A sports drink production factory in Gyeonggi Province. As canned beverages pass along the conveyor, a special camera, based on artificial intelligence (AI), checks the surface conditions in three dimensions for each product. It detects abnormalities such as dents, missing labels, and printing errors in real time. Errors can be filtered out without manual inspection. The data accumulated in this process is also used for improving processes. The system was established by SMHACCP.
Jang Seong-mook, CEO of SMHACCP, started a digital operating platform business specialized in food manufacturing in June 2020. The market he focused on is the domestic sports beverage manufacturing industry, which amounts to approximately 24 trillion won. The penetration rate of smart factories remains at about 22.6%. Having worked in manufacturing and office automation for nearly 20 years, CEO Jang predicted that autonomous manufacturing using AI would see significant demand in the food sector.
“SMHACCP provides solutions to automate and autonomy throughout the manufacturing process. It aims to implement autonomous manufacturing beyond the level of smart factories. This can prevent cost losses and customer complaints due to weight deviations.”
It analyzes data collected from each process, such as temperature, humidity, and time, to predict quality variations or warning signs in advance, and offers suggestions to improve process conditions. It collects hazard factors that can threaten food safety, immediately notifying when specific situations arise and storing the history. CEO Jang explained that they can meet smart HACCP (digital-based automatic food safety management system) certification standards even without on-site workers.
“We can integrate the entire process from orders, production instructions, performance aggregation, quality history, inventory management, to shipping. Robots are linked for packaging, box loading, and invoice printing and attachment processes. This has the advantage of reducing labor costs and minimizing process errors.”
The factor that makes this possible is the AI agent. The AI agent is a program that can make decisions and take actions. AI agents are deployed in each process to analyze the collected data in real time, establish production plans, determine quality standards, detect anomalies, and autonomously take actions. It realizes AX (AI Transformation) where judgment and execution are combined through learning-based algorithms.
“In addition to the sports beverage company, we have secured over 50 clients, including Sempio Foods, Samyang Corporation, and Dodram Food System. We have completed over 100 projects and gained product credibility. In 2023, we recorded 1.65 billion won in revenue, and this year we aim to achieve 4.1 billion won, with a goal of reaching 24.8 billion won annually by 2028.”
Clients pay monthly fees of around 300,000 won based on a Software as a Service (SaaS) model. In addition, SMHACCP is generating revenue while accelerating the distribution speed in conjunction with the government’s smart factory and HACCP projects.
“SMHACCP is a ‘corporation that designs operations.’ It creates a structure that allows customers to use it without understanding the technology. I believe it completes the digital transformation we envision. We are also considering expanding beyond food and beverage into similar process industries like bio, pharmaceuticals, and cosmetics. We are preparing a global testbed beyond Korea, including Southeast Asia. We will achieve the completion of an ‘autonomous manufacturing platform.’”