KOTRA Supports Smart Factory Companies Entering Japan Market

Operation of Korean Pavilion at Japan's 'Smart Manufacturing Summit'

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and KOTRA announced on the 12th that they will operate a Korean company promotional booth and facilitate consultations between Korean companies and key buyers at the Smart Manufacturing Summit, held for three days starting on the 13th at the Aichi Sky Expo in Aichi Prefecture, Japan.

This summit is the Japanese version of the large-scale industrial exhibition 'Global Industrie,' held annually in France, and is being held for the first time this year. Under the theme of "The Future of Smart and Sustainable Manufacturing" in Japan's 'Industry 5.0,' a total of 239 companies, including 171 Japanese companies such as Toyota and Brother Industries, and 68 overseas companies, are participating.

Exterior view of the KOTRA headquarters.

At the Korean company promotional booth, six Korean companies with technological capabilities applicable to smart manufacturing, including production management solutions, industrial equipment, and IoT communication modules, will participate and operate booths. Through business consultations with Japanese companies, they plan to explore the applicability of Korean technologies to Japanese manufacturing sites.

Aichi Prefecture, which sponsors this event, has ranked overwhelmingly first in Japan for 44 consecutive years in terms of manufacturing shipment value. Centered around Toyota, major industrial clusters such as automotive and aerospace have developed, but there are many challenges such as aging facilities and labor shortages. Companies are actively promoting digital transformation to solve these problems, and the related market is also growing. According to Yano Research Institute, the size of Japan's manufacturing digital transformation market in 2023 is estimated to be about 1.8 trillion yen, growing approximately 3.4% compared to the previous year.

Kim Samsik, head of KOTRA's Japan regional office, said, "Japan is gaining momentum in the smart factory industry, driven by recent active semiconductor investments and the mobility transition in the automotive industry," adding, "KOTRA will continue to support the introduction of many of our next-generation technologies integrated with DX into Japan's manufacturing sites, where labor shortages are becoming severe."

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