Lotte Chilsung Beverage (005300.KS) said on the 12th that it held an awards ceremony for its 2026 AI Contest at Lotte EBC on the 8th. The contest, which ran from July through September, drew 336 employees who submitted a total of 198 cases of AI use.
The grand prize went to a team made up of Oh Dong-geun of the technology innovation team and Cho Min-gyu of the production technology team. They developed a program that automatically designs stacking patterns so that containers for new products can be loaded efficiently onto shipping pallets.
Previously, workers had to draw up odd- and even-tier pallet stacking patterns one by one using computer-aided design software, matching the size and shape of each new product container. Completing a single drawing took about an hour. The new program codifies the stacking standards used on the factory floor into rules, generating a stacking pattern and drawing in about 30 seconds once the required conditions are entered.
Lotte Chilsung Beverage expects the program to save about 300 working hours a year. The company said it can also compare the number of units that fit on a pallet, the optimal container diameter and projected annual shipping costs at the product development stage, allowing production and logistics efficiency to be weighed together.
Projects applying AI in human resources, sales and finance also drew high marks. One top award went to a human resources program that links job training with career development paths to suggest tailored learning plans for individual employees. A sales support system that automatically collects information on newly opened restaurants and delivers it to distributors daily, and a program that analyzes SAP expense data to generate budget reports automatically, also received top awards.
AI was used in judging the entries as well. A "contest screening AI" developed in-house by the company's AX, or AI transformation, project team reviewed about 200 submissions, analyzing and comparing the core content of each case based on gains in work efficiency, the level of AI use and relevance to actual job duties. After a final review by the AX project team, 14 teams were selected as winners, including one grand prize team, three top award teams, five excellence award teams and five idea award teams.
Lotte Chilsung Beverage has been expanding AI-driven automation of its operations. In August, it introduced AI into the search for overseas buyers, cutting a process that had taken about 50 hours to about three hours. Last year, it built a product label review system using generative AI, reducing review times that had run more than 30 minutes by more than half. It has also linked ChatGPT features to its own online store, Chilsung Mall, so that shoppers can search for products not only by name but by the occasion and purpose of drinking.
The company plans to refine the winning projects to fit actual working conditions and then apply them in other departments. It also plans to run regular gatherings, training sessions and workshops for participants to strengthen employees' AI skills. "The goal of this contest was to go beyond a simple technology competition and to find and improve projects that can raise efficiency and productivity in actual work," an official at Lotte Chilsung Beverage said. "We will continue to create an environment where employees can actively use AI in their work and support efforts that lead to real changes on the job."