SME 'Smart Factory' Support Think Tank Emerges

Smart Factory Think Tank Launches the 'Standard Technology Advisory Committee'

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Cheol-hyun] A think tank has been established to efficiently disseminate smart factories based on standards and support small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in securing manufacturing technology competitiveness. The Ministry of SMEs and Startups (Minister Park Young-sun, hereinafter referred to as the Ministry) announced on the 5th that it launched the "Smart Factory Standard Technology Advisory Committee" (hereinafter referred to as the Standard Technology Advisory Committee) at the Courtyard Marriott in Jung-gu, Seoul.

The Standard Technology Advisory Committee plans to develop new standards that collect, analyze, and process data generated during the process of SMEs developing or manufacturing various products, and enable sharing or utilization of such data. It will propose the introduction of standardization to companies and provide standardization advice to the government, serving as a control tower for smart manufacturing innovation standardization policies. A Ministry official explained, "Through the operation of the Standard Technology Advisory Committee, SMEs will have increased opportunities to improve productivity and discover new businesses, and the Ministry expects various effects such as developing and establishing standardization policies."

The Standard Technology Advisory Committee consists of 21 experts from various fields, including companies, academia, and research institutes with extensive experience in participating in international standard development or activities at the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) and the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). The committee will operate quarterly. Additionally, it will be organized into two subcommittees: Framework & Platform and Network & Device, which will be operated as needed.

In particular, about 40% of the committee members are businesspeople to maximize the collection of corporate opinions and facilitate easy adoption of standards by companies. Among smart factory construction companies, excellent companies and cases in the field of standardization will be actively discovered and promoted to support many companies in utilizing standardized results.

Jo Joo-hyun, head of the SME Smart Manufacturing Innovation Planning Group at the Ministry, said, "The Ministry is currently promoting a demonstration project for the introduction of smart factories based on international standards in cooperation with LNI (Labs Network Industrie) 4.0, an agency under the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs. We will also participate in establishing the national basic standard plan in the second half of this year and continuously develop and expand manufacturing data standardization policies related to smart manufacturing innovation."