Injection Moulding Asia Country Focus
South Korea: No stopping Asia’s master of innovations South Korea is leaving no stones unturned to
The sectors that are found to be more coalescing to a digital technology-based manufacturing setup are the automotive, petrochemicals, and information technology; while the steel, shipbuilding and machinery equipment sectors are following suit. Meanwhile, there is not a lack of companies that are taking interest in South Korea’s advanced manufacturing thrust, as viewed at the recent industry exhibition, Koplas 2019, which showcased a fete of technologies to demonstrate the readiness of the South Korean in smart manufacturing, a key component of i4.0. Organised by Korea E & Ex and the Korea Plastics Processing Machine Industry Cooperative (KPPMIC), Koplas had exhibitors from 27 countries.
further mature a technology-driven industry, says Angelica Buan in this review of the
recently concluded Koplas 2019 show, held 12-16 March in Seoul. The show spanned an area of 26,487 sq m with 4,300 booths occupied by 1,280 exhibitors. The total
number of visitors over the five days was 85,016, with 2,417 from overseas.
Tying up for further presence South Korea is among the world’s major bailiwick for automotive innovation, yet is on the verge of being outperformed by other vehicle producing countries such as India, China and Mexico, in terms of production and sales. Based on data from the Korean Automobile Manufacturers Association (KAMA), automotive production fell 2% to slightly over 4 million vehicles in 2018 from a year ago. Big automotive makers that have bases in South Korea are moving production elsewhere, like Hyundai Motors setting up in Mexico and India, and General Motors, which has opened a sales office in Incheon, sold its factory in Gunsan to Gyeongsan-based Myoungshin. Thus, to balance out the automotive industry’s lukewarm performance, South Korea is looking to other areas with high growth potentials for its i4.0-ready industries. In view of this, Italian auxiliary equipment company Piovan has started a partnership with local company Toba, to boost its presence in the country. “We want to increase sales, and at the moment Federico Ruzzon, Sales Director of Piovan (China), affirms that the are officialising a commercial partnership company’s partnership with South Korean Toba has bolstered presence with Toba, a key of Piovan in the country player in South Korea’s plastics industry,” said Federico Ruzzon, Sales Director of Piovan (China). Toba supplies factory
Charting Industry 4.0 South Korea has secured the top spot in innovation charts and has been cited the world’s second most innovative country after Sweden, according to the 2018 Bloomberg Innovation Index. This is not surprising as the world’s 15th largest economy is also the world’s top producer of mobile phones, semiconductors, displays, and vehicles loaded with the latest bells and whistles in connected mobility. As a strong contender in the advanced manufacturing arena, South Korea is actively adding on mileage to its Industry 4.0 (i4.0) blueprint to even up with its East Asian counterparts. The latter include Taiwan that is in a similar pursuit of forming a smart manufacturing framework; Vietnam, which is expanding the use of robotics on the manufacturing floors; China, which wields connected technology infrastructure in line with its One Belt and Road initiative and the Made in China 2025 manufacturing roadmap; and Japan, which has made a giant leap to what it calls Society 5.0, or the Super Smart Society that is epitomised by application of AI, big data, Internet of Things (IoT), and robotics. In the years to come, South Korea will be seeing its manufacturing industries become digitally driven. By 2022, it intends to build 30,000 smart factories and ten smart industrial zones. Obviously, adoption for i4.0 has the potential to further increase, based on an audit undertaken by the Bank of Korea in 2018. Of the 272 manufacturers taking part in the survey, more than half were of the opinion that the transformation is vital and thus are taking measures to adapt to the i4.0 concept. 4 M AY 2 0 1 9
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