POSCO said on the 19th that it is recruiting corporations to participate in the "large-small win-win smart factory construction support program" to strengthen the competitiveness of domestic small and midsize manufacturers.
This program, promoted together with the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, is designed to help automate production sites of small and midsize corporations and support digital transformation (DX).
POSCO has granted a cumulative 12 billion won to the win-win cooperation fund since 2019 and supported the construction of a total of 632 smart factories. It will also grant 2 billion won this year.
POSCO supports everything from planning for smart factory adoption and system construction to subsequent cultural adoption, with consulting by the in-house expert unit "Win-Win Growth Support Team," which has more than 25 years of experience and know-how.
Saeil Jeonggi, which participated in the program last year, advanced its corporate work system to shorten manufacturing lead time by 5 days and lowered the defect rate of finished goods by 0.69 percentage points compared with before.
Daecheon, a ship parts manufacturer, also introduced an ICT-linked warehouse management automation system, cutting product shipment time by 23% and reducing logistics expense.
POSCO will newly introduce an AI track this year in step with the nationwide trend of artificial intelligence transformation (AX). This is an advanced stage that applies AI technology to the field beyond existing smart factory construction.
POSCO plans to operate a support system optimized for the level and circumstances of participating corporations through a customized program that covers the entire process from the basics of building smart factories to applying AI.
POSCO, in addition to low-interest loans for small and midsize steel trading corporations and the Steel ESG Win-Win Fund, is also operating a steel supply chain stabilization fund together with Korea Trade Insurance Corporation (K-sure) and Industrial Bank of Korea (IBK).
The fund is worth 400 billion won. Through this, POSCO has created a financial support ecosystem for steelmakers totaling more than 1 trillion won. A POSCO official said, "We are helping the practical growth of domestic small corporations through various co-prosperity activities."