POSCO's Smart Win-Win... Growing Together with the Root Industry

[Asia Economy Reporter Park So-yeon] Root industry companies participating in the smartization support project promoted by POSCO are achieving results such as increased production efficiency and sales growth.

POSCO has been steadily carrying out a specialized smartization support project unique to POSCO by gathering smart capabilities within the group since 2013. Up to last year, 109 root industry companies received support such as POSCO's QSS (Quick Six Sigma) consulting and smart factory construction.

The root industry is a basic process industry that uses process technologies such as casting, mold, plastic working, welding, surface treatment, and heat treatment to turn materials into parts and parts into finished products.

Molds enable mass production of automobiles, and welding turns numerous steel plates into a single ship; the root industry is the foundation of manufacturing competitiveness. However, its role and importance are not well known and are undervalued, leading to a decrease in skilled labor and various supports, gradually weakening competitiveness.

POSCO has been conducting smartization capability enhancement and smart factory construction support projects based on its unique QSS innovation method to help overcome difficulties and technological limitations of these small-scale micro-enterprises.

Smartization support was provided for the most necessary parts for each company, such as the establishment of a helium usage monitoring system for welding lines, power consumption management systems, and material purchasing and inventory systems. Supported companies achieved results such as cost reduction and productivity improvement.

In particular, 14 small mold companies that received smart factory construction support last year saw an average productivity increase of 34.1%, manufacturing cost reduction of 24.2%, and uniform improvements in quality and delivery time. They achieved smartization results by establishing monitoring and data simulation systems for continuous processing equipment essential for mold production.

Mang Jun-young, CEO of Juhan Tech, which participated in the smart factory construction support project, said, “As a result of introducing the smart factory, productivity increased, work efficiency improved, and the time for free communication among employees increased, which also improved the atmosphere within the company.”

The total fund POSCO invested for smart factory construction and production site innovation from 2013 to last year was 22.8 billion KRW, supporting a total of 1,094 small and medium enterprises, including 109 root industry companies.

Additionally, on the 2nd, POSCO signed a business agreement with Pohang City for ‘Support for Small and Medium Enterprises' Smart Factory Construction.’ For small and medium enterprises participating in Pohang City's smart factory project, POSCO will diagnose company levels and environments to derive smartization application targets, provide technical mentoring using POSCO's manufacturing process know-how, and support post-diagnosis and equipment inspection for existing smart factories.

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