We are entering a new era of manufacturing, one in which computers and machines are coming together to perform automated actions. Even more impressive, they are able to do this with less and less human involvement, learning from their mistakes and teaching themselves to constantly perform better.

Smart factories operate autonomously as the machines talk to each other through sensors – reducing faulty products and waste.

This new era, what is being called Industry 4.0, is one in which manufacturing moves beyond some of its former limitations by becoming more efficient, less wasteful, and much more productive. Corporations like Siemens, BASF, GE, and POSCO are leading the way by designing smart factories connected through IoT technology and artificial intelligence that produce higher quality products with less waste.

Industry 4.0 and the Smart Factory

The First Industrial Revolution marked the movement from pure human labor to using machines. Steam engines also appeared helping move things along further and more quickly. Next came electricity, and with it, mass production. The Third Industrial Revolution saw the rise of computers, more automation, and the replacement of some human labor. Now, we are entering the Fourth Industrial Revolution, or Industry 4.0, in which these machines interact and learn from each other with little to no human interference.

(Infographic courtesy of Christoph Roser)

With Industry 4.0 we are seeing the smart factory. A smart factory is a physical manufacturing system connected by AI, IoT, and tons of data in the cloud that teach the systems to work by themselves and make improvements without human involvement.

Bernard Marr says that for a factory to be considered Industry 4.0, it must include:

• Interoperability — machines, devices, sensors and people that connect and communicate with one another.
• Information transparency — the systems create a virtual copy of the physical world through sensor data in order to contextualize information.
• Technical assistance — both the ability of the systems to support humans in making decisions and solving problems and the ability to assist humans with tasks that are too difficult or unsafe for humans.
• Decentralized decision-making — the ability of cyber-physical systems to make simple decisions on their own and become as autonomous as possible.

In the examples below, we can see how three corporations are bringing these pieces together to advance smart factory production. Siemens, GE, and BASF have all utilized this technology to build a more efficient production system, and POSCO is doing the same in its steel production line.

Siemens, GE, and BASF – Case Studies in Smart Manufacturing

Siemens

The Siemens AG plant in Amberg, Germany, is unique in that it not only produces automated machines to be used in other industrial factories, but that it does so using fully automated machines in its fully connected smart factory. With over 1,000 manufacturing units connected via the web across 100,000 square feet, each step of the manufacturing process is automated and programmed to make customized products immediately.

The plant, established in 1989, is currently operated with around 1,200 employees and about 75% of operations are automated. The plant manufactures more than 12 million programmable logic controls (PLCs) that are used to automate cruise ships, automobile production lines, and ski lifts to name a few. With production quality at an impressive 99.99885%, an inspector would be hard pressed to find any defective products.

While Siemens has largely automated the production process, workers are still needed in the beginning to place the circuit board on the production line and supervise it through its production cycle. Producing more than 1,000 product variants for over 60,000 customers worldwide, Siemens has developed a model smart factory with automated systems creating nearly perfect products with less waste.

BASF

At BASF, the chemical giant incorporated a smart factory system so that it could manufacture fully customizable soaps and shampoos. When an order is placed, the automated factory line adjusts its protocols to make the unique product and packaging that was ordered by the customer. The set up is automatic and the quality is near perfect.

At its smart pilot plant in Kaiserslautern, Germany, once an order is placed for a personally customized soap or shampoo, radio-frequency ID tags that are attached to the soap containers send out wireless signals. These wireless signals tell the machines on the production line about the customized order.

The setup and manufacturing process is automated, exact, and with near perfect quality control.

GE

At GE’s Advanced Manufacturing Works in Greenville, South Carolina, engineers are working on new ways to streamline smart factories using AI and IoT technology. This $75 million plant sits next to where GE makes the world’s largest gas turbines – products manufactured on a huge scale with incredibly intricate pieces. They have introduced smart factory systems into this factory and are working to provide more to its other plants around the globe.

Staffed with 80 engineers, PhDs, and machinists with decades of experience – they will use the Advanced Manufacturing Works to try new manufacturing and design ideas in order to streamline the production processes of other factories.

POSCO Implements AI Into Its Smart Factories

POSCO CEO Ohjoon Kwon recently visited Siemens and GE to compare their work in smart factory systems with POSCO’s. All three of them are working on vastly different products; however, the ideas behind the technology are similar.

At POSCO’s Gwangyang Works, they have installed a data integration infrastructure that encompasses all of its operations and facilities. This technology uses an automated control technology that predicts the coating weight of zinc in automotive steel in real time to precisely control the Continuous Galvanizing Line (CGL), the primary technology used in automotive steel sheet production. In combination with the coating weight system, they have also created a data pre-analysis system that can preemptively detect abnormalities.

POSCO’s smart factory systems have improved quality and reduced waste

Coating weight control is a highly-sophisticated technology that keeps the thickness of the coating layer consistent – even when operating conditions change suddenly. When coating weight is controlled manually, quality deviates depending on the skill level of the worker, inevitably resulting in significant amounts of wasted zinc. However, the plating process is now automatically controlled by artificial intelligence, increasing the quality of POSCO’s automotive coated steel while decreasing production costs.

