POSCO boosts safety, efficiency with AI robots

[Courtesy of POSCO DX Co.]

South Korean steelmaker POSCO Group has deployed robots in its steel mills’ high-risk work areas in a bid to enhance safety and productivity.

POSCO opened its plating plant at its Gwangyang Steelworks facilities, where artificial intelligence (AI) and robotic technologies have been adopted, on June 14th, 2024. Thin steel sheets become zinc-coated steel sheets for automotive use after they are dipped into a plating pot, with the process requiring the removal of impurities from the zinc solution, which is heated to 460 degrees Celsius. Vision AI uses cameras to analyze the distribution of these substances, and robotic arms repeatedly remove them. This high-risk task previously required four workers to scrape off impurities ten times a day, during which there was a substantial risk of burns and other accidents. Robotic technology has significantly reduced manual labor, making the site a much safer environment, POSCO explained.

POSCO began its transition to smart factories in 2015, becoming the first Korean company to be named a “lighthouse factory” by the World Economic Forum (WEF). The WEF promotes the global lighthouse network, recognizing factories that incorporate advanced technologies such as the Internet of Things, AI, and big data analytics to maximize efficiency, drive sustainable growth, and lead innovation in the global manufacturing industry.

POSCO also unveiled its newly completed POSCO Fulfillment Center on the same day, which was completed in April 2024. The center spans about 50,000 square meters and can store over 34,000 cells of various materials required for steel mill operations, providing integrated services for order processing, storage, packaging, delivery, returns, and exchanges that are used by logistics companies, including courier services, to ensure quick and accurate deliveries to consumers. POSCO introduced this system to streamline the procurement of materials needed for steel mill operations, addressing inefficiencies stemming from a storage system that was previously dispersed across 300 different warehouses.

The center features a 28.5-meter-high automated warehouse, where stacker cranes move between layers of cells to store and retrieve medium to large materials. Smaller materials weighing less than 30 kg are transferred to a cube-shaped warehouse, or “auto store.”

Automated guided vehicles (AGVs) transport heavy materials along the 200-meter distance between the picking zone and the shipping area. These AGVs, capable of carrying up to 1 ton, are controlled by the AGV Control System (ACS), which was jointly developed by POSCO DX Co. and POSCO to enhance the transport robots’ efficiency.