On June 24, Handok signed an agreement with the Smart Manufacturing Innovation Promotion Group under the Ministry of SMEs and Startups to participate in the 2025 Autonomous Factory Support Project.

The project, led by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, standardizes process and equipment data within factories based on international standards (AAS, IEC62278) and uses this foundation to build artificial intelligence (AI) and digital twin models. By minimizing operator intervention, the initiative aims to enhance manufacturing competitiveness through autonomous control. Handok is the first pharmaceutical company selected to apply autonomous factory systems to pharmaceutical production processes.

Under this project, Handok will receive up to KRW 530 million in government funding over two years, out of a total project cost of KRW 1.12 billion. The company plans to transform its plaster plant, which produces Ketotop, into a smart automated factory equipped with digital twin and AI autonomous control systems. Digital twin technology will replicate the physical factory in a virtual model, enabling real-time monitoring, virtual simulations, and AI-driven autonomous control to improve production efficiency and detect anomalies early. Handok will also enhance AI machine vision-based quality inspection for Ketotop cutting and pouching, establish real-time monitoring systems for production processes, and introduce AI-based autonomous control in coating and mixing processes to optimize manufacturing and improve inspection accuracy.

Juyeon Yoon, Executive Vice President of Handok Manufacturing Plant, stated:
“Handok is committed to strengthening digital competitiveness and, as the first pharmaceutical company to participate in this initiative, will apply digital twin technology to pharmaceutical manufacturing processes. We aim to create a successful digital innovation model and enhance global manufacturing and quality competitiveness.”

Handok plans to build a smart factory that operates autonomously based on AI-driven data analysis and learning, with the goal of becoming a leading smart healthcare production site. Handok’s manufacturing plant is a state-of-the-art pharmaceutical facility equipped with an international cGMP quality management system and has consistently invested in smart factory innovation. Starting with the introduction of ERP systems in 1997—the first among Korean pharmaceutical companies—Handok implemented core infrastructure for autonomous factories in 2011, including Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES), Laboratory Information Management Systems (LIMS), and Building Management Systems (BMS). Since 2020, the company has introduced various technologies to support autonomous factory transformation, such as paperless operations, AR applications for production equipment, Smart MCS and MES upgrades, and solar energy systems.