Attention was focused on an event held by Samsung Electronics to help small and medium-sized enterprises participating in its smart factory support project develop sales channels.

Samsung Electronics announced that it will hold the '2022 Smart Biz Expo' at COEX in Seoul from the 4th to the 7th. The 'Smart Biz Expo', now in its 6th year, is hosted by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups and co-hosted by Samsung Electronics and the Korea Federation of SMEs.

Among the SMEs that participated in the 'Symbiotic Smart Factory Support Project' of the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, the Korea Federation of SMEs, and Samsung Electronics, 95 companies from various fields such as daily necessities, food and beverage, medical and healthcare, and industrial materials will participate in this event, and they plan to hold approximately 400 purchasing consultations with more than 70 domestic and foreign buyers.

'Smart Biz Expo' invites not only major domestic and international hypermarkets, home shopping malls, and department stores, but also overseas buyers such as Amazon, eBay, Japan's Geosan Japan, and Singapore's Qoo10 to the event, providing opportunities for small and medium-sized businesses to create businesses.

Samsung is helping to secure competitiveness and self-sufficiency through a smart factory construction support project that transfers manufacturing and technology know-how, including manufacturing site innovation, market development, human resource development, and technical support. As part of this project, Samsung announced at this event that it will support the entire sales process for small businesses.

Samsung Electronics launched the "Smart Factory Construction Support Project" in 2015, and since 2018, in collaboration with the Ministry of SMEs and Startups and the Korea Federation of SMEs, has expanded the program to include small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) regardless of whether they do business with Samsung Electronics. A total of 200 in-house experts from each field were selected and a total of 2,811 companies were supported in building smart factories from 2015 to 2021. Including companies receiving support this year, the number of companies exceeds 3,000. This exhibition consists of a tasting zone with 10 companies (Ecomom's San-gol Baby Food, McNulty Coffee, Cookiea, Hepzibah F&B, Kuchen, Wentteok Village, etc.), a demonstration zone with 9 companies (Geo Medical, Hwajin Industry, Samsong Caster, Daeryun Industry, Reina, etc.), and an experience zone with 6 companies (NF, Auto Swing, Hyungje Partner, Hanbo Electric, etc.). Marketing support is also provided at the event site, including corporate promotion through educational programs such as broadcasting.

Daepungnyeon Agricultural Cooperative, which participated in the exhibition, has established a central automatic management system through collaboration with Samsung and is equipped with an electrochemical spiciness measurement system. A company official said, "After installing the production automation system, production volume has more than doubled and efficiency has improved by about 80% compared to before," and "Through continued collaboration with Samsung, we plan to proceed with advanced projects for smartening, such as automating related systems such as moisture content measurement and particle size control."

The opening ceremony of the 'Smart Biz Expo' on the 4th was attended by Minister of SMEs and Startups Lee Young, Chairman of the Korea Federation of SMEs Kim Ki-moon, Chairman of the Joint Growth Committee Oh Young-kyo, Director of the Smart Manufacturing Innovation Promotion Team Park Han-goo, and President of Samsung Electronics Lee In-yong.

Minister of SMEs and Startups Lee Young emphasized, "Smart factories, a win-win model where the government and the private sector work together, are playing a crucial role in the digital transformation of small and medium-sized enterprises." He added, "We need to expand successful manufacturing innovation models, such as this event, that support small and medium-sized enterprises in developing new markets."

Samsung Electronics President Lee In-yong said, "Samsung is providing comprehensive support for market development, human resource development, and technology development based on the smart factory support project to establish a sustainable management system for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which form the foundation of the Korean economy. I hope this event will help open up new markets."

Meanwhile, 'Smart Biz Expo' will be held concurrently with the Korea Electronics Show (KES2022), Semiconductor Exhibition (SEDEX), Innovation Industry Exhibition, and Metaverse Korea.