Leading a new paradigm in the high-tech logistics industry with CES-type smart logistics

LOS ANGELES, CA, November 29, 2020 /Neptune100/ — There is one company that can transform the dirty, difficult, dangerous logistics sites into clean, easy, and safe work site. Hills Engineering provided an alternative to upgrade the quality of labor while reducing the labor intensity of logistics workers in various industries such as distribution centers and distribution companies as well as general manufacturing companies. The company is leading the CES-type smart logistics by developing an autonomous logistics robot system to remodel a logistics site that was organized around product flow to human-centered system.

Park Myeong-gyu, CEO of Hills Engineering, is also a lead professor at the Link Business Group at Pyeongtaek University, has conducted logistics consulting for Incheon International Airport and one of the leading distribution companies in Korea. As he participated in numerous projects for logistics automation, he thought the problem of logistics site that depends too much on human labor should be solved to improve the industrial growth and labor environment. This led him to do research on the implementation of CES-type smart logistics center, and developed a logistics robot that can greatly reduce dependence on human labor.

Park introduced the company as “the robot innovation company that stimulates the change in 3D logistics environment.” He then explains, “We supply the logistics robot system and solution in all sectors where the movement of items takes place like distribution company, operation company, and logistics company besides the manufacturing company that want to implement smart factories.” He said, “The robots used in the logistics industry generally replace human feet. The feature that designs the automatic path that minimizes the picking after receiving the order information at the logistics site are mostly done on foot.”

To perform these roles optimally, the logistics robots of Hills Engineering used autonomous driving that allows them to move freely without human intervention, worker tracking (pico tracking) that follows workers and lowers dependency on human labor, and shuttle driving that enables simple and repetitive driving. “The most differentiated aspect of our products compared to other company’s logistics robots is that one robot changes the above three functions at the same time and executes them according to the situation,” Park emphasized.

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The company is focusing on the production and supply of logistics robots and control and quarantine robots. Regarding the reason for the logistics robot development company to develop extermination and quarantine robots, Park said, “Due to COVID-19, it has become a daily routine to wear a mask, but in the work site where you have to keep moving around, it is not easy to wear the mask all the time. Wearing a mask at the logistics site was an alternative to protect workers from dust or powder before the COVID outbreak. To solve such problems, we have developed the extermination and quarantine robots, and as the interest in our quarantine robot grew due to COVID-19, a new market had been created.”

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While most of the quarantine robots choose the UVC method, Hills Engineering’s quarantine robot sterilization quarantine method took both drug injection method and UVC sterilization method, enabling to choose the method of use according to the situation. Also, CEO Park added, “In order to actively respond to a wide variety of sterilization environments, we can respond to any sterilization environment with flexibility by installing a multitasking box and AI sensor.”

Hills Engineering participated in CES 2020 and received favorable reviews for its logistics and quarantine robot technology in the global market. It supplied quarantine robots and logistics robots to a leading oil refinery in Saudi Arabia, and plans to expand overseas markets starting with this.

Regarding the merits of Pangyo, where Hills Engineering is located, Park said, “Pangyo has a well-equipped ecosystem for startups, and it is a dream land like Silicon Valley for young people with many dreams. We are also receiving great help in that it is the place where many partners can cooperate organically because the companies with IT and advanced technologies are clustered.”

Hills Engineering is based in Pangyo, Pangyo Technovalley is the Asia Tech Hub where more than 1,200 companies in IT, CT, and BT sectors with innovative products and technologies are gathered. Located just south of the Seoul metropolitan area, easy transportation access and infrastructure provides the best environment for Korean companies to conduct businesses.

Various high-tech companies are located here, with more than 64 thousand full-time workers with a vast majority in their 20s and 30s. By industries, companies in the high-tech industry are made up of IT companies, content technology companies, biotechnology companies, and nanotechnology companies.

With the support from innovative companies with global capabilities like Kakao, NHN Entertainment, AhnLab, Krafton, NCSOFT, Nexon, and Hancom at hand, companies in Pangyo Technovalley made over 100 trillion in revenue this year. A 20% increase from last year, it is expected to become one of the best IT clusters in Korea in near future, along with advanced technology research institutes like Advanced Institute of Convergence Technology, KAIST, ETRI, and KETI working together to develop the relevant technologies further.

To perform these roles optimally, the logistics robots of Hills Engineering used autonomous driving that allows them to move freely without human intervention, worker tracking (pico tracking) that follows workers and lowers dependency on human labor, and shuttle driving that enables simple and repetitive driving. “The most differentiated aspect of our products compared to other company’s logistics robots is that one robot changes the above three functions at the same time and executes them according to the situation,” Park emphasized.