China's shipbuilding industry offensive... Korean and Japanese shipbuilding industries rush to introduce robots and transform into smart shipyards

(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Oh Soo-jin = As China's dominance of the global shipbuilding industry accelerates, the Korean and Japanese shipbuilding industries are hastening the introduction of robots throughout the process to increase competitiveness, the Financial Times (FT) reported on the 4th (local time).

Amid labor shortages and growing order waiting lists, the analysis suggests that the transition to 'smart shipyards' has become an essential task for the Korean and Japanese shipbuilding industries to respond to Chinese competitors with low costs.

According to Clarkson Research, a shipbuilding and shipping market analysis agency, China accounted for 63% of global orders last year.

Although Korea and Japan's shipbuilding industry is behind China's, they are still shipbuilding powerhouses with core technological expertise in the fields of liquefied natural gas (LNG) carriers, submarines, and marine engines.

In particular, Korean and Japanese shipbuilding companies are very necessary in the United States, which needs to reduce its dependence on China in the field of merchant ship and warship construction.

Unlike the automobile industry, which produces standardized products, the shipbuilding industry has different designs and structures for each ship, making process automation very difficult.

In particular, due to the cramped and unstructured nature of the work space, it is still highly dependent on skilled workers, making it difficult to build a smart shipyard.

However, the Korean and Japanese shipbuilding industries emphasized with one voice that the construction of smart shipyards cannot be postponed.

“Our future competitiveness and long-term survival depend on whether we can develop multi-functional robots using artificial intelligence (AI) and automation technology,” said Ryu Sang-hoon, vice president of HD Samho Heavy Industries.

Kenichiro Abe, senior managing director of Panook, the world's largest industrial robot manufacturer, said, "Shipbuilding companies are now realizing the need for automation and have begun full-scale test operations."

The ultimate goal of the Korean and Japanese shipbuilding industries is to build a 'dark factory' that fully automates the entire process. HD Hyundai has set a goal of fully automating some production lines and building a small-scale dark factory by 2030 using AI, big data, and digital twin technology.

However, opinions are divided on whether the Korean and Japanese shipbuilding industries can cover the cost of building smart shipyards and whether they will continue to have an advantage over China in the field of robot use.

Yukito Higaki, president of Imabari Shipbuilding, Japan's largest shipbuilding company, said, "We live in an era where it is extremely difficult to judge the timing and effectiveness of investments."

Professor George Q. Hwang of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University said that shipyards in Korea and Japan are about five years ahead in the introduction of robots, but predicted that "China will also be able to catch up to some extent within that period."

A researcher at the Export-Import Bank of Korea said, “Automation requires a huge investment, so costs and benefits must be carefully considered. On the other hand, Chinese shipbuilding companies that receive government support can absorb the shock of trial and error.”