ⓒ Futuremain

Now it’s time to take a look at a Korean business bringing about changes in the global economy with some new ideas. 

The company we’re going to introduce today is Futuremain, a developer of a software platform that diagnoses and manages plant facilities. Let’s hear from company official Lee Shin-hye. 

Futuremain seeks to lead the fourth industrial revolution with its solution that combines professional engineering technology with information technology. Since its establishment in 2014, the company has made consistent investment in relevant technology, including artificial intelligence, to grow into a global IT engineering firm. It won the Best Innovative Product award in 2018 and attracted “series A investment” worth 4.5 million US dollars early this year. Futuremain is dedicated to research and development with the goal of becoming a major player in the industry in the future, as its name indicates. 

Our solution notifies factory managers of any unexpected failure of machinery promptly so they can prevent workers from getting hurt and keep the failure from developing into a major problem. 

Predictive maintenance and IT engineering might be rather unfamiliar to many people. Predictive maintenance could be described as a medical checkup for machinery. It analyzes causes of accidents in advance and prevents them, rather than remedying problems only after the breakdown of plant facilities. 

Company CEO Lee Seon-hui(이선휘) has amassed expertise in machinery diagnosis for 35 years. He diagnosed facilities of global companies both in Korea and abroad, including Hyundai, Samsung, LG and Saudi Aramco, which is a state-run petroleum and natural gas company in Saudi Arabia, and analyzed relevant data. In the process, he found that experts in defect diagnosis were far from enough in Korea. Frustrated with the reality, he set up Futuremain.  

When there were more workers than machines at factories, people would check the facilities every day and fix problems, if there were any. But in this era of automated manufacturing, machines have far outnumbered human workers. That means only a limited number of people have to check an ever-increasing number of machines, making it difficult for them to manage the machines systematically. Even accidents may occur. As a result, research on and demand for smart factory technology has expanded, giving rise to predictive maintenance. By incorporating advanced information technology into our predictive maintenance technology, we developed a software platform for professional facility diagnosis and management. The solution automatically monitors machinery at factories and predicts potential risks in advance to help prevent accidents. 

The fourth industrial revolution and the emergence of smart factories have revolutionized machinery and facilities, as it turned out that human work had limitations. If many pieces of high-tech equipment are all repaired by human workers, the process will be less efficient and less accurate. To keep up with the changing industrial environment, Futuremain unveiled a cutting-edge predictive maintenance service called ExRBM (이엑스알비엠). Based on extensive data and knowledge that Mr. Lee had accumulated in diagnosis engineering for 35 years, the solution offers high efficiency and reliability. 

Our solution shows signs and patterns of machine failures and suggests proper response measures based on big data and machine-learning algorithms. Unlike other smart factory solutions featuring deep learning technology, Futuremain’s ExRBM diagnoses machine problems that are occurring at the moment, using information collected in real time, and informs people in charge of management of the problems. Predictions may turn out to be incorrect, but diagnosis based on real-time data is highly accurate. 

In other words, this solution ensures high reliability. 

Futuremain’s solution automatically diagnoses defects of rotating machinery—the feature that even global firms have yet to provide. It analyzes facility information collected in real time and immediately notifies managers of any malfunction of machinery. 

Alternative solutions provided by other companies simply show whether there is any problem in machinery. It also takes time to analyze the cause of the problem and propose a solution. But Futuremain’s solution reveals what kind of failure has occurred and where the problem has arisen and promptly tells the manager how to cope with it. Using this innovative solution, factories can manage their facilities in an easier and safer way. Futuremain is constantly looking for more efficient solutions to enable anyone to manage high-priced, advanced machinery easily and conveniently. 

ⓒ Futuremain

We’ve attempted to blend our predictive maintenance solution with other technologies, including augmented reality. For instance, users can check the facility situation through their smart devices in AR format. We also offer a portable instrument capable of instantly figuring out the conditions of facilities. In addition, for small plants hoping to build a smart factory system, our consultant directly visits the plants and explains how to install the system. We provide this consulting service free of charge. 

It’s been less than seven years since Futuremain was founded, but the company has taken firm root in the industry on the back of its deep expertise and technology. In recognition of its efforts to locally produce a predictive maintenance solution, the company won the Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Award in 2018. It also received the Excellent Patent Management Award from the government. At present, it is carrying out business projects jointly with leading companies in Korea and overseas, including LG, KT, Naver and American firm Kimberly-Clark Corporation. 

We got off to a good start in 2021 by drawing investment of 4.5 million dollars. We’ll focus on research and development for IT and AI to create innovative technology that would satisfy users. We’re planning on exploring foreign markets, including the one in Saudi Arabia. We’re working really hard to become a leading firm that stands shoulder to shoulder with global companies. We’ll concentrate our energy on fusing professional engineering technology with IT—a new technique that has never existed before—to help people work more safely and happily. This is our goal. We hope you will continue to give us your interest and support. 

Futuremain’s predictive maintenance system featuring big data and AI technology helps prevent unexpected accidents and create a safe working environment to allow factories to boost productivity. The company aims to lead both the domestic and global markets through its distinctive solution, and it will hopefully achieve that goal in the near future.