"Government Smart Factory Support Measures Must Be 'People'-Centered"

On the 15th, the 'Discussion on Exploring Support Measures for Building Smart Factories for Small and Medium Enterprises' was held at the Korea Federation of SMEs in Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul.

[Asia Economy Reporter Donghyun Choi] Opinions have been presented that the government-supported small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) smart factory construction project should focus more on 'people, field, and safety' rather than productivity.

Professor Jungsoo Park of Sungkyunkwan University emphasized that the "Human-Cyber-Physical System" (h-CPS) is the core of the SME smart factory system at the "Discussion on Support Measures for SME Smart Factory Construction" held on the 15th at the Korea Federation of SMEs in Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul. A cyber-physical system is a system where the virtual world and physical entities are interconnected. This means that human resources are essential to effectively integrate the virtual domains of computing, communication, and control with the real physical world. Professor Park stated, "While past factory automation replaced human tasks with machines, the core of future smart factories is collaboration between humans and systems."

Professor Park also said that the top priority for the sustainable development of the domestic materials, parts, and equipment (SoBuJang) industry is to carry out national projects for manufacturing intelligence centered on SMEs. He explained, "Unlike in the past, there is a need for a shift in industrial policy consciousness to prioritize the application of advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), big data, and cloud computing starting with SMEs. The core of manufacturing intelligence is the integration of analog and digital with AI, and this requires an SME-centered industrial ecosystem as an essential condition."

Professor Sooyoung Kim of Hoseo University also emphasized that the core of smart factories is 'people,' highlighting the 4M (Man, Machine, Material, Method). Professor Kim said, "Among the 4M data in manufacturing sites, machine equipment and product data are generally consistent and easy to manage, but worker and method data are difficult to manage due to changes in manufacturing processes," adding, "Continuous change management through organic connection and standardization of 4M data is necessary to achieve the purpose of smart factories."

Since the Moon Jae-in administration, a policy to distribute 30,000 smart factories from 2018 to the end of this year has been promoted with the goal of making Korea a "manufacturing powerhouse for SMEs." During the Yoon Suk-yeol administration, from 2023 to 2027, 35,000 new smart factories are planned to be supplied. Professor Kim emphasized, "Since it is difficult for SMEs to build highly advanced smart factories from the start, tailored support measures by stages from 'basic → intermediate → advanced' are needed," and added, "The government and universities should collaborate to support 'Digilog' (digital + analog) data fusion smart factories that lead productivity advancement by multidimensionally analyzing data generated in manufacturing sites according to the company's management indicators."

Researcher Eunha Kim of the KBIZ Small and Medium Business Research Institute pointed out that the government should pay attention not only to solution construction but also to the working environment and safety issues of smart factory workers. Researcher Kim expressed regret, saying, "The most vulnerable issues raised by companies that have introduced smart factories are working environment and safety problems, but government support measures considering these aspects have not been visible so far."

The importance of post-management such as manpower support after the introduction of smart factories was also emphasized. Professor Jongpil Jung of Sungkyunkwan University said, "The manpower shortage faced by SMEs that have introduced smart factories is serious," and added, "This is a point that the current government should seriously consider when preparing smart factory-related policies."

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