POSCO ICT will develop and complete verification of  solutions to support smartization of industrial sites and strengthen the competitiveness of steel industry. 

Smart factory solutions supplied by POSCO ICT are on-site control systems including PosMaster and PosDrive and TMS (Tele monitoring system). POSCO ICT has completed the development and on-site verification of these solutions last year and launched a specialized organization early this year to establish a support system such as solution supply and maintenance. 

PosMaster consists of a programmable logic controller (PLC), a system that controls all industrial facilities, and a human machine interface (HMI) equipped with monitoring and operation functions. Existing PLCs have different communication and input/output methods as well as CPU depending on facility manufacturers, and it was difficult to efficiently respond to facility changes and expansion due to their closed structure. In particular, there were also restrictions on the collection and utilization of field data for smart factories because the form of field data was not standardized by each facility. 

The PosMaster PLC developed by POSCO ICT has an open structure, which is the biggest feature. IO cards from various facility manufacturers are available for general use, and it has the advantage of being able to freely exchange data with higher systems such as Motor Drive, Robots, and heterogeneous PLCs and PC/MES. In addition, it can be extended to a variety of control devices that meet customer needs as well as existing PLC/HMI programs. For example, PosMaster can be used as a controller by applying it to logistics systems and robot control systems in the field. 

POSCO ICT plans to apply PosMaster first to replace global manufacturers SIEMENS, MELSEC, TMEIC and HITACHI. In addition, PosMaster will be able to establish an affordable control system through interlayer integration including Level 2 Process Computer in PosMaster's basic PLC function, and develop a PosFrame Edge system including AI function within the year to support the steel mill's smart factory. PosMaster has carried out projects focusing on single and auxiliary facilities such as STS1 steel facilities in Pohang, improvement of slag yards in 2nd steel, and replacement of PLCs in 1st row, but plans to expand to continuous facilities and main processes in the future. 

AC motor drives are also being applied on-site. AC motor drives are controllers that control the rotational speed, direction, and transmission force of AC motors most commonly used in industrial fields. POSCO ICT has been commercializing its own brand of AC drive, PosDrive, in cooperation with DANFOSS, a global drive company, and has been pushing for full-scale application on-site since last year. Last year, it secured a number of application references centered on single facilities, and from this year, it is pushing to expand its application to continuous facilities and main facilities. 

In addition, Data Logger, a data collection device for TMS (Tele Monitoring System), which manages pollutants such as smoke emitted from chimneys, and FEP (Front-End-Processor), an intermediate data collection device, are also being developed and applied to the industrial site. POSCO ICT developed a solution and passed all 28 test items of the Korea Environment Corporation's air pollution process test standards and applied to POSCO's steel mills in August last year. It plans to supply them to industrial sites such as oil refineries, chemicals and power plants in the future. 

"We will supply competitive solution products with the latest technology through the business expansion of of PLC and Drive in the steel process" said the representative of POSCO ICT.