Eight Major Achievements in Manufacturing AI Solutions Unveiled
Increased AI Adoption and Industry Collaboration Among Manufacturers
On the land where steel was once cast, algorithms now light the way.
On December 8, Pohang City and Gyeongbuk Province held the "Gyeongbuk AX Lab Opening Ceremony and 2025 Manufacturing AI Convergence Foundation Project Performance Sharing Session" at the 5th Venture Building of Pohang Technopark, officially launching a hub to lead AI innovation in the region's manufacturing sector.
Pohang City held the "Gyeongbuk AX Lab Opening Ceremony" on the 8th at the 5th Venture Building of Pohang Technopark in cooperation with Gyeongbuk Province. Photo by Pohang City
The event was attended by more than 30 participants, including officials from Gyeongbuk Province and Pohang City, Pohang Technopark, manufacturing companies, and AI companies. The program included an unveiling ceremony, a progress report, presentations of supported companies' achievements, and the sharing of AI adoption cases from other regions.
The Gyeongbuk AX Lab is a specialized facility dedicated to the development, demonstration, and dissemination of AI solutions based on manufacturing data. It serves as a hub for AI experimentation and application, directly addressing challenges in manufacturing sites such as steel, machinery, forming, grinding, and logistics.
During the performance sharing session held after the opening ceremony, the results of eight projects carried out through this year's Manufacturing AI Convergence Foundation Project were presented.
The achievement presentations consisted of five demand-customized projects, two regional linkage projects, and one dissemination hub project. It was reported that innovative technologies have been realized across all areas of manufacturing, including quality control, carbon reduction, inventory management, process control, worker safety, and logistics.
First, the "AI-Based Steel Plate Defect Detection System" led by Point is a project to build an artificial intelligence system that automatically detects surface defects on steel plates during cutting and processing. By applying deep learning-based technology and defect data augmentation algorithms, it replaces the existing manual inspection process. This is expected to improve inspection accuracy and reduce labor consumption.
ImpactivAI's "Raw Material Demand Forecasting and Intelligent Inventory Management Solution" is a system that enables AI to automatically predict the required amount of raw materials for steel manufacturing, helping to optimally manage order quantities and inventory levels. This is expected to reduce cost losses caused by excess or insufficient inventory.
In addition, Ingrid's "AI System for Calciner Process Optimization" combines AI control technology for achieving target temperatures in each process with a flame image analysis-based quality prediction model to monitor the operating status of calciners in real time and visualize it as a digital twin. As a result, temperature control errors are reduced to within ±5%, and defect rates are improved by 10%, leading to tangible improvements in quality.
Furthermore, the "Large Structure Transport Workplace Accident Prevention System" conducted by Usingtech is an AI safety solution that recognizes the real-time locations of people, equipment, and materials in heavy-load environments such as construction and manufacturing logistics, and uses avoidance control technology to prevent collisions and entrapment accidents in advance. This enhances worker safety and establishes a foundation for automating industrial logistics and transport operations.
Mayor Lee Kangdeok emphasized, "Steel and manufacturing are the core industries of Pohang, and AI technology is the key driver for a new industrial transformation. Through this project, Pohang's manufacturing companies will achieve innovation in all areas-safety, quality, energy, cost, and productivity-and further grow into the central city of manufacturing innovation in Korea."
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
