South KoreaManufacturing2011 – ongoingLS ELECTRIC
Cheongju smart factory
LS ELECTRIC's automated Cheongju plant raised daily output of 38 products from 7,500 to 20,000 units
Problem
The Cheongju plant makes many types of low-voltage circuit breakers and switches. Machines waited between jobs, and quality depended on manual handling and inspection.
Approach
From 2011 the company automated the Cheongju lines from parts supply to assembly, testing and packing, with automated guided vehicles, laser ID marking on each product and deep-learning visual inspection. In 2021 the World Economic Forum named the plant a lighthouse factory, the second in Korea after POSCO. The plant later used AI vision robots to check finished products and vibration sensors to measure switch noise.
Results
Takeaway
Workers needed per line halved, and the company said it transferred them to new business lines without job cuts. The company did not isolate AI's contribution to the wider automation programme.
Categories
- Size
- Large enterprise
- Industry
- Manufacturing
- Business function
- Production and quality
- Innovation type
- Process innovation
- AI technology
- Robotics and automationComputer vision
- Adoption
- Built in-house
- Evidence
- Company's own claim
Sources
Source summaries
MoneyToday visited the Cheongju plant a month after its WEF lighthouse selection. It describes automated breaker and switch lines, laser ID marking and deep-learning inspection, and reports productivity up more than 60%, equipment waiting time halved, energy use down more than 60%, the defect rate at 7 PPM and workers per line halved.
NewDaily reported on digital transformation across LS Group companies. For the Cheongju plant it reports that daily output of 38 low-voltage items rose from about 7,500 to 20,000 units, energy use fell by more than 60% and the defect rate dropped to 7 PPM.
EToday later visited the Cheongju plant. It reports the productivity and energy gains of more than 60% and says the workers no longer needed on each line were moved to new business lines. It describes AI vision robots inspecting finished products and gives annual volumes of about 26 million breakers and 12 million switches.
Full details are in the original sources.