South Korean conglomerates are accelerating manufacturing automation to bolster productivity and bandwagoning on the leading group in the so-called fourth industrial revolution.

According to sources from the business circles on Tuesday, Hanwha Group plans to develop its own industrial Internet of Things (IoT) platform, a core technology in smart manufacturing that will enable full automation and practical robotics applications, for application in its defense unit Hanwha Techwin Co.’s aircraft engine making facility within this year.

A senior official at the group confirmed that Hanwha S&C Co., the information technology unit, will develop the platform, and Hanwha Techwin will be in charge of developing factory automation solutions for application in other manufacturing affiliates.

The group will first develop a system that can detect malfunctions and errors through sensors attached to each machine to check their conditions in real time. Its ultimate goal is to automate the system almost entirely to correct actions on its own to optimize manufacturing process through big data analysis.

Hyundai Wia Corp., the auto parts making unit of Hyundai Motor Group, has recently teamed up with Germany’s engineering giant Siemens AG to build a smart plant in Ansan in Gyeonggi Province by 2018 to use it as a test bed for technologies such as industrial IoT and Cyber-Physical System (CPS).

While Hanwha and Hyundai are focusing to develop smart factory solutions to improve their own manufacturing efficiency, Korea’s other big conglomerates are trying to sell their proven and tested manufacturing automation solutions to their peers.

LG Group’s IT solution unit LG CNS Co. aims to set up a smart factory platform for a local pharmaceutical company by the end of this year. The company has also launched an automatic food sorting system for farm produce distribution facilities.

Samsung Group’s IT solution unit Samsung SDS Co. has recently released its smart factory system dubbed Nexplant that had been used by its affiliates in the market. The group is seeking to sell the system that enables real-time monitoring of facilities through IoT sensors.

SK Holdings C&C Co. has also made its smart plant solution named Scala available to others. The malfunction prediction and prevention system has been under test in the printer production facility of China’s Hon Hai Group that is also planning to expand application of the system to its monitor producing plant after the test.

By Kim Jung-hwan

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