Samsung E&A CEO Namkoong Hong speaks during the eighth Future Investment Initiative (FII) Conference’s session on resilient and sustainable construction of energy infrastructure at King Abdulaziz International Conference Center in Saudi Arabia’s capital city of Riyadh, Wednesday (local time). Courtesy of FII Institute
AI, offsite manufacturing touted as ways for resilient construction
By Park Jae-hyuk
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — Samsung E&A CEO Namkoong Hong took center stage at the world’s second-largest CEO and government summit in Saudi Arabia’s capital city of Riyadh, Wednesday (local time), participating in a panel discussion on resilient and sustainable energy infrastructure construction.
The plant construction firm’s chief was the only Korean participating in a plenary session at this year’s Future Investment Initiative Conference, which is often dubbed “Davos in the desert.”
In response to a question on how to boost efficiency in major projects in Saudi Arabia and other parts of the world, Namkoong introduced his company’s method of manufacturing modular facilities at factories distant from construction sites.
“When we build a large plant in a remote desert area, we need to set up camps for accommodation and bring workers and equipment,” he said. “We have no choice but to select to move major parts of construction works to offsite for effectiveness.”
The CEO noted that such a method facilitates more efficient and continuous operations under controlled environmental conditions.
Additionally, he said offsite manufacturing can shorten project duration, improving productivity and reducing emissions of carbon, dust and other pollutants.
“As an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) company, we have tried to focus on enhancing energy efficiency, and we also consider this when we design and build a plant,” he said.
Samsung E&A’s use of artificial intelligence (AI) was mentioned as another way of improving efficiency.
“AI requires a lot of energy, but it increases productivity,” he said. “We also use the AI to overcome limitation of traditional EPC business. The key to energy saving is higher efficiency.”
Describing Samsung E&A as a company building creative manufacturing ecosystems, he said its offsite manufacturing hub is a combined concept of supplying, fabricating and transporting material and machines to construction sites.
“This is a construction work from low-productivity site to high-productivity offsite,” Namkoong said.
He added that Samsung E&A is considering several locations around the world for its offsite manufacturing hub, in order to respond to market situations and geopolitical issues.