South KoreaManufacturing2025 – ongoingHD Hyundai Samho
AI autonomous welding and inspection of rudder trunks
A shipbuilder applied AI-based autonomous welding and inspection to rudder-trunk production and reports 50% higher productivity
Problem
HD Hyundai Samho builds large merchant ships. The rudder trunk, the structure that connects a ship's steering gear to its rudder, requires extensive welding and inspection.
Approach
Under the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy's AI Factory leading project, the shipyard introduced an AI-based autonomous welding and inspection solution in the welding and production of rudder trunks. The ministry reported the result in August 2026 among 42 early sites. By October 2026 the yard was also testing AI in block assembly with its supplier Daea Industry under a shipbuilding AI alliance, with plans to extend it to other suppliers.
Results
Takeaway
The shipyard started with one defined welded component, leaving the rest of the hull outside the project, then extended the approach to suppliers. The ministry reported a 50% gain without publishing a baseline.
Categories
- Size
- Large enterprise
- Industry
- Manufacturing
- Business function
- Production and quality
- Innovation type
- Process innovation
- AI technology
- Robotics and automationComputer vision
- Adoption
- Government support program
- Evidence
- Company's own claim
Sources
Source summaries
The ministry reported average productivity gains of 30.1% and a 15.5% fall in defect rates across 42 early AI Factory sites. HD Hyundai Samho introduced AI-based autonomous welding and inspection for rudder trunks and reported 50% higher productivity. The ministry did not say how productivity was measured.
Etoday reported the ministry's findings and explained that the rudder trunk connects the steering gear to the rudder. It repeats HD Hyundai Samho's 50% productivity gain from AI-based autonomous welding and inspection, without detail on timing or cost.
Korea Data Economy News reported the ministry's manufacturing AI figures, including HD Hyundai Samho's 50% productivity gain in rudder-trunk welding. It cautions that the reviewed sites were early performers and not representative of manufacturing as a whole.
Sidae reported on large companies' support for suppliers' smart factories. It said that HD Hyundai Samho and its supplier Daea Industry are testing AI transformation of the block assembly process under the shipbuilding M.AX alliance and plan to extend it to other suppliers. Sidae did not report results for this work.
Full details are in the original sources.