9 out of 10 SMEs Satisfied with Win-Win Smart Factory Project... Project Should Continue

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Bo-kyung] Nine out of ten small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) expressed satisfaction with the Large-Small Win-Win (Samsung Electronics) Smart Factory project.

The Korea Federation of SMEs conducted a survey targeting 345 companies that participated in last year's Large-Small Win-Win (Samsung Electronics) Smart Factory project, jointly promoted with the Ministry of SMEs and Startups and Samsung Electronics.

As a result, 88.7% of SMEs responded that they were satisfied, citing reasons such as ▲improvements in manufacturing sites (72.9%) ▲low corporate burden (14.4%) ▲close support from Samsung Electronics mentors (consultants) (8.5%).

The satisfaction rate for this project has continuously increased for three consecutive years: ▲86.2% in 2018 ▲86.4% in 2019 ▲88.7% in 2020.

Solutions established through smart factories, such as MES (Manufacturing Execution System), ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning), and SCM (Supply Chain Management), also showed high satisfaction (80.3%) and utilization (67.5%). The reasons for satisfaction included ▲high effectiveness of production site solution application (40.8%) ▲ease of monitoring production sites (24.5%).

Participating companies reported effects such as a 23.8% increase in productivity, 24.9% improvement in quality, 15.6% cost reduction, and 17.3% shortening of delivery times. Among them, 15.1% of companies increased their workforce by an average of 9.1 employees, and 22.9% saw an average sales increase of 2.77 billion KRW.

Additionally, 93.6% of SMEs responded that smart factories are necessary to secure manufacturing competitiveness. The proportion of respondents who believe that the Ministry of SMEs and Startups’ smart factory construction support, scheduled through next year, should continue afterward was also very high at 93.9%.

Yang Chan-hoe, Head of the Innovation Growth Division at the Korea Federation of SMEs, emphasized, "To maintain the vitality of small manufacturing enterprises and enhance competitiveness, it is necessary for the next government to continuously expand the Ministry of SMEs and Startups’ 'Smart Factory Support Project.'"

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.