Hyundai Steel is accelerating the smart transformation of its production processes by introducing robotics into the wire rod inspection and packaging stages.
The company announced on December 17 that it has begun operating Korea’s first wire rod tagging robot at the wire rod coil shipping line of the special steel small rolling mill at its Dangjin plant. The system automatically attaches tags containing product history and specification information to wire rod coils.
Hyundai Steel has been promoting automation and unmanned operations in shipping areas to minimize steel grade mixing and safety accidents caused by incorrect tag attachment. The wire rod tagging robot system consists of an assembly robot, an attachment robot, and auxiliary equipment such as conveyors, coil fixing devices, and safety fences. The assembly robot installs clips onto printed tags, while the attachment robot scans the wire rod coil to automatically identify the optimal tagging position and attaches the tag accordingly.
The project was carried out in collaboration with Polytec of BM Group, an Italian automation specialist for the steel industry. Following approximately two years of design and testing, the system was recently deployed at the production site. Safety was enhanced by clearly separating robot operating zones from worker access areas.
A Hyundai Steel official said that replacing manual tag attachment with robotic automation has significantly improved operational efficiency, adding that the company plans to continue expanding investments in robotics in line with global steel industry trends.
Hyundai Steel has been actively advancing smart manufacturing across its entire production chain, from manufacturing and inspection to shipment. In July, the company introduced a beam blank shape analysis robot at its Incheon plant to inspect the dimensions and surface temperature of high-temperature beam blanks.
