Ministry of SMEs and Startups Conducts Chuseok Livelihood Inspection... Listening to Voices from Digital Manufacturing Innovation Sites

Minister Lee Young of the Ministry of SMEs and Startups Holds Two Meetings on the 18th

Lee Young, Minister of the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, embarked on a Chuseok livelihood inspection and listened to voices from the field of digital manufacturing innovation.

According to the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, Minister Lee held a meeting on the morning of the 18th at the Incheon Regional Headquarters of the Small and Medium Business Corporation with companies located in the Namdong Industrial Complex in Incheon to discuss preparations for Chuseok.

Lee Young, Minister of SMEs and Startups
Photo by Yonhap News

The meeting was organized to check the financial status of small and medium manufacturing companies before the holiday and to explain the government's Chuseok holiday fund support measures on site. The government announced at the 19th Emergency Economic and Livelihood Meeting on the 31st of last month that it would newly supply 43 trillion won in loans and guarantees to ensure smooth funding for small and medium enterprises and small business owners before and after Chuseok.

Among this, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups plans to supply 3.6 trillion won (1 trillion won in loans, 2.6 trillion won in guarantees) through its affiliated policy financial institutions, and additionally plans to underwrite 3.6 trillion won in accounts receivable insurance to alleviate credit risk concerns related to small and medium enterprises' sales on credit.

Following this, Minister Lee visited ‘Faber Nine’ located in the Namdong Industrial Complex and toured the production lines including surface treatment and assembly processes. Faber Nine is a company that produces exterior products for TVs, home appliances, and medical devices, and has promoted process automation through the introduction of smart factories in 2016.

At the subsequent meeting, the ‘New Digital Manufacturing Innovation Promotion Strategy’ was introduced. The government announced that it will focus on fostering leading models and advanced factories by supporting 5,000 factories by 2027, and will encourage the establishment of 20,000 factories at the basic stage through local government support or private sector use of policy finance, thereby nurturing a total of 25,000 digital manufacturing innovation companies by 2027 through collaboration among the government, local communities, and the private sector.

The companies attending the meeting raised various difficulties experienced in the manufacturing field, such as expanding the spread of smart factories, strengthening manufacturing data utilization capabilities, expanding support for robot and automation facilities, and supporting overseas expansion of supply companies.

Minister Lee emphasized, “Digital transformation is a key issue in the recent global economy, which poses both a threat and another growth opportunity for manufacturing companies. The government will focus on nurturing leading digital manufacturing companies, strengthen customized support according to company capabilities such as support for robots and automation facilities, and create a data-based manufacturing innovation ecosystem. We will strongly promote the early establishment of the ‘New Digital Manufacturing Innovation Promotion Strategy’ announced today on site.”

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