Nam Hyun-woo has worked as a staff writer at The Korea Times since 2013, mostly covering business and politics. He currently belongs to the Business Desk where he covers topics such as emerging tech, AI, ICT and Korea's chaebol community. Prior to joining the team, he was the paper's correspondent for the presidential office of Korea during the Yoon Suk Yeol and Moon Jae-in administrations.
Hyundai Mobis employs AI to detect defects
A Hyundai Mobis engineer checks an electronic control unit for car steering parts at the company's plant in Jincheon, North Chungcheong Province, Tuesday. Courtesy of Hyundai Mobis
By Nam Hyun-woo
By Nam Hyun-woo
Hyundai Mobis has begun using an artificial intelligence (AI) system to detect defective products before their launch, in an effort to improve product quality and manufacturing efficiency, the auto parts maker said Tuesday.
According to the Hyundai Motor Group unit, it developed an algorithm recently in which an AI can detect faulty steering parts, and began applying the algorithm at its plant in Jincheon, North Chungcheong Province.
Under the system, the AI computer can detect faulty products by looking into the image data of the part ― an electronic control unit (ECU) of motor-driven power steering products.
ECU is a chip on which many micro elements are sitting. To check whether it is working properly, Hyundai Mobis has been using a camera-based system to check whether those elements are in the right place.
However, many faulty cases turned out to be functioning properly in actual tests, thus Hyundai Mobis' engineers personally had to inspect those parts found to be faulty with their eyes again.
The company said such a process was inefficient so it had the AI computer learn various types of functioning cases, so it can reduce the workload of engineers.
“Currently, the algorithm logs a 98 percent proving rate and the rate will be improved when the AI learns more correct samples,” a Hyundai Mobis official said.
Since the algorithm is applicable to manufacturing lines for other chips, the company will expand the use of the AI system to four other manufacturing lines. Also, it will apply the system at its plant in Tianjin, China.
According to the company, it also plans to use another AI system that can predict the demand for after-sales service in the first half of this year.
The forecasting system will analyze a vast amount of data on the weather, seasons, drivers' habits, number of cars on the road and each model's maintenance period and assist the company to prepare parts to cope with after-sales demand.
As Hyundai Motor Group's parts company, Hyundai Mobis is supplying 2.7 million parts for 244 vehicle models and struggling to manage its inventories. The company is using previous demand data to predict a year's demand, and the system will improve accuracy.
“The advance of AI technology is helping the company to address various limitations in its businesses,” the official said. “We will continue innovating our business practices by embracing more AI technologies.”