"Including Robots and 3D Printing in Root Industry Technology"... Revamped After 10 Years

Ministry of Industry Announces 'Root 4.0 Competitiveness Enhancement Master Plan'
Addressing COVID-19 Impact on Businesses... Expanding Loans
Support Measures for Skilled Workforce Training and High Value-Added Transformation

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Bo-kyung] The government is revitalizing the stagnant domestic root industry to strengthen the competitiveness of materials, parts, and equipment. The scope of root technologies will be expanded and reorganized for the first time in 10 years, and customized measures such as training specialized personnel and enhancing high value-added processes will be prepared.

On the 2nd, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy announced the "Root 4.0 Competitiveness Enhancement Master Plan" at the National Policy Issue Inspection and Coordination Meeting. Root technology refers to the technology for processing materials and is a field that requires support to strengthen the competitiveness of materials, parts, and equipment. Most domestic root companies are small-scale and lack technological innovation capabilities, and with increasing overseas relocation and closures, the stability of the supply chain has been threatened. This plan consists of four areas: ▲ short-term response to immediate difficulties ▲ restructuring of the root industry ▲ supply chain stabilization ▲ high value-added advanced industrialization.

First, urgent support measures will be prepared to resolve difficulties faced by root companies struggling due to the COVID-19 pandemic. A new industry-academia cooperation R&D support program will be established (with a budget of 22.6 billion KRW this year) where nearby university materials, parts, and equipment technology support groups will resolve on-site process technology difficulties of companies. The scale of new growth foundation funds for root company loans will be expanded from the current 100 billion KRW per year, and some of the industry-specific win-win funds such as the automobile win-win special guarantee program (420 billion KRW) and the steel win-win cooperation fund (100 billion KRW) will be used to support root companies. In addition, the employment recommendation letter issuance requirements will be relaxed to allow foreign workers to convert from non-professional visas (E-9) to skilled technician visas (E-7-4) for long-term stay.

Within this year, the Root Industry Promotion Act will be amended to expand the scope of root technologies. This is a full revision for the first time in 10 years since the enactment of the Promotion Act in 2011. The scope of materials will be expanded from the existing focus on metal materials to six categories including plastics, rubber, and ceramics. Root technologies will be expanded from six areas such as casting and mold to 14 areas including injection molding, pressing, 3D printing, and robotics. Accordingly, the number of root industry targets is expected to increase from 30,000 to 90,000.

To stabilize supply and demand in the root industry, a "Milk Run" system will also be introduced. Milk Run is a method where the industry jointly purchases materials or shares logistics, a term derived from milk companies collecting milk by visiting livestock farms. To this end, a preliminary demand survey will be conducted on items for joint raw material purchase, importing countries, and third-party logistics organizations, centered on specialized root company complexes.

Support will also be provided for the high value-added advanced industrialization of the root industry and manpower supply. A total of 124.8 billion KRW will be invested in R&D projects to secure root technologies capable of overseas delivery by 2024. Separately, 30 billion KRW will be spent next year to establish a root sector within materials, parts, and equipment R&D. The number of root and smart convergence specialized graduate schools will be increased, and Polytech will operate root specialized degree and non-degree courses for about 55,000 people annually.

To establish a master plan implementation system for the root industry, the government will create a public-private consultative body centered on the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and the Korea Federation of SMEs and will monitor progress. Minister Sung Yun-mo of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy stated, "Strengthening the competitiveness of root technologies will ultimately lead to expanding our materials, parts, and equipment response capabilities, giving us an advantage in the global supply chain competition," adding, "Our goal is to develop the root industry into a high value-added industrial group like advanced countries such as Germany and make it a continuously growing industry."

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