Busan City Improves Manufacturing Sector with AI Autonomous Manufacturing Technology

3 PM on the 28th at Grand Hyatt Seoul, Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy Hosts 'AI Autonomous Manufacturing Leading Project Agreement Ceremony'

AI Autonomous Manufacturing Technology Development and Enterprise Promotion... A Total of 31.2 Billion KRW Invested to Promote AI Autonomous Manufacturing in Manufacturing Companies

Busan City signed an agreement on the 28th to promote the ‘Artificial Intelligence (AI) Autonomous Manufacturing Leading Project’ implemented by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, and will officially begin technology development and business cultivation.

The signing ceremony took place on the 28th at 3 p.m. in the Grand Ballroom of the Grand Hyatt Seoul, attended by over 400 people including the Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy, local government heads (deputy heads), and institution leaders.

On the 28th, the AI Autonomous Manufacturing Leading Project Agreement Ceremony was held at the Grand Ballroom of Grand Hyatt Seoul.

On this day, the city, led by Deputy Mayor Lee Jun-seung, attended together with representatives of participating institutions and companies to announce Busan’s plan to foster AI autonomous manufacturing strategic industries.

The ‘Artificial Intelligence (AI) Autonomous Manufacturing Leading Project’ is an execution project of the ‘AI Autonomous Manufacturing Strategy 1.0’ announced by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy last May. It is gaining attention as a key means to solve challenges surrounding manufacturing such as labor shortages, productivity decline, and carbon neutrality by implementing autonomy through combining AI-based robots and equipment into manufacturing processes.

Busan is facing difficulties due to external factors such as demand slowdown in upstream industries and sluggish domestic consumption caused by crises in manufacturing industries (shipbuilding, automobile, aviation, machinery, etc.) following global supply chain restructuring including digital transformation and carbon neutrality, as well as internal factors such as aging production workforce and decreasing young labor force.

Accordingly, the city views the promotion of this ‘Artificial Intelligence (AI) Autonomous Manufacturing Leading Project’ as playing a key role in improving the manufacturing industry’s structure in Busan, and plans to mobilize active administration to spread technology development achievements and foster related industries.

Busan is the only city nationwide to select the aviation industry as an AI autonomous manufacturing technology task, investing approximately 31.2 billion KRW (8.7 billion KRW national funds, 17.6 billion KRW city funds, 4.9 billion KRW private funds), and will collaborate with a total of nine institutions to begin full-scale technology development.

The aviation industry is also a field attracting attention as an opportunity market due to explosive recent growth in air demand and global supply chain restructuring. In particular, the aviation industry is considered the most suitable field to lead AI autonomous manufacturing technology as it is the most complex among manufacturing industries and requires high reliability and high quality.

Therefore, from the planning stage, the city has firmly established a cooperation system among government, industry, academia, and research institutes, attracted aviation industry tasks, and is promoting the goal of implementing process autonomy by deploying multiple robots in large mobility parts assembly and processing processes.

▲ Robot system development is led by the regional leading company ‘DRB Automation’ ▲ Design and verification by Pusan National University ▲ Business support and dissemination by Busan Technopark ▲ AI autonomous manufacturing technology by Korea Institute of Industrial Technology, KP Aviation, Yonsei University, KAIST ▲ For advanced technology introduction, overseas institutions such as Boeing Korea and Washington State University also participate in technology development.

Once the technology is developed, it is planned to be actually applied in the aircraft rear fuselage parts assembly process at the Tech Center of Korean Air, a regional anchor company.

The city plans to create a future aviation mobility advanced manufacturing industry ecosystem linked with city policies through this ‘Artificial Intelligence (AI) Autonomous Manufacturing Leading Project’.

Busan Technopark will lead the establishment of an advanced manufacturing demonstration center for aircraft parts in the Mieum Industrial Complex, Gangseo-gu, to demonstrate the advanced AI autonomous manufacturing process technology developed in this project and spread it throughout manufacturing industries such as shipbuilding, automobile, and machinery parts, and provide consulting tailored to each manufacturing site.

On the 21st, the CEO of ‘CTC’ (an Airbus subsidiary) promised to open a Korean branch next year during a meeting with Mayor Park, and plans to attract multiple global leading companies to promote technological cooperation.

In particular, the city plans to launch a consultative body targeting leading companies in Busan’s strategic industries to concentrate all capabilities for spreading AI autonomous manufacturing, and will also promote technical support for AI companies, system integration (SI) companies, and robot and equipment development companies.

The city was recently selected for the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy’s project to establish a demonstration base for manufacturing industry process operation robot end-effectors (total 17.43 billion KRW), accelerating the cultivation of AI autonomous manufacturing supply technologies to foster the regional robot industry.

AI Autonomous Manufacturing Leading Project Implementation Details.

Deputy Mayor Lee Jun-seung said, “Busan is the only city nationwide that serves as a parts supply base performing manufacturing in all fields of aviation, shipbuilding, and automobile mobility, making it the most optimal environment to successfully promote and spread this AI autonomous manufacturing leading project,” adding, “We hope this project will become a driving force to revive the local manufacturing industry. The city will also do its best to expand support measures for corporate restructuring and technology enhancement.”