91% of SMEs Satisfied with Win-Win Smart Factories for Large, Medium, and Small Enterprises

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Dong-hyun] More than 9 out of 10 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) participating in the large-small win-win smart factory project with Samsung expressed satisfaction.

According to the Korea Federation of SMEs on the 4th, a survey was conducted in October-November last year targeting 202 participating companies in the "Large-Small Win-Win Smart Factory Project," jointly promoted by the Korea Federation of SMEs, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, and Samsung (Samsung Electronics, Samsung Electro-Mechanics, Samsung SDI). The results showed that 91.1% responded that they were satisfied.

The satisfaction rate by year has been increasing annually, from 86.2% in 2018 to 86.4% in 2019, 88.7% in 2020, and 91.1% in 2021.

The main reason SMEs were satisfied was the establishment of customized automation systems, accounting for 45%. This was followed by manufacturing site innovation (30.6%) and close support from Samsung mentors (22.5%).

Among the companies participating in the large-small win-win smart factory project, 18.8% experienced an average sales increase of 3.71 billion KRW. Additionally, 18.3% of participating companies increased their workforce by an average of 3.5 employees.

Responses indicating the necessity of smart factories for securing manufacturing competitiveness of SMEs reached 93.6%. In particular, 95.5% of SMEs responded that government support for smart factories should be continuously expanded.

Yang Chan-hoe, Head of the Innovation Growth Division at the Korea Federation of SMEs, stated, “As the results of digitalization of manufacturing sites and productivity improvement through smart factory establishment have become visible, the government should expand its support.” He added, “Through this, it is also necessary to expand support for smart factories so that SMEs do not fall behind in new industrial environment changes such as ESG (environment, social, governance) management and building safe workplaces.”