NEWS

Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) Group is spurring on digital transformation to run a "smart" shipyard by 2030.

HHI Group's shipbuilding affiliates recently held a joint conference to discuss the Future of Shipyard (FOS) project, the Group's digital-based future strategy established in 2021. As the project is in the second year, about 20 group executives gathered to review a total of 190 plans and seek ways to cooperate.

One of the notable schemes is to share and spread excellent technologies among the affiliates. Each company presented efficient digital technologies and about a dozen of them were recognized as good application. "Welding Monitoring System" presented by HHI, for example, collects and analyzes operation data from multiple welding machines. HSHI proposed "Knowledge Asset Platform" where users can find and identify in-house technologies and designs like a search engine. HMD introduced "Remote Inspection Platform" where quality inspection can be made in a contact-free manner.

HHI Group additionally plans to upgrade a virtual shipyard technology "Twin FOS" by the first half of 2023. With Twin FOS, users may obtain visual information on the production progress status and greenhouse gas emissions by simply clicking on the digital map. This digital twin technology can also be used to monitor driving equipment including cranes and forklifts.

The FOS project aims to make further advances to realize connected, predictable factories and intelligent autonomous shipyards. By 2030, the shipyards will finish their transition to smart factories that minimizes human intervention, process delays, and unnecessary inventory in the whole shipbuilding process using cyber-physical systems and high-tech robots. The project is expected to bring 30 percent increase in productivity, 30 percent improvement in lead time, and zero resource waste.

Han Young-seuk, Vice Chairman of HHI said, "We will create a safer workplace and improve our competitiveness in production by upgrading digital technology and smart shipyards."