as well as the consultant with manufacturing data analysis.
