CHANGWON — Changwon in South Gyeongsang Province has been selected for the "artificial intelligence factory" category of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy's 2026 machinery and equipment industry technology development program. The city plans to spend 9.6 billion won ($6.7 million) through 2029 to develop autonomous manufacturing technology that would cut defect rates at home appliance plants in the Changwon National Industrial Complex by more than 30%.
The winning project is titled "development of an integrated autonomous manufacturing solution to upgrade production quality in multi-product, variable home appliance supply chains," the city said on the 21st. Total funding comes to about 9.6 billion won, including 6.3 billion won from the central government.
At the core of the project is linking manufacturing data from large companies and their small and mid-sized suppliers, centered on home appliance plants inside the Changwon National Industrial Complex. The project will also develop technology that uses AI and robots to run production processes, quality control and logistics as a single system.
The pilot will cover assembly, inspection, welding and logistics operations for clothing care systems and industrial air conditioners. Assembly robots and humanoid robots will handle parts assembly and inspection respectively, while welding robots will adjust weld position and speed depending on working conditions. Autonomous mobile robots, or AMRs, will move materials according to production speed and inventory levels, reducing waiting time between processes and logistics delays.
The city aims to combine the technological capabilities of large companies with the manufacturing experience of local suppliers to address both quality variation and production inefficiency. Through process improvements and data integration, it is targeting a reduction of more than 30% in defect rates and an increase of more than 30% in acceptable units produced per hour.
The project also seeks to improve working conditions. Robots will be deployed for heavy lifting and repetitive inspection work to ease the physical burden on workers, and to reduce exposure to hazardous conditions during welding.
"This project will serve as a cooperation model in which large companies and local partner firms use technology and data together to solve problems on the factory floor," Changwon Mayor Kang Ki-yun said. "We will stay in close communication with the field so that the pilot results lead to higher productivity, better quality and improved working conditions at local companies, and we will provide support so that Changwon can lead manufacturing AX innovation."
The city is pursuing an artificial intelligence transformation, or AX, of its local manufacturing sector in line with the government's plan to foster a southeastern manufacturing AI industrial belt, presented at a briefing on three mega-projects on June 29 this year. Changwon has been broadening its manufacturing innovation base through projects including a dedicated 5G network infrastructure program for industrial complexes, a manufacturing AX industry-academia innovation park, and a smart green AX pilot industrial complex. With the new AI factory project, it plans to expand the use of AI at home appliance plants.