0102-POSCO launches 'big data' system

By Yi Whan-woo

POSCO has launched a “big data” system to allow its offices and plants overseas to share information online in real time using mobile devices, the company said Wednesday.

Korea’s leading steelmaker said it implemented the integrated process management system, dubbed POSPIA 3.0, which applies to its headquarters in Seoul, two local plants in Gwangyang and Pohang, and also at its steel mill in Indonesia.

The firm added it will try to run POSPIA 3.0 at all of its branches across the world by the end of the year to improve efficiency in the work process.

The world’s fifth largest steel manufacturer said the big data system was an integrated system optimized to keep track of manufacturing, sales, marketing, finance and other activities and thus to beef up its global operations.

The systems include Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Manufacturing Execution System (MES), Supply Chain Management (SCM), and Smart Workplace (SWP).

The difference in office locations makes it difficult to share data when needed, according to POSCO.

“We expect POSPIA 3.0 will innovative our work process, enhancing our competitiveness in the global market,” POSCO CEO Chung Joon-yang said in a statement.

A POSCO spokeswoman also said, “It was not easy for us at headquarters in the past to find out about the steelmaking process at the Indonesia plant in real time, but now we can check it out via smartphones or tablets.”

The steelmaker will be able to make an optimal decision on its sales strategy based on data collected from its branches, according to POSCO.

The company has updated its strategy on a quarterly basis, but the new network will help it to do so every month, it added.

POSCO also said it can lower its management costs by up to 20 percent with POSPIA 3.0.