The Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials (President Ryu Seok-hyun) under the Ministry of Science and ICT has completed construction of a smart manufacturing equipment demonstration laboratory, and it is expected that this will accelerate the commercialization of advanced technologies and the creation of manufacturing innovation results.

On the 25th, the Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials held a completion ceremony for the 'Smart Manufacturing Equipment Demonstration Experimental Building' at the headquarters of the Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials in Daejeon, with the attendance of approximately 100 people from industry, academia, research, and government, including Kim Bok-cheol, Chairman of the National Research Council for Science and Technology, and Jang Ho-jong, Vice Mayor for Economic Science and Technology of Daejeon Metropolitan City.

The 'Smart Manufacturing Equipment Demonstration Experimental Center', which began operations in 2021 and opened its doors after three years, is a new concept smart production equipment practicalization experimental space with one basement floor, five above-ground floors, and a total floor area of 7,587㎡.

It was established to secure a manufacturing equipment demonstration space for improving manufacturing technology, quality, and productivity and to advance manufacturing equipment technology, in response to the urgency and need for developing industry-friendly and immediately applicable core technologies and securing demonstration technologies.

The 'Smart Manufacturing Equipment Demonstration Laboratory' is operated mainly by the departments related to the development of advanced manufacturing equipment of the Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials (AI Robot Research Center, Autonomous Manufacturing Research Center, Virtual Engineering Platform Research Center, Nano Convergence Research Center), and includes the Autonomous Work Living Lab, Ultra-Precision System Laboratory, 3D Printing Equipment Laboratory, Robot Mecha Laboratory, Omni-tex Laboratory, Optical Mechatronics Laboratory, Plasma Basics/Burner Laboratory, and National Strategic Technology Field Laboratory.Key core demonstration laboratories for the advancement of manufacturing equipment technology, such as updan, will be established.

With the completion of this research building, the infrastructure for demonstration experiments has been secured for research on production systems in line with the advancement of manufacturing equipment technology and for strengthening self-reliance in core source technologies for materials, parts, and equipment. This will enable us to respond to the needs of industries in related fields and contribute to reducing initial costs and duplicate investments for companies.

Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials President Ryu Seok-hyun said, “We will support verification of future production technologies through KIMM’s ‘Smart Manufacturing Equipment Demonstration Laboratory’ and contribute to creating a new concept manufacturing equipment market and securing global competitiveness.” He added, “In particular, we will promote commercialization of cutting-edge technologies and manufacturing innovation through verification in a real-scale manufacturing environment for SMEs.”