Support for Building Samsung Smart Factories... 93.6% of SMEs "Satisfied"

96.5% of SMEs Say Continued Expansion of Win-Win Smart Factories Is Necessary

The Korea Federation of SMEs announced the results of a survey conducted on April 4th targeting 195 participating companies in the '2023 Large-Small Win-Win (Samsung) Smart Factory Construction Support Project,' jointly promoted with the Ministry of SMEs and Startups and Samsung (Samsung Electronics, Samsung Electro-Mechanics, Samsung SDI).

According to the survey, 93.6% of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) expressed 'satisfaction' with the Win-Win (Samsung) Smart Factory Support Project, with more than half, 63.4%, responding that they were 'very satisfied.'

The reasons for satisfaction with the support project included ▲customized system and automation construction (43.5%) ▲manufacturing site innovation (32.9%) ▲close support from Samsung mentors (21.1%), among others.

The support project provides free 'on-site innovation activities,' where about 200 dedicated Samsung mentors directly transfer know-how at SME sites, and satisfaction with these 'on-site innovation activities' was also found to be 92.4%, marking a rise for five consecutive years.

Satisfaction with the smart factory solutions established through the support project (MES (Manufacturing Execution System), ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning), SCM (Supply Chain Management), IoT, etc.) was high at 89.5%, and the utilization rate among organizational members was also high at 72.7%.

Among participating companies, 19.8% reported an increase in sales (an average of 2.41 billion KRW), and 10.5% reported an increase in employment (an average of 4.3 employees), indicating that smart factories positively impact both sales growth and employment activation.

Furthermore, 96.5% of SMEs responded that the Win-Win Smart Factory Construction Support Project, in which the government and large corporations cooperate to support SMEs in building smart factories, should be sustained and expanded, citing the need for 'advancement for continuous manufacturing innovation' (97.0%) as the reason.

For policy support necessary to expand the Win-Win Smart Factory project, respondents cited ▲relieving SME burdens through expanded local government subsidies (48.8%) ▲expanding customized support projects by region and industry (21.7%) ▲resuming government support for basic levels (17.5%), among others.

Yang Chan-hoe, Head of the Innovation Growth Headquarters at the Korea Federation of SMEs, stated, "Especially from this year, to improve the quality of smart factories, we will focus on supporting the advancement stage and strengthen stepwise (basic to advanced) and industry-specific support such as ‘local government collaboration projects’ for SMEs needing foundational strength and ‘food industry support projects’ for fostering K-Food, which is expected to provide practical help to SMEs."

Meanwhile, since 2018, the Korea Federation of SMEs has been promoting the Win-Win (Samsung) Smart Factory Support Project together with the Ministry of SMEs and Startups and Samsung. Various linked programs are supported for participating companies, including ▲benchmarking visits to Samsung’s Gwangju plant ▲hosting the Smart Biz Expo for market development ▲post-management through the Smart365 Center, helping SMEs secure self-reliance.