The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (Minister Kim Jung-kwan) held the 「1st M.AX Regional Expansion Conference」 on September 11 at the Grand Mercure Ambassador Hotel in Changwon, South Gyeongsang Province (Gyeongsangnam-do), to discuss ways to accelerate the artificial intelligence (AI) transformation of regional manufacturers. M.AX stands for Manufacturing AI Transformation.
 [코리안투데이] 지역 기업의 AI 전환 M AX로 앞당긴다 © 장형임 기자 |
The conference was organized to fully extend the manufacturing-AI achievements the ministry has built up in recent years to regional manufacturing sites. After launching the ‘M.AX Alliance’ in September last year — an industry-government-academia-research cooperative body bringing together manufacturers, AI companies, universities and research institutes — the ministry has laid the groundwork through key divisions such as AI Factory, AI semiconductors and AI robots. In particular, the AI Factory pilot project, carried out at roughly 170 workplaces, achieved a 30% improvement in productivity and a 15% reduction in defect rates, demonstrating a fundamental upgrade in manufacturing operations.
The ministry chose Changwon as its first venue because of the region’s solid manufacturing base in home appliances, machinery and robotics. In February, the M.AX Alliance’s 11th division, the ‘Industrial Complex AX Division,’ and the ‘Changwon MINI Alliance’ were launched at the Changwon National Industrial Complex, and this event was designed to strengthen a locally led M.AX ecosystem.
Alongside introducing AX cases applicable to regional companies, the event ran a ‘1:1 on-site consultation desk’ as a side program, with participation from specialized institutions and AI supplier firms. At the consultation desk, technology matching took place in which the difficulties of regional manufacturers hoping to pursue AX were diagnosed directly and tailored solutions were proposed. This is significant in that it lowered the threshold of manufacturing AI transformation — which has been led mainly by large corporations — for small and medium-sized and regional companies.
 [코리안투데이] 지역 기업의 AI 전환 M AX로 앞당긴다 © 장형임 기자 |
The ministry also introduced budget programs that regional companies can utilize. It explained the core content of and participation methods for new projects reflected in the 2027 government budget proposal, including the development of a full-stack AI Factory and manufacturing AI foundation models, the development of AI solutions leveraging tacit manufacturing knowledge, and the establishment of the M.AX autonomous manufacturing ecosystem. However, the 2027 budget proposal is set to be finalized after review and approval by the National Assembly.
Professor Shim Sung-hyun of Changwon National University, head of the Changwon MINI Alliance division, emphasized that ‘the starting point of manufacturing innovation in the AI era is not simply adding AI on top of a factory, but first defining the core problems on the manufacturing floor.’ He added that ‘the essence of manufacturing AX is connecting data across the entire process — from product design to production, operations and management — without breaks, and building a structure in which monitoring, prediction, diagnosis, optimization and execution flow seamlessly.’
In the on-site case presentations, LG Electronics and Samhyun introduced how they are identifying problems on their own manufacturing floors and solving them with AI. Under the theme ‘AX Transformation on the Appliance Sheet-Metal Manufacturing Floor — Present and Future,’ Soh Hyun-woo, a research fellow at LG Electronics, explained the problems and their resolution that arose from a process in which production conditions had been adjusted and defect causes identified by relying on the experience of skilled workers whenever the characteristics of raw materials or the condition of molds and equipment changed. LG Electronics is now linking together the information generated in the manufacturing process — raw materials, production equipment, product quality and more — and using AI to analyze the causes of defects and find optimal production conditions. Research fellow Soh said, ‘We plan to reduce defects and production losses while raising productivity and quality, and going forward to share manufacturing data even with partner companies, expanding this into an AI autonomous manufacturing system for the appliance sheet-metal field.’
 [코리안투데이] 지역 기업의 AI 전환 M AX로 앞당긴다 © 장형임 기자 |
Kim Chang-gon, vice president of Samhyun — a firm specializing in Motion Control Systems for automobiles, defense and robotics — explained that production, quality and logistics data had been fragmented and that a lack of connectivity between systems limited process tracking and data utilization, so that the know-how of skilled workers could not be systematically accumulated and used. Samhyun is transitioning to a manufacturing AX system that integrates manufacturing data to link design, production, logistics and quality information in real time. Vice President Kim said, ‘Our ultimate goal is to develop into an autonomous manufacturing system in which AI supports on-site decision-making and the entire process — from design to delivery to the customer — is organically connected,’ and said the company would refine the AX model secured through demonstration, expand it to production sites at home and abroad, and contribute to the spread of manufacturing AX in South Gyeongsang Province.
The ministry will fully activate regional collaboration support centers as local hubs for M.AX expansion, closely linking them with AX demonstration industrial complexes. The collaboration support centers are M.AX support centers that assist regional companies’ AI transformation through consultation, demand-supply company matching, education, consulting, commercialization planning and the spread of success cases; six are currently in operation nationwide. Beginning with this South Gyeongsang event, the ministry plans to hold regional M.AX conferences in turn across areas such as North Chungcheong, North Gyeongsang, and Gwangju-South Jeolla, discovering regional companies’ AX needs and broadly expanding M.AX through technology consulting and matching support.
지역 홍보대사 신청 기자양성과정 신청 코리안투데이 지부장 신청 코리안투데이 인천강화코리안브랜드대상 신청 최고경영인대상 신청 소비자만족도대상 신청
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