POSCO Mobility Solutions Expected to Expand Robot Automation at Domestic, Poland, Mexico, and India Sites

POSCO Group is partnering with Yaskawa Electric (hereafter “Yaskawa”), one of the world’s top three industrial robot manufacturers, to actively expand robot deployment in POSCO Mobility Solutions’ flagship product, the drive motor core production site.

On the 14th, a three-party business agreement signing ceremony was held at POSCO Mobility Solutions’ Cheonan plant. The ceremony was attended by Shim Min-suk, President of POSCO DX; Kim Sang-gyun, President of POSCO Mobility Solutions; and Yamada Seigo, President of Yaskawa Electric Korea, along with other business partners.

Through this collaboration, POSCO Mobility Solutions plans to gradually implement robots that transport motor cores produced by POSCO Mobility Solutions to quality inspection measuring equipment and sort the transported products by quality grade. These robots will be deployed at POSCO Mobility Solutions’ Cheonan and Pohang plants, as well as overseas sites in Poland, Mexico, and India. Prior to this agreement, POSCO Mobility Solutions and POSCO DX had already installed and operated these robots at the Pohang plant last year. POSCO Mobility Solutions expects this collaboration to enhance safety and maximize productivity in industrial sites, laying a solid foundation for future cost competitiveness innovation.

To achieve this, POSCO Mobility Solutions will identify the robot requirements required for production sites, while POSCO DX will design the layout of the robot automation system, considering integration with existing production facilities and systems, and provide and build the entire automation system. Yaskawa will provide the optimized robots and provide technical support, including after-sales service.

The drive motor cores produced by POSCO Mobility Solutions are key components in electric and hybrid vehicles, converting electricity from the battery into rotational power to turn the wheels.

POSCO Mobility Solutions produces drive motor cores and supplies them to global automakers such as Hyundai Motor Company, Tesla, and Stellantis. Yaskawa possesses motion control-based robotics technology in the industrial robotics sector, providing a competitive edge in high-speed, high-precision processes.

A POSCO Group official stated, “We are pursuing productivity improvements by applying robotic automation to industrial sites such as steel and secondary batteries. Through this agreement, we will strengthen our three-way collaboration with Yaskawa, a global robot manufacturer, and expand physical AI-based robotic automation, combined with AI technology, not only within our group but also to external industrial sites.”

Meanwhile, POSCO Group is actively promoting the creation of a safe and comfortable workplace based on technology by expanding intelligent factories across its manufacturing sites to enhance per-person productivity and by applying unmanned robot technology.

▲ A Yaskawa robot is transporting a manufactured product to a quality inspection measuring device at the POSCO Mobility Solutions Pohang Plant’s drive motor core stator production line.

Save your valuable time. Watch a short version of a long YouTube video in just 3 minutes! In this article, we will introduce POSCO DX’s Robot Automation Center. Shall we listen to the story of POSCO DX Robot Automation Center, which is establishing safe and productive industrial sites by applying industrial robots to high-risk and high-intensity sites?

There are many dangerous and difficult processes at industrial sites. POSCO Group, the largest steel company in Korea, makes molten steel in a blast furnace with temperatures above 1,000℃, removes impurities, and produces high-quality steel with its own recipe. Due to the nature of this work, the company needs engineers with advanced know-how accumulated over 20 to 30 years.

However, a large number of highly skilled workers who have played an active role in the field are about to retire. That number is 7.4 million, accounting for 25% of the economically active population. As a result, companies are increasingly demanding industrial robots that reflect the technical know-how of veteran employees.

POSCO DX is particularly distinguished in the industrial robot market. Now, let’s take a look at the POSCO DX Robot Automation Center and the robot business!

The new POSCO DX Robot Automation Center established earlier this year is an organization that operates robot engineering in manufacturing and logistics as well as software technology for very dangerous and high-intensity work in steel mills based on its know-how at industrial sites. It is spurring the spread of AI robots at industrial sites to create a safe work environment.

Steel mills are considered representative high-risk sites because they handle molten steel. If they are automated with robots, safe work sites can be established. If robots are used in dangerous sites and people are assigned to other places, work productivity will naturally improve.

POSCO DX is becoming an “intelligent factory” powerhouse, automating everything from manufacturing to winning orders and sales beyond a smart factory! Let’s take a closer look at the examples POSCO DX has applied in the field.

① Dross Removal Robot

POSCO Gwangyang Steelworks No. 4 Plating Plant has a process for covering the surface of steel with zinc. In this case, when high-temperature zinc and the steel plate come into contact, a foreign substance called dross* is formed and the process will go smoothly only when this is removed at the right time. However, the zinc plating pot containing boiling hot zinc reaches temperatures around 460℃.
*Dross: Waste material formed when high-temperature zinc and steel plates come into contact.

Now, instead of people, dross removal robots constantly remove dross from the surface of the hot zinc plating pot in the field. In No. 4 Plating Plant, workers are usually in the operating room, and robots take care of the dangerous sites. Prior to the introduction of robots, a team consisting of four workers manually skimmed off foreign substances 10 times a day.