Also, in order to apply smart technologies more quickly, POSCO Group University is partnering with POSTECH (Pohang University of Science and Technology) to build an AI ecosystem that nurtures AI specialists and fosters advanced research. POSCO Group University will be in charge of launching related training programs POSCO and its subsidiaries, while POSTECH Information Research Laboratories (PIRL) will be in charge of developing content for basic and advanced courses to increase people’s understanding of AI, big data, programming, pattern recognition, machine learning, natural language processing, and computer vision. This partnership will serve as a significant milestone in expanding cooperation between companies and academic institutions, a fitting move in the era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

POSCO, Siemens, GE, and BASF are all utilizing the connected technologies of Industry 4.0 to move their industries forward. GE recently estimated there will be over “50 billion connected devices by 2020 and that the Industrial Internet could add $15 trillion to global GDP in productivity gains over the next 20 years.” Despite the industry barriers facing steel companies, POSCO is leading the industry in implementing connected technologies that will help them build the smart factories of the future and remain competitive for years to come.

Chain—Linking the Past to the Present

When we hear about chainmail, historically referred to as mail, it is easy to imagine medieval knights riding horseback through damp, grassy battlefields.

Mail has been used globally for centuries as an important piece of body armor that when worn, could be the difference between life and death. When it was first developed, mail was forged by connecting a series of small wrought iron rings. Later on, heat-treated steel became more widely used because of its improved durability.

Today, steel chainmail has many practical uses as protective clothing. Butchers, for example, wear steel chainmail coats and gloves to protect themselves while operating large knives and blades. Woodworkers also wear similar chainmail gloves to prevent accidents such as punctures and cuts.

In 1980, marine biologist Jeremiah S. Sullivan developed an armored wetsuit to protect divers against shark bites. The steel mesh suits were meant to deter sharks from wanting to take a bite out of the wearer, and have proven successful to an extent.

Modern “sharksuits” are developed by the company Neptunic, which utilize steel mesh to protect aquarium workers and underwater photographers. Much like the early medieval adaptations, these steel sharksuits carry a heavy price tag and limited mobility.

Protecting What Matters Most

In 1941, the United States made improvements to their military helmets using steel. The steel M1 helmet was designed to better protect American soldiers during World War II and by 1945, over 22 million M1 helmets were manufactured.

Each helmet was constructed from a single piece of Hadfield manganese steel, and was strong enough to stop a bullet. Because the helmets were constructed from durable steel, they took on many other uses as well. Soldiers found their helmets to be extremely effective entrenching tools, hammers, seats and occasionally, cooking pots.

The M1 helmet was so effective, that it only began to be phased out during the 1980s, seeing action in the Korean War, Vietnam War and other conflicts across the globe. While the United States has stopped issuing the M1 helmet, it is still widely used internationally, and is a highly sought-after item of collectors of military memorabilia.

These Boots are Made for Walking

Properly equipping workers in hazardous environments is crucial. Construction, mining, oil and gas, heavy metal fabrication, agriculture, forestry and manufacturing all offer many ways for workers to put themselves (and their feet) at risk on a daily basis. Dropping heavy equipment on a toe, or stepping on a sharp object that can pierce a foot are dangers that can be avoided with steel-toed boots.

Quality work boots are typically reinforced with a steel toe that, along with protecting against heavy falling objects, can also shield feet from other lurking dangers like chemical waste. Steel toe boots are a vital part of any industry worker’s outfit, and help to keep them injury-free each day.

Shielding Against Radiation

In addition to the many other ways steel can be utilized in protective clothing, it can also be used as a maternity shield. With the abundance of mobile devices, computers, cell towers and other radio frequency-emitting culprits, there is a threat of non-ionizing radiation that moms-to-be are rightfully concerned about.

Stainless steel fibers are being woven into maternity clothing, adding an extra layer of protection. The stainless steel fibers can be blended with other fabrics like cotton and polyester, forming fashionable and comfortable tops that reduce the risk of everyday radiation exposure. The metal fibers have been shown to shield more than 99 percent of electromagnetic waves, providing new moms with peace of mind.

Steel has been protecting humans from danger for centuries, becoming more versatile and extensive with its capabilities over time. With advancing technology, it will be fascinating to see the ways that steel will be used in future protective clothing, as it continues to keep us safe from head to toe.

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The images that cross your mind may seem apocalyptic, or even impossible to fathom. There is barely a part of our lives today that is not influenced by the metal, and it is not an exaggeration to say that steel is perhaps the most significant component of the modern world. Without it, civilization as we know it would cease to exist. Let’s take a look at a few ways the world would be a different place without steel.

Skylines would be incredibly boring.

Structures such as skyscrapers and towers would be inconceivable without steel supports and cables. Therefore, buildings would be low-rise at their tallest, making densely populated cities devastatingly uncomfortable. It’s hard to imagine a world without the likes of the Burj Khalifa, the Eiffel Tower or the Empire State Building, all of which utilize steel as a main construction component.

