Robot Lifts Refrigerator Door with Precision... "Lighthouse Factory" Predicts 10 Minutes Ahead Like a Time Machine [AI Autonomous Manufacturing, Opening the Future]

"AI That Predicts 10 Minutes Ahead"
The Autonomous Manufacturing Lab 'Lighthouse Factory'
A Visit to the Refrigerator Production Building at LG Smart Park in Changwon
AI Intelligence System Predicts and Prepares for Problems
Robots Quickly Replace Dangerous and Delicate Tasks

In the middle of the grand refrigerator assembly line, a robot effortlessly lifts a door weighing up to 20 kg and fits it seamlessly onto the main body. The margin of error is just 0.15 mm. In the brief silence as metal meets metal with perfect precision, various refrigerator models continuously move along the surrounding conveyors.

Above, rails carrying material boxes transport parts without pause, while on the floor, logistics robots hurry along their routes. When visiting LG Smart Park in Changwon, South Gyeongsang Province on June 9, the facility did not feel like a simple factory, but rather like a living organism, moving organically and meticulously.

A robot installed at LG Smart Park is assembling refrigerator doors weighing 20 kg instead of humans. LG Electronics

In 2022, the World Economic Forum (WEF) selected this factory as Korea’s third “Lighthouse Factory.” A lighthouse factory is a next-generation manufacturing plant that, like a lighthouse shining over the sea at night, sets the direction for the global manufacturing industry. Upon entering the lobby on the first floor of the integrated production building, six large screens immediately come into view. The “digital twin,” which predicts the production process 10 minutes into the future like a time machine, and the intelligent inspection platform “PIE (Plug-in for Intelligent Equipment),” which detects equipment status, display real-time data.

The digital twin uses vast production data to predict part shortages or equipment malfunctions and sends preemptive warnings to workers. PIE detects the possibility of defects in advance and prompts corrective action. These systems are applied to the four key refrigerator processes?sheet metal, forming, foaming, and cycling?allowing real-time monitoring of production line operation, parts flow, equipment status, and production performance at a glance.

Supporting these systems is a sophisticated “three-dimensional logistics system.” In the third-floor workspace, parts that have traveled up from the first floor via continuous conveyors are moved to designated areas. On the floor, 50 automated guided vehicles (AGVs), each capable of carrying up to 600 kg, operate nonstop, while overhead, high-altitude conveyors (OHTs) transport materials weighing up to 30 kg. These systems supply various parts, such as PCB boards and door hinges, to workstations.

LG Smart Park employees are checking the operating status and potential errors of the production line through digital twin and PIE platforms. LG Electronics

Additionally, intelligent unmanned warehouses installed throughout the production line monitor inventory in real time and automatically request resupply when stocks run low. SPS (Set Part Supply system) boxes containing key parts move automatically to match the worker’s location, eliminating unnecessary movement and wasted time.

Robots are used not only for transport but also for complex tasks. With deep learning-based high-frequency welding technology, they precisely control temperature and time, and even check for refrigerant leaks after welding. Tasks that were previously difficult and dangerous for humans are now performed by robots with precision and safety.

All processes at LG Smart Park are completed within an average of 12.8 seconds. Fifty-eight different refrigerator models are produced simultaneously on a single line. Workers focus more on monitoring and controlling the system than on performing manual tasks.

Safety is also outstanding?so much so that complex protective gear is unnecessary. An LG Electronics representative stated, “Robot and AI technology goes beyond pursuing efficiency; ensuring worker safety as a technology for people is a key objective.”

Logistics robot AGV is moving around on the ground floor of the LG Smart Park Integrated Production Building. LG Electronics

The core of manufacturing lies in parts and processes. There must be minimal errors or defects, and the production line must operate without interruption. Only by simultaneously achieving both speed and perfection?two conditions that can appear difficult to coexist?can the best products be made. Now, the manufacturing industry is entering an era that demands not just automation, but “intelligentization.” LG Smart Park is leading the way in this transformation.

The government sees these “lighthouse factories” as the focal point for manufacturing innovation. The Lee Jaemyung administration has announced plans to establish a private and public investment base totaling 100 trillion won for AI transformation (AX), and the manufacturing sector is considered the core area where AI should be implemented first. The government’s plan is to expand the ecosystem by building “AI plants” centered around anchor companies.

The high-altitude conveyor OHT introduced at LG Smart Park is lifting boxes to transport parts. LG Electronics

Major conglomerates are also accelerating their own AI-based manufacturing innovation strategies. POSCO is automating the entire pre-processing stage of steelmaking in collaboration with its partners. SK Innovation has introduced an AI-based automated non-destructive inspection evaluation solution at the Ulsan CLX to improve both equipment efficiency and defect rates.

LG Electronics is preparing to expand the PIE platform across the entire group, while LG Chem is experimenting with its AI strategy by transferring process data accumulated at its mother factory to its cathode materials plant in Tennessee, USA.