Ministry of SMEs and Startups Supports Capability Diagnosis for Smart Factory Technology Suppliers

Application of KTRS-FM, an AI-Based Evaluation Model by KIBO... Enhanced Reliability
Support Expanded to Smart Service Companies

The Ministry of SMEs and Startups and the Smart Manufacturing Innovation Promotion Group announced on the 13th that they will recruit participating companies for the '2025 1st Smart Factory Supplier Capability Diagnosis Support Project' starting from the 21st.

The Smart Factory Supplier Capability Diagnosis is a project that supports capability diagnosis in areas such as management, technology, and project management for supplier companies wishing to participate in the smart factory dissemination project. For companies wishing for in-depth diagnosis, growth guidance through consulting is provided, and information about supplier companies is offered to help smart factory adopters easily find technology suppliers with capabilities suitable for smart factory construction.

The supplier capability diagnosis operates on two tracks: basic diagnosis and in-depth diagnosis. From this year, the AI-based technology evaluation model (KTRS-FM) of the Korea Technology Finance Corporation is applied to management and technology evaluations during the basic diagnosis to enhance objectivity and reliability. The in-depth diagnosis is conducted for companies that have undergone the basic diagnosis, deriving improvement directions and presenting mid- to long-term capability enhancement strategies.

Meanwhile, as a follow-up measure to the 'Smart Manufacturing Innovation Ecosystem Creation Plan' announced at the Economic Ministers' Meeting in October last year, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups is promoting the introduction of a smart manufacturing specialized company designation system and integrated management of supplier companies for the Ministry’s smart support projects. Since February, information on smart factory supplier companies and smart service technology supplier companies has been provided integrally through the smart factory project management system.

From this year, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups has expanded the scope of capability diagnosis support from existing smart manufacturing to smart service supplier companies to discover candidate companies for smart manufacturing specialized companies. The number of supported companies has also been expanded to 950, more than three times the previous year (300 companies).

Kwon Soon-jae, Director of Manufacturing Innovation at the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, said, "We plan to focus on establishing a foundation for domestic smart factory supplier companies to leap forward as specialized companies with global competitiveness through the advancement of the evaluation system and expansion of support scale," adding, "We are considering using this as one of the designation requirements when introducing the smart manufacturing specialized company designation system."