BAT Sacheon factory's forklift / Courtesy of BAT Korea Manufacturing
British American Tobacco (BAT) Korea Manufacturing, which operates the BAT Sacheon factory in South Gyeongsang Province, said Monday it has introduced artificial intelligence (AI)-equipped smart forklifts and built an integrated safety system to prevent industrial accidents and strengthen on-site safety management.
The system combines AI-based video recognition technology with ultra-wideband (UWB) location sensing to prevent forklift collision and entrapment accidents in the manufacturing environment. Cameras fitted with AI image recognition minimize blind spots and secure wider fields of vision, while the UWB solution precisely measures the distance between forklifts and pedestrians and triggers an immediate alert when a hazard is detected.
The factory, which serves as a major manufacturing and export hub for BAT’s Asia-Pacific operations, also equipped its forklifts with line-beam projectors that visually mark the vehicle's travel radius and boundary lines on the floor, giving nearby workers an intuitive sense of safe distances in high-noise environments.
BAT Sacheon factory said it has also established a regular inspection framework and emergency response process to ensure the system operates effectively, raising the overall level of safety management for employees.
"The introduction of this smart safety system is an important investment to realize sustainable safety management," said Kim Ji-hyong, factory manager of BAT Sacheon. "As part of our ESG (environmental, social and governance) management, we will continue to prioritize employee safety as our foremost value and expand global-standard safety practices."
BAT Sacheon factory was established in 2002 and has positioned itself as an export hub for Asia, supplying products to more than nine countries. The factory has maintained a focus on ESG management through the adoption of eco-friendly facilities and resource efficiency improvements.
This article was published with the assistance of generative AI and edited by The Korea Times.
Source: Korea Times News
