LG Energy, SK On to raise yields with smart factory solutions

LG Energy Solution Ltd. and SK On Co., the world’s No. 2 and No. 5 electric vehicle battery makers, plan to adopt smart factory solutions to increase the amount of non-defective products at their overseas factories.

Those South Korean battery producers created a chief data officer (CDO) position and hired top industry experts for the post to develop solutions based on manufacturing data, industry sources said on Wednesday.

SK On, a subsidiary of SK Group’s energy unit SK Innovation Co., last month appointed Lee Kang-Won, former head of cloud technology at SK Telecom Co., as its CDO. Lee is set to focus on the development of smart factory solutions based on artificial intelligence and robots.

Lee worked on the research and development of software and advanced development of AI semiconductors for the group’s mobile carrier. Prior to joining SK Telecom, he led a team of researchers in networking systems and analytics at IBM Watson Research Center.

“SK Telecom is regarded as the affiliate with the most advanced data technologies,” said an industry source. SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won set a business direction for affiliates that are not based on information and communication technology (ICT) to use AI and data for business decisions, prompting SK On to appoint Lee as its CDO, the source added.

In February, LG Energy scouted Pyun Kyungsuk from US chipmaker Nvidia Corp. As CDO, Pyun is driving the battery maker’s effort to transform all of its global manufacturing facilities into smart factories.

He was a principal data scientist for Nvidia after working for HP Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co.

TO IMPROVE YIELDS

Smart factory solutions improve battery makers’ yields, or the percentage of non-defective items of all produced items. The yields at battery plants are often volatile given the varying skills of engineers

“It is well known in the industry that LG Energy had difficulties in raising yields for years after opening the Poland plant, its first global production base,” said another industry source.

LG Energy and SK On stepped up their efforts to prevent such volatility by adopting solutions that allow decision-making based on data as they have been rapidly expanding overseas facilities.

Smart factories are likely to enhance their price competitiveness.

“Many automakers recently requested such a switch to secure stable yields,” said the other industry source.

LG Energy was known to have hired many experts in AI, smart factory and big data sectors among about 2,000 new employees last year, according to sources.

Write to Hyung-Kyu Kim and Han-Gyeol Seon at khk@hankyung.com
Jongwoo Cheon edited this article.