LG Uplus Strengthens Predictive Maintenance Solution Competitiveness... Expands to Small and Medium Enterprises

Seojaeyong, Head of Smart Factory Business at LG Uplus (right), and Kim Younggyu, Head of Industrial Machinery Division at Schaeffler Korea, pose for a commemorative photo at the business agreement ceremony. Photo by LG Uplus

[Asia Economy Reporter Oh Su-yeon] LG Uplus announced on the 26th that it is strengthening the competitiveness of its 'predictive maintenance solution,' which diagnoses factory equipment failures and malfunctions in advance, by partnering with Schaeffler Korea, a global industrial machinery parts manufacturing specialist.

Prior to the business collaboration, a memorandum of understanding ceremony was held with key executives in attendance, including Seo Jae-yong, LG Uplus Smart Factory Business Manager (Executive Director), and Kim Young-gyu, Head of Industrial Machinery Division at Schaeffler Korea (Executive Director).

Predictive maintenance collects real-time data such as vibration and temperature generated by equipment to predict and notify failures of parts in advance. It is considered one of the most advanced technologies in the smart factory field. Especially with the emergence of factory equipment based on the Internet of Things (IoT), artificial intelligence (AI), and big data, demand for predictive maintenance that anticipates failure signals and takes action in intelligent and complex equipment systems has greatly increased. Market research firm MarketsandMarkets forecasts that the global predictive maintenance market, which was $4.2 billion (approximately 6 trillion KRW) last year, will grow at an average annual rate of 30.6% to reach $15.9 billion (approximately 23 trillion KRW) by 2026.

LG Uplus’s signing of the memorandum of understanding with Schaeffler Korea is also aimed at strengthening its predictive maintenance solution competitiveness in the rapidly growing market and expanding its business targeting small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and mid-sized companies.

Headquartered in Germany, Schaeffler Korea has over 70 years of expertise in bearings and core equipment components. Based on this, it developed the predictive maintenance solution 'OPTIME,' which diagnoses conditions and predicts failures using AI algorithms. OPTIME has gained high acclaim for its advantage that even factory managers without specialized knowledge in vibration analysis can easily diagnose equipment status and build the system at a reasonable investment cost.

Through this memorandum of understanding, both companies agreed to expand the predictive maintenance solution business not only for large corporations but also for SMEs and mid-sized companies. LG Uplus expects that through their collaboration, the possibility of equipment failure and production stoppage?major concerns in factories?can be significantly reduced. Previously, on-site workers judged abnormalities by sounds or heat from equipment and replaced parts based on replacement cycles. After adopting the solution, equipment status and failure causes can be diagnosed with objective data such as vibration and temperature values, saving manpower, time, and costs.

Meanwhile, LG Uplus has secured a project to implement the predictive maintenance solution on about 200 pieces of equipment and plans to complete the installation within the year in cooperation with Schaeffler Korea. Both companies will continue to collaborate on developing solutions that provide more practical benefits to SMEs and mid-sized companies and solutions optimized for different factory characteristics by industry.

Seo Jae-yong, LG Uplus Smart Factory Business Manager (Executive Director), said, "We expect LG Uplus’s smart factory competitiveness to be further highlighted by signing a memorandum of understanding with Schaeffler Korea, which has accumulated technology and know-how over a long period." He added, "We will further strengthen our capabilities so that SMEs and mid-sized companies can operate their factories with confidence."

Kim Young-gyu, Head of Industrial Machinery Division at Schaeffler Korea (Executive Director), said, "By collaborating with LG Uplus, which is expanding secure wireless private networks to power plants and factories, we will enhance the installation convenience and performance of wireless vibration sensors to the next level." He added, "We expect to provide customers with easy access to Schaeffler’s predictive maintenance solutions through LG Uplus’s network."

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