Kim Jeong-kwan, the Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy, stated on June 30 that the transition to manufacturing artificial intelligence (AI) in the automotive sector, known as M.AX, is functioning as a new compass in the era of AI navigation. He emphasized that M.AX is no longer a choice but a matter of survival.
During a meeting at the Kim Dae-jung Convention Center in Gwangju, Kim noted, "The Xiaomi automotive factory in China is showcasing frightening speed with zero inventory, a production time of 76 seconds per vehicle, and 91% automation." He added that the automotive industry, a cornerstone of South Korea's manufacturing sector, is rapidly changing its competitive paradigm centered around AI.
He also highlighted the need for collaboration among automotive manufacturers and partner companies in Gwangju to introduce M.AX from automotive parts development to finished vehicle manufacturing, stating, "We must develop this into a new growth engine for regional manufacturing innovation and the 5G and 3D regional growth strategy."
Kim mentioned that many companies participating in the Ministry's M.AX project are involved in AI-leading projects and the development of tacit knowledge-based AI models in Gwangju. He urged the Gwangju industry-academic-research MINI Alliance to take the lead in collecting manufacturing data and disseminating developed AI models, emphasizing the need for a nationwide effort to build AI foundation models.
The Ministry aims to establish Gwangju as a hub for future mobility M.AX. Gwangju has a solid production base with a concentration of automotive manufacturers and partner companies throughout the automotive value chain. The Advanced 3 District is being developed as an AI-centered industrial convergence complex, indicating significant growth potential for the M.AX industrial complex that combines manufacturing and AI.
During the meeting, plans for the Gwangju MINI Alliance's M.AX cluster were also announced. Gwangju plans to lead the future automotive industry ecosystem through M.AX at the automotive value chain level, developing and validating AX models for vision inspection, predictive maintenance, and unmanned logistics centered around leading factories like GGM and Korea Alps, and spreading these throughout the industrial complex.
Vision inspection uses cameras and AI to identify product defects, while predictive maintenance analyzes equipment data to predict failures in advance. Unmanned logistics automates the movement of materials and logistics flows within production sites. The application of these technologies is expected to stabilize quality, reduce equipment downtime, and enhance productivity.
The Ministry views the establishment of a virtuous cycle system that leads to securing manufacturing data and developing AI models as a core task. The process involves utilizing accumulated process, quality, and logistics data from the Gwangju industrial complex for AI model development and applying the developed AI models back to the field to generate new manufacturing data.
The Gwangju Research and Development Special Zone's Advanced 3 District data center will serve as the infrastructure to support this initiative. The Ministry plans to support the introduction of M.AX for manufacturing companies based on the data center being built through the industrial complex environmental improvement fund and to nurture it as a key infrastructure for regional manufacturing innovation, while also expanding the domestic production base for AI infrastructure facilities.
Minister Kim expressed expectations that the Gwangju MINI Alliance will establish a master plan within the year and build an AI solution system applicable to processes, equipment, and logistics. In the long term, he suggested supporting the introduction of M.AX for resident companies utilizing the AIDC infrastructure in the Gwangju industrial complex.
He stated, "To establish an M.AX cluster based on the automotive value chain, we will spare no support in various areas, including the establishment of a 5G specialized network, edge AIDC, M.AX academy, and dark factory strategies, in collaboration with local governments. If the successful model created based on Gwangju's automotive industry ecosystem and AI infrastructure spreads, it will become an important model for manufacturing innovation driving regional growth in 5G and 3D sectors."
* This article has been translated by AI.
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