Korea Mitsubishi Electric Seeks to Nurture Smart Factory Talent Through Hands-On Learning
TECHWORLD ·
✦ AI Summary
Mitsubishi Electric Automation Korea said on the 4th that it has begun cultivating practical technical talent based on industry-academia cooperation.
Mitsubishi Electric Automation Korea and Korea University of Technology and Education co-hosted the '2026 MECA KOREA CUP,' and the competition was held at Korea University of Technology and Education in Cheonan, Chungcheongnam-do.
Fifteen teams that advanced through the preliminaries took part in the final round, and the Minister of Employment and Labor Award, the grand prize, was won by Korea University of Technology and Education's 'Gwajeobulgup' team.
Mitsubishi Electric Automation Korea said on the 4th that it has begun cultivating practical technical talent focused on directly implementing smart factory technologies, based on industry-academia cooperation. It also announced the successful conclusion of the '2026 MECA KOREA CUP (Mission Experience Communication Achievement Korea Cup).'
The competition was a university-industry-linked technical skills contest co-hosted by Mitsubishi Electric Automation Korea and Korea University of Technology and Education, and sponsored by the Ministry of Employment and Labor and the Korea Committee for the International Skills Olympiad. The event was held at Korea University of Technology and Education in Cheonan, Chungcheongnam-do.
Fifteen teams that advanced through the preliminaries took part in the final round. They spent two days working on smart factory implementation tasks, beginning equipment setup on the 5th and giving presentations and undergoing judging on the 6th, competing in technical capability and problem-solving skills.
The grand prize, the Minister of Employment and Labor Award, was awarded to Korea University of Technology and Education's 'Gwajeobulgup' team.
The grand prize-winning 'Gwajeobulgup' team earned high marks for implementing an automatic system to measure the weight, volume, and center of gravity of moving products, as well as a stable robot-based product loading system using the measured data. With this result, 'Gwajeobulgup' will represent Korea at the 2026 GLOBAL MECA World Final in Yokohama, Japan, in September.
Judges said that, in relation to the teams' outputs, the effort and passion of all teams stood out. They also emphasized smooth communication and collaboration among team members as important factors in determining the completeness of the final results.
MECA is an industry-academia-linked practical competition operated by Mitsubishi Electric in more than 12 countries around the world for more than 20 years. The MECA KOREA CUP, held domestically for the first time last year, aims to cultivate practical engineers who will lead the future of factory automation systems (FA·Factory Automation) technology.
The main challenge of the competition was implementing a smart factory based on a digital twin. Rather than a contest of theoretical knowledge, the teams competed in real manufacturing-site implementation and technical problem-solving, and they designed and implemented smart manufacturing processes themselves.
In the process, the teams used Mitsubishi Electric products and software, namely PLC·SERVO·Genesis64·Gemini. Participants acquired hands-on technical implementation skills and also experienced responding to unexpected problems and coordinating opinions among team members. The skills gained through this process were collaboration and problem-solving capabilities required in industrial settings.
Countries operating MECA included Japan, Italy, Turkiye, and Vietnam, and MECA has been run in an education-linked format. In Korea, MECA is drawing attention as an industry-academia cooperation project to cultivate practical technical talent.
Before the main event, company and university officials each addressed changes in the manufacturing industry and the direction of talent development. In a video congratulatory message before the main event, Mitsubishi Electric Korea President Hisahiro Nishimoto said the manufacturing industry is undergoing major changes amid the rapid advancement of digital technologies.
President Hisahiro Nishimoto emphasized the significance of students' independent thinking and experiences of challenge. He also said that, through industry-academia cooperation, the company will continue efforts to jointly cultivate practical technical talent with educational institutions.
Yamamoto, a senior manager at Mitsubishi Electric in Japan, positively assessed the fact that many participants from Korea also took on the challenge following the competition in Japan. He added that he hoped MECA would not remain a simple competition, but become an opportunity for technical refinement, mutual learning, and shared growth.
Korea University of Technology and Education President Yoo Gil-sang noted that the kind of talent companies want and the kind of talent universities pursue are similar, stressing the importance of industry-academia cooperation. He said creative, convergent talent capable of solving on-site problems must be nurtured, and explained that the talent companies need is someone who can implement the knowledge and skills acquired at university in the field.
The speakers said MECA gives students an opportunity to directly demonstrate their technical capabilities, serves as a chance to understand changes in the future manufacturing industry, and is a stage for growing into global engineers.
Kishi, an executive at Mitsubishi Electric Korea, said the company will strengthen cooperation with universities and educational institutions through various activities such as MECA, and will continue contributing to the development of talent that will lead future manufacturing.
Korea University of Technology and Education participated as a co-host, and Korea Polytechnic University's Daegu Campus, Hanyang University ERICA, Ulsan University, Ulsan College, Kyungil University, Dongyang Mirae University, and the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry were listed as participating institutions.
The Minister of Employment and Labor Award, the grand prize, was won by Korea University of Technology and Education's 'Gwajeobulgup' team. Team leader Kang Woo-geon said he was delighted to receive a bigger award than expected, and added that, since the team will compete as Korea's representative at the world finals, they will do their best with the goal of achieving the highest possible result.
The Korea Committee for the International Skills Olympiad Chairman's Award went to the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry's 'SM400' team. Team leader Lim Dong-wook of the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry's 'SM400' team said preparing for the competition while balancing work and studies was difficult, but he was happy to achieve a good result.
From the perspective of the organizer and company officials, the MECA KOREA CUP was presented as a competition that provides experience in implementing technology and solving problems in an environment similar to the real industrial field. It was explained that this is expected to enhance participants' on-site response capabilities.
For companies, it was also seen as an opportunity to discover future engineers with practical capabilities and to expand cooperative relationships with universities and educational institutions. Inoue, general manager of Mitsubishi Electric Korea's FA Engineering Division, said he hopes MECA KOREA CUP will contribute to nurturing technical talent in Korea and continue to develop as a venue for technical exchange among diverse participants.
In addition, the teams selected in the domestic competition were said to have the possibility of advancing to the global world final, which also motivates participating students to raise their technical capabilities to the next level. The 'Gwajeobulgup' team, selected as Korea's representative, will compete in Yokohama, Japan, in September against teams from countries around the world.
Mitsubishi Electric Korea and Korea University of Technology and Education plan to strengthen their practical talent development model through this competition, and will pursue a direction that links education and training, technical competitions, industry-academia cooperation, and global exchange.
Source: TECHWORLD · Park Gyu-chan
Original: https://www.epnc.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=406541
References
This article was produced with the help of an automated content generation algorithm.
Source: TECHWORLD
View originalThis article was summarized and organized by BizCrush based on the original article from TECHWORLD. For exact quotations and full details, please refer to the original article.