Kim Cheol-yu, CEO of Baekje, a small and medium-sized enterprise that produces and sells foods such as rice noodles and tteokguk, said, "Through product automation, sales increased by 10 billion won in four years," and emphasized, "We will continue to pursue robot automation innovation and production process automation to secure competitiveness."
Kim made these remarks at the SME AX Leaders Forum, held on the 26th at the Shilla Hotel in Jangchung-dong, Seoul, under the theme "Turning crisis into opportunity, making innovation the future." At the forum, Kim presented a case study on process automation under the theme "Baekje's process automation innovation for the globalization of K-food."
The SME AX Leaders Forum is a forum in the small and venture business field first hosted by ChosunBiz, the economic media outlet of the Chosun Media Group. Officials from the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, its affiliated agencies, small and medium-sized enterprise CEOs, and AI experts are taking part to assess the current crisis facing small businesses and discuss AX strategies to drive innovation. SME is the English abbreviation for Small and Medium Enterprise, meaning small and medium-sized businesses.
Baekje was founded in 1978 and is a small and medium-sized food company that produces and sells products such as rice noodles, tteokguk, and udon. It currently exports products to 14 countries, including the United States, Canada, and Taiwan, and has recently expanded exports to Japan and Australia.
Kim emphasized that automating processes is important for strengthening K-food's export competitiveness. He said, "Korean food is growing together with K-culture such as music and film," and added, "To compete in overseas markets, not only taste and quality but also price competitiveness is important." He went on to stress, "Process automation is beyond necessary—it is essential."
The first area to be automated was remote temperature and humidity control. He said, "Temperature and humidity are important in noodle and tteok production," and added, "By introducing a remote control system to manage via mobile what used to be done manually one by one, we improved management time, efficiency, and quality across the board."
They also focused on automating the packaging process. Baekje automated tasks such as adding soup packets, replacing rice noodle roll film, and multipack packaging, reducing manpower and increasing efficiency. Kim explained, "By automating roll film replacement, we lowered employees' labor intensity, and by reducing the time per task to about five minutes, productivity rose significantly."
Baekje has automated 228 processes over four years. This is the result of carrying out the Samsung Smart Factory project, investing a total project cost of 847 million won to identify and execute tasks.
The results are clear. Sales increased by 5.5 billion won, from 29.4 billion won in 2021 to 34.9 billion won in 2024, and this year they are expected to reach 40 billion won. In other words, the company achieved growth of 10 billion won in four years of investment.
As the company grew, its workforce also increased. The number of employees rose by 31, from 98 in 2022 to 129 in 2024. Kim explained, "There were concerns that automation of the production line would reduce headcount, but as the company grew, the number of needed employees actually increased."
Kim emphasized, "During the automation process, members' perceptions of automation changed positively," and added, "We are investing an additional 2.2 billion won to pursue robot automation innovation, production process automation, and energy innovation."