Kwak Yeon-soo is a digital editor at The Korea Times creating, editing and curating digital content for the newspaper’s website, mobile app and social media. She previously covered a diverse array of cultural, political and business topics.
POSCO named 'lighthouse factory' by WEF
An image of a POSCO steel mill in Pohang, North Gyeongsang Province, being analyzed by its smart factory technology / Courtesy of POSCO
By Kwak Yeon-soo
By Kwak Yeon-soo
POSCO was selected as one of 10 “lighthouse factories” by the World Economic Forum (WEF) for its leadership in applying Fourth Industrial Revolution technologies to drive financial and operational impact, the company said Wednesday. With the feat, POSCO became the first Korean company to earn the recognition.
The WEF, also known as the Davos Forum, welcomed 10 new factories into the global Lighthouse Network, which represents a range of industries and provides a platform for sharing knowledge and best practices for scaling up technology adoption.
“The POSCO plant leverages artificial intelligence (AI) to drive productivity and quality improvements in the steel industry,” the WEF said in a release. “It is building its own smart factory platform through a collaboration with a local ecosystem of academia, small-and mid-sized enterprises and startups.”
Previously, there were 16 lighthouse factories ― nine of them based in Europe, five of them in China, one in the U.S. and another one in Saudi Arabia.
The big win is the result of POSCO Chairman Choi Jeong-woo's continued efforts to build global competitiveness by adopting and integrating smart technologies to the world's premium steel factory.
Under Choi's leadership, POSCO has led the establishment of the smart factory platform. POSCO incorporated advanced internet of things (IoT), AI and big data into smart factories in order to more efficiently manufacture automotive steel.
Prior to being named the “lighthouse factory,” POSCO submitted its research cases that adopt AI technology, such as smart furnace technology and continuous galvanizing line (CGL) maintenance technology.