The Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials (President Ryu Seok-hyun, hereinafter referred to as KIMM) under the Ministry of Science and ICT will showcase CNC domestic production technology, world-class metal 3D printing head, and machine tool digital twin software technology.

The Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials announced on the 1st that it will participate in the manufacturing technology exhibition 'SIMTOS 2024 (hereinafter referred to as SIMTOS)', held at KINTEX in Ilsan from April 1st to 5th and hosted by the Korea Machine Tool Industry Association, on the largest scale ever and will showcase a large number of CNC systems for machine tools developed domestically.

The 'CNC System Theme Pavilion for Smart Manufacturing Equipment', to be held in Halls 7 and 8 of KINTEX 2nd Exhibition Center and hosted by the Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials, will consist of a total of 45 booths (22.5m×18m), where the Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials will exhibit CNC controllers, servo/spindle motors and drives, and HMI (Human Machine Interface) development prototypes.

In particular, the Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials plans to demonstrate machine tools equipped with domestic CNC systems in cooperation with domestic machine tool companies.

The domestically produced CNC system on display is a product of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (dedicated organization: Korea Institute of Industrial Technology Planning and Evaluation) 'Manufacturing Equipment System Smart Controller Technology Development Project (2020-2025, General Institution: Machinery)As a result of the research and development of ‘Yeon’, KCNC Co., Ltd., a CNC specialized company established as the first domestic cooperative model between demanders and suppliers, participated in the development.

The CNC (Computer Numerical Control) system is an electronic module for automatic control of machine tools that interprets a processing program in a controller with a built-in computer processor and transmits it to an actuator to perform manufacturing work. It is a device that performs a role similar to a computer CPU or smartphone AP.

CNC is the pinnacle of machine tool technology and a key value-added element accounting for 30-40% of manufacturing costs, but due to the lack of domestic technology base and advanced overseas companies dominating the market, more than 95% of CNC systems in the domestic machine tool market have been imported from Japan and Germany.

Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials, which has been at the forefront of developing original and commercial technologies for the domestic production of CNC machine tools, has completed the development of a standard CNC system targeting general-purpose machine tools that account for most of the domestic machine tool market, and is focusing on commercialization through KCNC Co., Ltd. Among the 33 drivetrain prototypes included in the standard CNC system, the development of spindle motors and drives, where domestic technology was weak, stands out as notable achievements.

In addition, we are leading the digital manufacturing era by developing customized smart HMI jointly with the four major domestic machine tool companies.

The Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials has developed a standard CNC system by pooling the CNC development capabilities of domestic academia, industry, and research institutes, including the Korea Electrotechnology Research Institute and the Korea Institute of Industrial Technology, 10 universities, including Yonsei University and Dankook University, and 8 CNC technology suppliers.

We are conducting verification tests by installing the system on domestic machine tools in cooperation with six machine tool manufacturers, including KCNC Co., Ltd., Hyundai Wia Co., Ltd., DN Solutions Co., Ltd., Hwacheon Machine Tool Co., Ltd., Smac Co., Ltd., Hanwha Precision Machinery Co., Ltd., and Daesung Hi-Tech Co., Ltd.

Based on this cooperation, we are increasing our share of the domestic machine tool market and are also pursuing the development of advanced CNC system technology targeting 5-axis and special-purpose machine tools in the future.

The Korea Machinery & Materials Institute has achieved 100% localization of ultra-precision roll mold processing machines, which had previously been entirely dependent on imports, and has commercialized the products to reach KRW 65 billion in cumulative sales and KRW 34 billion in exports by 2023. In addition, the company has achieved various results, including industry-academia-research cooperation and technology transfer related to key items in the machine tool field, such as spindles, ball bearings, and ultra-high-precision machining centers.

The Ultra-Precision Equipment Research Lab under the Autonomous Manufacturing Research Institute of the Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials, which led the CNC research, was designated as a national research lab in the CNC and NC machine tool field in 2019, and received the Minister of Science and ICT Award with the highest number of votes among 25 national research labs (N-Lab) at the 2022 Small and Medium Business National Research Infrastructure (3N) Performance Exchange Meeting.

In addition, the Korea Machinery & Materials Institute will present 25 3D printing-related exhibits in two booths at this year’s SIMTOS, including the core modules of its self-developed metal 3D printing equipment, 3D printing molds for automobile parts, aircraft parts, and motor parts utilizing the equipment.

In particular, the 3D printing motor stands out by overcoming the design constraints of existing motors and increasing output density with the DED head and magnetic 3D printing technology that has the world's highest stacking speed.

In addition, the Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials plans to provide a video demonstration of the physics-based machine tool digital twin software, an interim outcome of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy's 'Machine Tool Digital Twin and Intelligence Technology Development Project (2023-2027, General Manager: Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials)', at the 'Smart Machine Solutions' exhibition space in the DN Solutions booth.

President Ryu Seok-hyun said, “As research and investment in the direction of automation and digitalization of manufacturing equipment and autonomous production optimization is expanding, the combination of machinery and digitalization is now emerging as a key driver for securing ultra-gap technologies beyond the necessity for survival.” He added, “In the future, KIMM will further devote itself to the development of next-generation core technologies, such as digitalization and intelligent technologies in the machinery industry, not only through the localization of key items in the machine tool field, but also by serving as a hub for cooperation among local governments, industry, academia, research institutes, and the government.”