② Band Cutter Automation Robot

In addition, POSCO DX, along with Pohang Steelworks, pushed for the automation of the band cutter in the cold rolling process.

The coils produced in the rolling process of steel materials are thin and bound by bands and shipped to each plant in the form of rolls so that they do not unravel as they move. To perform reprocessing, the band binding the coil has to be removed, but at this time, the band may bounce off and injure workers.

To prevent such safety accidents, POSCO DX introduced the band cutter automation robot. This robot is expected to be expanded further since it can be applied not only to the rolling process but also to the stainless steel and electrical steel production processes.

③ Saggar Robot

Furthermore, POSCO DX is strengthening cooperation with the POSCO Future M Gwangyang cathode materials plant, which produces rechargeable battery materials.

They applied a robot automation system to replace a saggar, a refractory container for baking cathode materials. Saggar is contained in lithium and baked, and corrodes easily, so it must be replaced regularly, but the work intensity is high due to the large quantity.

However, POSCO Future M detected waste saggar with X-rays and POSCO DX automated the work of replacing the detected waste saggar with new saggar, reducing worker fatigue and performing the work more efficiently! POSCO DX and POSCO Future M are also closely collaborating to apply this automation system to the Pohang NCA cathode materials plant.

④ Automated Guided Vehicle (AGV) and AGV Control System (ACS)

POSCO DX’s robot technology was introduced to the POSCO Fulfillment Center in Gwangyang, which was completed this year.

POSCO DX has introduced robots from various manufacturers that play different roles in the field, and applied ACS* solutions for the integrated management of collaboration between robots and task assignments. ACS is a system that assigns a tasks to an Automated Guided Vehicle (AGV) or an Autonomous Mobile Robot (AMR), and creates the optimal route so they do not collide with each other. This system was jointly developed with Daim Research.
*AGV Control System (ACS): A system that controls the traffic of multiple unmanned transport devices.

In addition, POSCO Future M is increasing the capacity of cathode material production and automating raw material transport by using unmanned transport robots. This project is now underway in Pohang, Gwangyang, and Quebec City.

POSCO DX plans to become a leading company in improving safety and productivity by providing industrial robot solutions not only to POSCO Group but also to various high-intensity and high-risk sites. Please keep an eye on POSCO DX, which will grow into a company specializing in intelligent factories beyond smart factories based on its creative robot technologies!

▼Meet the POSCO DX Robot Automation Center through video!↓

Putting the spotlight on smart factories, industrial robot automation, & smart logistics systems

POSCO DX (CEO Jung Duk-kyoon) is participating in ‘Smart Factory+Automation World 2024’ held at the COEX Convention Center in Samseong-dong, Seoul for three days from March 27 to 29 and has launched full-fledged marketing by unveiling a smart factory, industrial robot automation, and smart logistics system that integrates ‘AI+IT+OT’, such as AI, digital twin, and PLC.

‘Smart Factory+Automation World 2024’ is Korea’s largest smart factory and automation exhibition, during which POSCO DX is garnering attention by showcasing to visitors the know-how of implementing smart factories in manufacturing sites such as the steel industry and secondary battery materials, as well as solutions in related fields.

The industrial robot automation sector showcases examples of applications in steel mills and secondary battery material production plants. An industrial AGV (automated guided vehicle) specialized for heavy and chemical industrial sites is exhibited and AGV control system (ACS) is being demonstrated. POSCO DX, which takes charge of robot expansion under the POSCO Group, develops relevant technologies and solutions and delivers overall solutions for robot automation, including consulting, design, construction and operation for field application.

POSCO DX is also promoting the logistics automation system of Hanjin Daejeon Smart Mega Hub, the largest of its kind in South Korea, built earlier this year. Hanjin Daejeon Smart Mega Hub is equipped with a dock capable of loading and unloading 200 vehicles and unloading 80 vehicles concurrently, making it the largest domestic logistics center capable of processing 120,000 items per hour. This greatly improved processing capacity has been made possible by adopting image recognition AI technology.

In addition to ‘PosFrame’, which collects data from manufacturing sites in real time, analyzes big data, and supports optimal control using AI, smart factory system POSCO Group’s smart factory platform that integrates ‘IT+OT’ technologies such as digital twin and PLC, is also being unveiled to visitors.

In particular, we created a model of an unmanned wire crane that integrates AI + IT + OT, such as Vision AI, AI-based optimization and abnormality detection technology, and facility control, and implemented it in the exhibition hall as a virtual factory using a digital twin, for visitors to observe the movement of the crane through VR. This is garnering keen attention by providing them a first-hand and immersive experience.

A POSCO DX official said, “This exhibition presented a good opportunity to confirm market interest in the company’s various solutions, such as industrial robots, logistics automation, AI and digital twins, and to establish the right direction on what technologies and services to provide our customers.” He then continued, “We will devote our efforts to becoming a company that kickstarts the digital transformation at the forefront of the domestic industry in the future.”