Hyosung Group sees artificial intelligence (AI) as a key factor that determines how the organization operates and its future competitiveness, and it is accelerating companywide innovation by introducing AI not only to employees' ways of working but also to production innovation through smart factories and to power equipment solutions.
On the 24th, the business community said Hyosung Group is speeding up its AI transformation (AX·AI Transformation) under Chairman Cho Hyun-joon's leadership. Cho recently told employees, "AI is at the center of a rapidly changing business environment," and urged them to "actively identify areas where AI can be applied to each organization and task." He also emphasized the need to prioritize using AI not only for specialized tasks but also for day-to-day work to build experience and develop habits of working with AI.
◇ AI adoption culture starting with executives and heads of team
Hyosung Group first moved to create a culture in which executives and heads of team can use AI. To gradually raise employees' AI capabilities, Hyosung Group is running quarterly special lectures. Following the first AI lecture in Nov. last year, the second session was held at the Mapo headquarters on Jan. 28 this year. The judgment was that only when leaders' understanding and experience change can AI use spread across the organization.
The regular special lectures consisted of sessions that helped employees understand AI more naturally and apply it to their work. In addition, there was practical training that could be applied to a changing work environment, covering AI's basic operating structure and use cases.
AI-based innovation is also taking place in the power equipment field. Along with the digital transformation of production sites, Hyosung is advancing intelligent power technologies in multiple directions to meet rising power demand and growing grid complexity in the AI era, strengthening competitiveness in power solutions.
Hyosung Heavy Industries has enhanced grid stability and flexibility with next-generation transmission technology through a voltage source high-voltage direct current (HVDC) system and with stabilization technology using next-generation power stabilization devices. Recently, it also began developing the energy storage–integrated "e-STATCOM," expanding technologies that can respond to the changing power environment.
A Hyosung Group official said, "Through an intelligent power technology portfolio that organically combines technologies in each area—such as equipment asset management, transmission technology and power stabilization—we are comprehensively responding to changes in the power market driven by AI, data centers and renewable energy."
◇ Global smart factories connected by big data
Hyosung Group has built domestic and overseas business sites into smart factories. According to Hyosung Group, Hyosung has built smart factories at overseas business sites in China, Vietnam and India, and at major domestic business sites including the Hyosung TNC Gumi plant and the Hyosung Chemical Yongyeon plant, connecting global production sites on a data basis.
In particular, since 2018, smart factories have been introduced at seven global spandex plants—in Quzhou, Jiaxing, Guangdong and Zhuhai in China; Dong Nai in Vietnam; Brazil; and Türkiye—to collect and analyze all process data in real time from raw material imports to production and shipment.
This has enabled not only monitoring of production status but also detection of quality risks and identification of signs of equipment abnormalities. It also established a data-based operating system that can maintain the same quality standards across global production bases. The production, equipment and quality data accumulated in this process are being used to improve production efficiency and stability, while also being managed as important data assets that can be used for AI analysis.
Since 2019, Hyosung has promoted the "C-Cube project" to digitize customer requirements, complaints and feedback collected on site and to build an integrated customer response process that covers customers' customers (VOCC) and competitors (VOCO). Hyosung Group is turning the voice of customers collected from 34 manufacturing subsidiaries in 27 countries worldwide and from 66 trading subsidiaries and offices into databases to manage market conditions, technical information, customer complaints and response status in real time.
A Hyosung Group official said, "The operating data and customer data accumulated at manufacturing sites are the foundation and asset on which advanced analytics, including AI, can be applied," adding, "This is becoming the basis for Hyosung to evolve from 'a company that makes things' into a manufacturing company that understands customers and the market based on data."