- They signed an agreement to cooperate on industrial robot-based smart factories.
- Cooperation between a smart factory leader and the No.1 manufacturer of industrial robots is expected to create synergy.
- A cloud-based robot service platform will enable O&M services specializing in heterogeneous robots.

POSCO ICT and Hyundai Robotics have agreed to actively cooperate in an effort to preoccupy the industrial robot-based smart factory market.  

The two companies recently signed a cooperation agreement at the headquarters of POSCO ICT in Pangyo. The signing ceremony was attended by POSCO ICT CEO Son Geon-Jae, COO Seo Yoo-Seong of Hyundai Heavy Industries Holdings’ Robotics Division (Hyundai Robotics), and other company officials. Their collaboration is gaining attention as it is between the number one industrial robot manufacturer in Korea and the country’s first smart factory builder that is now leading the related industries. 

They plan to form a smart factory consortium to create synergies through joint marketing and sales. POSCO ICT will establish applications for production, quality, facilities, energy, and safety management and provide robotic services based on its smart factory platform, PosFrame, while Hyundai Robotics will be responsible for robot-based automated process diagnosis and facility construction. 

Under this deal, the two companies will provide smart factory consulting and diagnosis services in 3D-based simulation by analyzing the existing process of a manufacturing company and realizing the environment that applied smart technology such as robotics in advance. In addition, a cloud-based operation and maintenance platform will allow the monitoring of facility operations in real-time and analyze relevant information so that the manufacturer can proactively respond to issues such as breakdowns, thereby enabling intelligent and integrated management of all plants. 

The outlook of the smart factory market is also bright. US market researcher ‘Markets and Markets’ predicts that the global smart factory market will grow exponentially from USD 121 billion in 2016 to USD 206.2 billion in 2022. The South Korean Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy also announced last year that it plans to supply 30,000 smart factories by 2025.

A POSCO ICT official said, "Under this agreement, we will be able to provide differentiated services in the industrial robot-based smart factory sector." We also plan to offer innovative robot-specific services in various manufacturing industries to help boost our customers’ manufacturing competitiveness."

An official from Hyundai Robotics expressed, “This agreement is expected to create synergy effects by taking advantage of the strengths of both companies. We will make every effort to become a company that leads the smart factory market in preparation for the Fourth Industrial Revolution.“