South Korea: Sampyo Cement is training AI on operating data from experienced workers in order to hand over some of the constant monitoring required by workers, according to Korea Biz Wire. Early applications have already allowed operators to step away briefly from their stations, when previously they even had to take a radio to the toilet. Sampyo has already invested in AI for limestone mining and the firing of raw materials, and is now extending the technology to the final stage of cement production under a project backed by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.
Together with the Korea Evaluation Institute of Industrial Technology, the Korea Institute of Industrial Technology and Kangwon National University, the company aims to increase productivity by 2% while cutting electricity consumption by the same amount. Two operators currently oversee six mills as a team – Sampyo’s goal is to have one worker manage all six with the assistance of AI.
“The workplace is physically more comfortable than where the machinery operates, but having to pay attention to everything for eight hours can actually make the job feel more demanding,” plant manager Bae Dong-hwan said.
Workers appear less worried about AI taking their jobs than about whether they can trust it, said Lee Seok-je, a senior member of Sampyo’s process improvement team. However, this question of trust becomes more complicated when AI moves from monitoring machinery to monitoring people, says the newspaper. The company has reportedly considered giving workers wearable devices that would track heart rates, body temperatures and other data in real time to help detect emergencies. However, employees objected on the basis that the technology could be used to track their locations.