We’d have very few options for dinner.

The food we eat today has been refined in factories with steel tools, processed with steel equipment, baked in steel ovens and preserved in steel cans. It is delivered to us via steel trains on steel rails, or by steel trucks over steel-reinforced roads. As such, in a world without steel, our food sources would be limited to what could be cultivated locally and the possibility of faminewould be persistent.

Getting in touch would take for-ev-er.

(Image source: http://bit.ly/1dgLFuc)

Without steel to manufacture telephones, computers or even mail trucks, we would be stuck relying on less than efficient carrier pigeons (which were actually a thing a few thousandyears ago) or the pony express. So much for instant connection.

Reading material would be extremely limited.

(Image source: http://bit.ly/1tNFW6q)

Newspapers, magazines and books we read today are mostly printed on a steel press. Even the paper is made from wood which is cut with steel implements and processed in steel machines. Mind you, there wouldn’t be any steel-plated pens, either, so quills would be used to write and copy the material. Of course, there might be bronze movable type printing, but it would still take a very long time and amount of patience to carry out.

Disease would run rampant.

Stainless steel has contributed greatly to improved sanitation in hospitals, restaurants and other public environments, and has helped to save the lives of millions. Easy to clean, it is more hygienic, impervious to corrosion and scratch-resistant, and is capable of standing up to harsh sterilizers, heat and heavy use, preventing deadly bacteria from surviving on its surface. Without it, the constant threat of diseases such as Ebola and measles would be very real.

Unemployment would rise and the economy would crumble.

Crude steel production reached 1.66 billion tons worldwide in 2014 which only says one thing about our world… it’s growing. It’s estimated that more than 95 countries are producing steel today, with more than two million employees worldwide, and a further two million contractors and four million people in supporting fields. Without this vital industry, the world economy would suffer and many people would be without jobs.

A glimpse into the world of steel

Fortunately, we do live in a modern world where steel does exist and its importance is clear. Yet few people tend to notice it, or understand how it works. Which is why TenarisUniversity, in conjunction with the World Steel Association’s steeluniversity, has launched the massive open online course (MOOC), “Introduction to Steel.”

This lively online learning program will feature the basics of steel melting, steel’s historical and cultural context, its relationship with society and the sustainability of a world supported by steel by utilizing everyday examples, demonstrations and film footage of steel making. Additionally, it will encourage community interactions between students and the professor.

“We believe in the highest standards of education to develop people all around the world,” Rolando Lange, Director of TenarisUniversity noted. “With this MOOC, we hope students will get passionate about steel as a material and learn about the critical role it plays in our society.”

Comprised of a four-hour framework, the course is open to all free of charge. It starts on June 2 and will run for two weeks. Registration is now open. Click here to enroll in the class, or for more information.

As a part of ‘Habitat Vietnam’ project, the houses were built over the past two months by the volunteers from POSCO Vietnam, the experienced participants from Habitat Vietnam and the students who were granted with POSCO’s scholarship in Vietnam.

Houses with Love Deliver Shelters for Many Locals

Tran Minh, one of the local residents who can now live in the houses built by POSCO expressed his gratitude. “I am really happy to receive such a beautiful house. From now, I don’t need to worry about rain or flood any more. This will be a happy home and I would like to send POSCO a deep gratitude. This will change my life completely.”

POSCO SS VINA’s General Director, Ryu Ju-yeol also shared his overwhelming feelings during the ceremony. He said, “POSCO has always been proud to support local communities, as we did in Gwangyang and Pohang. For our overseas operations, POSCO also puts its best effort for the community development.” “I hope that the lives of Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province residents get better via this house-building project,” he added.

Launching IT Room For Tan Hoa Commune

POSCO Vietnam also launched an IT room to provide job trainings for socially neglected residents at Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province’s Tan Hoa Commune. POSCO sponsored eleven computers and other necessary equipment for the facility in order to train IT skills for the locals.

Upon the launch, Manager of POSCO Volunteers, Yang Weon-jun said “I would like to thank POSCO volunteers for all the effort they have put to make this project come true. This IT facility will help the local residents to earn their own livings with the knowledge from the trainings they will receive here.” The IT room will be managed by Kim Kwang-seok, a general manager of representative office of POSCO ICT in HCMC, Park Yong-nam, a deputy general manager of POSCO ICT and other POSCO employees.

Bringing the sharing culture of POSCO to Vietnamese Students

25 POSCO Scholarship students from the Vietnam National University of HCMC (VNU) and University of Da Lat participated in this project and they played a major role in building love-houses at Tan Hoa Commune.

When I asked Phan Nguyen Vu, a 3rd year student from VNU, about his participation in the project, he told me, “I am not used to the voluntary activities in Vietnam. I think it’s very interesting to take part in and to find the profound meanings of this activity.” He also said he would like to thank POSCO for giving him a chance to be part of the heart-warming project.

In the near future, POSCO Vietnam will organize more volunteer campaigns with the local Vietnamese students in various areas. I will keep tracking POSCO’s humane supports for Vietnam and also share the moments with you at ‘Hello, POSCO.’