The introduction of smart factories without a clear purpose cannot increase efficiency.
When you need to consider how, why, and what before incorporating technology

Countries such as Germany and the United States are taking the lead in exploring solutions to respond to the Fourth Industrial Revolution, and among them, Germany's Industry 4.0 is garnering global consensus. Excluding Germany and the United States, which are leading the Fourth Industrial Revolution, other countries, including Korea and its companies, focus on individual technologies such as AI, machine learning, and IoT for field implementation, but they fall short in forming an overall platform. This is the difference from Germany, which is leading the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Germany has spearheaded standardization and taken the lead in structuring platforms.

Smart factories differ from traditional factories in terms of reliability, agility, connectivity, intelligence, and proactiveness. Many companies are attempting to adopt them because they ensure trust in the management of production operations and enable factories, which were previously passive entities, to perform proactive responses.

Looking at the case of Adidas's Speed Factory in Germany, the proportion of actual factory manufacturing is only 1%. This is because contract manufacturing in Asia offers significant cost-saving benefits. It can be seen as a more valid reason to increase corporate value rather than improve production efficiency. Nevertheless, the reason it is considered an industry standard and reference model is that it can increase business value.



Furthermore, although Audi has been actively attempting to introduce smart factories—such as switching from the conventional conveyor system to a cell system for customized production and providing work standards existing in file form via worker terminals (HMI) and augmented reality 3D goggles—actual operational effects have not been announced. On the contrary, there have been issues with mass production, and productivity has actually decreased compared to the conventional conveyor system. The case of the German company demonstrates that factory implementation should be carried out cautiously, following an understanding of the perspectives from which value should be placed, rather than simply focusing on productivity.

Kim Seung-taek, a director at Deloitte Consulting, stated, “Rather than vaguely adopting new ICT technologies, companies should review proven models by considering various factors such as their current position and culture.” He added, “We must share strategies to enhance efficiency, moving beyond the concept of perceiving a ‘smart factory’ as the advancement of a single technology or the simple quantitative expansion of factories.” He further emphasized, “Before integrating technology, it is necessary to contemplate how, why, and what.”

In Korea, the government, public institutions, and the media emphasize the significant development of the Fourth Industrial Revolution and smart factories and announce growth, but this is limited to individual elements that make up the industrial sector, such as IoT, AI, and deep learning. The tendency to package the brilliant achievements of smart factories while maintaining a different approach from Germany, which leads the Fourth Industrial Revolution by prioritizing standards and platforms, makes independent development difficult.

What is the downside of technological adoption? First, we are proceeding with projects solely focused on blindly pursuing smart factories and the Fourth Industrial Revolution. There is no clear "to be," or purpose. Without a clear goal on how and what to utilize, we are merely emphasizing the application of individual technologies such as AI, deep learning, and 5G.

Introducing ICT technology without a concrete strategy carries significant risks. If the mere adoption and utilization of IT technology is perceived as a smart factory, the manufacturing site will become nothing more than a facade. We must avoid vague adoption and identify the problems arising from the changes. We were able to upload data using existing information technology; this is not a new technology. However, the reason it was not utilized was its low efficiency. While we tend to focus unconditionally on IT technology, establishing the foundation of OT at the lowest level must be prioritized.

Won Il-min, General Manager of Hilscher Korea, stated, “The core of a smart factory is increasing efficiency by sending data from the lowest level of the industrial site to the top level.” He further emphasized, “We must consider not just large amounts of data, but also the methods of gathering, collection, and transmission.”

Only by mastering the fundamentals, starting with operational skills necessary for manufacturing such as manufacturing technology, business processes, and standards, will factory operations be able to transcend hierarchical boundaries.

So what should be done? To increase efficiency, there are things you 'want to do' and things you 'can do' depending on the circumstances. However, first of all, there are things that 'must be done'. Kim Seung-taek, a director at Deloitte Consulting, stated, “The unconditional introduction of a factory leads to failure,” adding, “Production visibility must be secured through clear goals. In other words, if plans are established based on an understanding of the current level and introductions are avoided for promotional purposes, it can lead to the expected results.”