Korea Aerospace Industries Selected as the 11th 'Caring Company'

Support for SMEs in Aviation Parts to Secure Advanced Technologies in AI and Autonomous Flight

On the 3rd, Park Young-sun, Minister of SMEs and Startups, is speaking at the 'SMEs and Startups Ministry-Gyeongsangnam-do-Korea Aerospace Industries-Korea Aerospace Industry Promotion Association Business Agreement Ceremony.'

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Cheol-hyun] Korea Aerospace Industries (hereinafter KAI), which has taken the lead in securing advanced technology in the aviation industry and supporting the management of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) related to aircraft parts, has been selected as the first medium-sized company to become a Caring Company (Voluntary Win-Win Cooperation Company).

On the 3rd, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups (Minister Park Young-sun), Gyeongsangnam-do Province (Governor Kim Kyung-soo), KAI (CEO Ahn Hyun-ho), and the Korea Aerospace Industries Association (Vice Chairman Kwon Oh-jung, Aerospace Association) announced that they had signed a "Business Agreement to Support Small and Medium Enterprises in Aircraft Parts for Securing Advanced Technology in the Aviation Industry." This agreement is the eleventh in the "Caring Company" series promoted by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups since May last year, and was realized as KAI expressed its commitment to support the future advanced technology capabilities and management improvement of SMEs in aircraft parts.

According to this Caring Company business agreement, KAI will develop a smart factory standard model specialized for aircraft parts to enhance manufacturing competitiveness in the future core industry of aviation and will actively support the establishment of smart factories. In addition, KAI will contribute 10 billion KRW to the win-win cooperation fund to support the acquisition of advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) and autonomous flight, and plans to establish a new aviation industry development seminar with the Aerospace Association to discover and nurture new startup companies.

Furthermore, to improve the management of SMEs in aircraft parts, the contract unit price for supplied parts will be increased by 10 billion KRW this year, and interest subsidies of up to 4% will be provided on loans obtained by partner SMEs from policy funds or financial institutions to alleviate management difficulties. In particular, KAI plans to double the volume of orders given to partner SMEs from the current 300 billion KRW to 600 billion KRW by 2022, thereby promoting increased management profits. The joint labor welfare fund, which supports cultural and sports activities and year-end bonuses for partner company employees, will also be expanded from about 1.4 billion KRW last year to 5.2 billion KRW this year, actively improving the welfare environment for partner company workers.

Minister Park Young-sun said, "The domestic aviation industry, which has grown mainly around airframe parts, needs to transform into advanced technology-centered fields such as artificial intelligence in the era of the 4th Industrial Revolution," adding, "Through this agreement, if the aircraft parts SMEs promote advanced autonomous flight linked with AI using KAI's experience and know-how, it will lead not only the future aviation industry such as personal flying vehicles but also enable Korea to leap forward as a global aviation powerhouse."

KAI CEO Ahn Hyun-ho said, "To enhance global competitiveness in the aviation industry, we declare a 'major transition to a technology competitiveness system' based on the co-growth of aviation SMEs, and we will actively support the establishment of high-efficiency production infrastructure such as smart factories and the acquisition of advanced technology by partner SMEs."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.