CBO Yoonseok Jang , “Start with understanding the production process before transferring data.”
“We start the project under the assumption that the data does not contain all the information to solve the problem.”

Yoonseok Jang, CBO of INEEJI, which was founded in 2019 with the vision of providing an artificial intelligence service that provides the most accurate predictions in the world, answered the question about differentiated competitiveness as follows. CBO Yoonseok Jang explained, “The production capacity of the manufacturing industry includes the facility capacity and the technical competency of the operator. Ultimately, if the facilities are the same, AI has no choice but to be based on data resulting from human operation.”

Accordingly, INEEJI spends a significant amount of time understanding ‘process’ before starting an AI project. CBO Jang said, “Actual awareness looks at the process first before data,” and added, “It looks at the flow of raw materials, energy, and control to identify the necessary data. “This is to understand the process and incorporate the thoughts of the actual operator as much as possible,” he said.

He then explained, “It is literally a process of formalizing the worker’s tacit knowledge and incorporating it into the AI ​​system.” While carrying out the project, INEEJI revealed that it conducted numerous interviews with workers.

Currently, INEEJI is contributing to reducing industrial electricity and energy costs and improving productivity and quality through process optimization in various manufacturing industries such as steel, oil refining, chemicals, and cement, based on explainable artificial intelligence (XAI) prediction technology.

Amid the global artificial intelligence craze, there is a strong trend of adoption in the manufacturing industry. However, service reliability issues, such as AI solution bias, lack of consistency, and safety issues, also persist. Accordingly, the need for explainable artificial intelligence (XAI) is growing, and interest in its use in industrial sites is increasing.

Establish energy control and consumption efficiency with AI

Currently, many AI companies are emerging targeting the manufacturing industry, but while they are limited to simple predictive maintenance and prediction, INEEJI is advancing into process control. CBO Yoonseok Jang said, “It is not easy to build up references in the control sector due to risk,” and added, “However, it has not received the market’s attention due to ROI, so success stories are gradually emerging in the market.” CBO Jang then said, “INEEJI conducts projects by considering basic control based on large-scale project references in fields such as energy.” In fact, Ineasy is proving its technological prowess by securing references in large-scale continuous processes such as energy.

Representatively, INEEJI's industrial process efficiency optimization INFINITE OPTIMAL SERIES™ solution is equipped with a self-developed INFINITE OPTIMAL SERIES™ learns key variables and the operating patterns of skilled workers to provide real-time insights for process improvement and guides workers on optimal operating conditions.

Specific examples include the optimization control of ‘iron making process furnace (CGL)’ and ‘glass manufacturing process melting furnace’. First, the 'iron making process furnace (CGL)' control case implemented temperature control automation by predicting real-time physical properties and furnace section temperature according to operating conditions. Quality can be adjusted by heat treating cold-heated steel sheets, and production conditions can be changed and managed for each product by producing a variety of products. Temperature control was also optimized in the ‘glass manufacturing process melting furnace’. By predicting the air temperature inside the melting furnace, optimal control of fuel input and booster was established.

INEEJI’s AI project construction process, DX itself

INEEJI CBO Yoonseok Jang described INEEJI’s solution construction process as the company’s digital transformation (DX). CBO Jang said, “It takes at least two months from the first meeting to the project contract,” adding, “Customers judge us, but we also review whether we can provide enough information for the customer to complete the project.” He said.

CBO Jang continued, saying, “AI performance may be lowered due to the amount of information the customer can provide, but we do not lower the target.” He added, “We understand everything from production technology in the field to the level of DX in the IT department to determine what the customer wants. “We also extract tasks for improvement,” he said.

In fact, the initial plan is most important in a company's DX promotion. A considerable fee may also be paid for actual consulting. CBO Jang said, “For DX, making a good plan is one of the important know-hows,” and “We are still providing pre-contract consulting for free, but we plan to commercialize it at an appropriate time in the future.”

In the near future, field operations will be replaced by AI

The era of AI, which seemed so far away, is fast approaching. What does INEEJI, who is on the front line, anticipate? CBO Yoonseok Jang said, “People will move to the field of product improvement through creative research, and operating technology will be replaced by technologies such as AI.” He added, “It appears that only people who can perform repairs, such as maintenance, will remain in the field.”

CBO Jang continued, saying, “The change in the demographic structure where there is a shortage of people is naturally creating this type of manufacturing industry,” adding, “The field is already empty of workers with high and low annual leave, and the current employees will retire as soon as 5 years ago.” “There will be a shortage of people within 10 years, at the latest,” he explained. In addition, he added, “Because the manufacturing industry is an industry in which know-how cannot be acquired in a short period of time due to its nature.”

Additionally, CBO Yoonseok Jang said, “AI will now move to manual mode rather than automatic mode.” This means that it will be generalized for multiple purposes rather than a single purpose. CBO Jang said, “You will be able to select quality mode when quality is important, and productivity mode when productivity is more important.”

Started targeting overseas markets such as Japan and Germany

The cumulative investment alone is approximately $1.2 million. INEEJI is Korea's leading XAI company and has virtually completed its technology verification. We have also secured unrivaled large-scale references through projects with leading domestic companies. Based on this, we also began targeting overseas markets. In Japan, branch office establishment has already been completed, and trademark registration and overseas applications have been completed. CBO Jang  said, “The project has begun in Japan, and results are likely to be released by the end of this year or early next year. “We also made an IR presentation in Germany upon request,” he said. “We plan to participate in overseas exhibitions such as Hannover Messe 2024 this year, so we will play an even bigger role in the global market.”