🧠 Food for thought

Implications, context, and why it matters.

Investment targets safety risks and cost strain

• Automation for “higher-risk work” follows a partial work suspension order at a POSCO Holdings manufacturing site in late 2025 during lining operations (maintenance work that replaces or repairs protective linings inside industrial equipment) 1.
• At Gwangyang Steelworks, POsco runs a Smart Fool Proof system that uses LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging, a sensor that measures distance by reflecting laser light) plus AI to cut equipment failures and accidents where workers and cranes operate close together 2.
• Profit pressure adds urgency. Posco Holdings’ 2024 operating profit dropped 38.4% during steel oversupply 3.
• Results already exist at Pohang Steelworks. An automated step lifted yield 2% and trimmed operation time 3% 2.

Posco DX prepares to sell robotics, alongside in-house rollout

• Posco plans for Posco DX (the group’s IT and digital transformation arm) to launch a robotic automation solutions business in 2025, beyond group sites 4.
• Work on “Physical AI” combines robotics with AI to move equipment toward autonomy and to run intelligent factories across Posco Group businesses 5.
• Outside the plant, Posco DX built AI agents (software assistants that can carry out multi-step tasks) that cut time on some accounting close tasks by about 80% 5.
• Tools from partners such as Brils may support Posco Group’s plan to invest US$93 billion in steel, battery materials, and hydrogen by 2030 6.