POSCO's Gwangyang Steelworks is emerging as a global leader in manufacturing innovation by successively developing and introducing site-tailored artificial intelligence (AI) one-touch automation systems. The steelworks is accelerating its transition to an "intelligent factory," which combines AI and robotics to automatically collect, integrate, and service data generated across all processes and make decisions based on that data. The shift is expected to play a major role in securing operational efficiency and stability.
According to POSCO Gwangyang Steelworks on the 14th, the company will continue to expand full-process automation and unmanned operations, building on the success of its "converter one-touch operation automation technology," which carries out all operations 100% automatically with a single button click.
POSCO plans to lead intelligent manufacturing innovation in the global steel industry by rapidly deploying the technology horizontally not only to Gwangyang Steelworks but also to Pohang Steelworks and its steel mill in Indonesia.
The "converter one-touch operation automation technology" is a structure that realizes mass production with a small workforce and fully automated equipment. When operations are started remotely from Seoul, the blowing process at Gwangyang Steelworks' No. 2 Steelmaking Plant's No. 2 Converter begins, and the converter — which handles more than 300 tons of molten steel at over 1,600 degrees Celsius — operates to improve operational efficiency.
With the introduction of this technology, processes at the Gwangyang Steelworks' steelmaking plant, which produces 22 million tons of crude steel annually and had required as many as 11 workers per three converters, can now be carried out remotely from outside the steelworks.
In addition, video measuring instruments monitor blind spots and high-risk points at the work site. When hazardous situations are detected, AI provides step-by-step risk alarms to prevent safety incidents, enabling the plant to maintain both safety and consistent operational quality.
The converter one-touch operation automation technology uses AI to perform 100% of blowing operations automatically without intervention from a blowing operator — a key steelmaking expert who controls the amount of oxygen blown into the converter to remove impurities such as sulfur, phosphorus, and carbon. The tapping operations (tapping, slag removal, and coating) of molten steel after blowing are also automated by using AI to learn visual data collected and analyzed through an IoT-based video measurement system.
"Since introducing the technology, we have improved the accuracy rate for the temperature and composition of molten steel from 94% to 97%, and the steelmaking yield rate has also improved, enabling us to maintain consistent product quality," a Gwangyang Steelworks official said. "Through this, we expect to achieve an annual benefit of 33.8 billion won."
The Steelmaking Department at Gwangyang Steelworks set a goal of realizing intelligent autonomous manufacturing with cost competitiveness, quality, and safety, and began technology development in 2018 as a "one team" with POSCO's Research Institute of Industrial Science & Technology, the Steelmaking Equipment Department, the EIC Technology Department, the Digital Innovation Office, and POSCO DX.
As a result, in March, the Steelmaking Department's No. 2 Continuous Casting Plant at Gwangyang Steelworks began a pilot operation of its own continuous casting one-touch automation technology.
Continuous casting one-touch automation is a technology that controls the main operating conditions of the continuous casting process — which cools liquid molten steel produced in the steelmaking process to produce semi-finished products — with a single operation. Reflecting the characteristics of the continuous casting process, where high heat and repetitive work are concentrated, the technology focuses on minimizing operator intervention and enhancing operational stability and reproducibility.
Since the application of the continuous casting one-touch automation technology, the system collectively controls the main operating conditions, reducing the judgment burden on workers and noticeably improving process reproducibility and stability. Above all, as the continuous casting process operation method — which had depended on skill levels — has been converted to a data-based standard operating system, the reliability of product quality has also improved.
"In preparation for the paradigm shift, we are accelerating digital transformation by incorporating various AI technologies such as digital twin and computer vision into existing operating methods," a Gwangyang Steelworks official said.
