Large and Small-Medium Enterprises Participating in Win-Win Smart Factories... 8 out of 10 SMEs 'Satisfied'

[Asia Economy Reporter Kwak Min-jae] It has been revealed that 8 out of 10 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) participating in the ‘Large and Small Business Win-Win Smart Factory Project’ are satisfied.

The Korea Federation of SMEs announced the results on the 8th after conducting a survey of 202 companies that participated in the ‘Large and Small Business Win-Win Smart Factory Project’ from 2019 to 2021. Among the participating companies, 80.2% responded that they were satisfied. The reasons for satisfaction included ▲ easier monitoring of production sites (35.8%) ▲ high effectiveness of solution application (34.6%). This project was promoted jointly by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups and POSCO.

In particular, SMEs participating in the project actively utilized POSCO’s additional support such as ▲ QSS (Quick Six Sigma) manufacturing site innovation activities (76.2%) ▲ transfer of POSCO know-how (win-win growth support group, techno partnership, technical consulting, etc.) (14.4%) ▲ support for patent, intellectual property rights, and technology protection deposits (6.9%).

The QSS manufacturing site innovation activities provide on-site, hands-on support to build an innovation foundation for SMEs by improving difficulties and problems in the work environment experienced by SMEs through POSCO’s unique innovation methodology, including energy cost reduction consulting and level diagnosis for smartification. POSCO’s Win-Win Growth Support Group helps SMEs grow by utilizing the expertise of POSCO specialists in various fields to support equipment and process efficiency improvements, safety, and environmental consulting.

Additionally, POSCO supports SMEs by freely disclosing 1,350 patents that can generate revenue, excluding major products and processes, so that SMEs can utilize them in product manufacturing.

Furthermore, companies participating in the project reported effects such as quality improvement (29.7%), delivery time reduction (20.3%), productivity increase (17.5%), and cost reduction (17.5%).

Among participating companies, 13.9% saw an average increase of 3.4 employees. 23.3% reported an average sales increase of 850 million KRW, citing reasons for increased employment and sales as ▲ productivity increase ▲ quality improvement ▲ hiring of monitoring personnel.

The utilization rate of solutions by organizational members was also found to be high (66.3%), indicating positive effects such as improved working conditions and reduced working hours for employees.

Nine out of ten SMEs (87.1%) responded that ‘smart factories are necessary to secure manufacturing competitiveness.’ More than two-thirds of SMEs (70.8%) said that ‘support for building industrial safety facilities and carbon-neutral (carbon reduction, energy efficiency, etc.) smart factories is necessary,’ indicating that the government should continuously expand the scale and scope of smart factory support.

Yang Chan-hoe, Head of the Innovation Growth Division at the Korea Federation of SMEs, said, “To ensure that SMEs do not fall behind and can respond to new management environments such as ESG and carbon neutrality, it is necessary to expand voluntary win-win cooperation in the private sector along with government policy support. The Korea Federation of SMEs will continue to work with the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, POSCO, and others to enhance the vitality and competitiveness of SMEs.”

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