Samsung helps fight against COVID-19

Samsung Electronics rolled up its sleeves for Solgent, a manufacturer of COVID-19 testing kits based in Daejeon. It sent 20 smart factory experts to Solgent to help streamline its factory operations from production to dispatch including materials management, route optimization and automation. It also developed a mold for tubes within just two weeks so that Solgent do not have to rely on other producers. Now, the weekly output of the South Korean testing kit producer has jumped to 20,000.

Samsung Electronics has uploaded a video Thursday that introduces its program to support smart manufacturing. This program was first launched in August 2018 in line with the company philosophy, “co-growth.”

Kogene Biotech, a biotech company located in Seoul’s District of Geumcheon, was also able to mass produce its products with the support of Samsung Electronics. The South Korean tech giant has automated parts of the production by introducing a vision label inspection system, which has eliminated the need for human inspection. This has almost doubled the weekly production of Kogene Biotech from 5,600 to 10,000.

Samsung Electronics’ smart manufacturing program is cited as an example that shows cooperation between small and large companies can bring about positive results. “I am proud that, by applying our expertise in innovative manufacturing to SMEs, we have contributed to the country’s fight against a pandemic,” said Ko Seok-dong, a researcher at Samsung Electronics.


Dong-Il Seo dong@donga.com