International standards for the cyber-physically controlled smart machine tool systems (CPSMT) for smart manufacturing (ISO 23704-1, 2) developed by POSTECH professor Suk-Hwan Suh (Director of POSTECH Research Center for Smart Factory) has been published. This international standard was approved last May by the ISO Final Draft International Standard (FDIS) and now has been published as the international standard.

ISO 23704 is the world’s first international standard for Cyber Physical Systems (CPS), which is the core technology for Industry 4.0, in the Computer Numerical Control (CNC) Machine Tools. As the convener of the ISO Technical Committee (ISO/TC184/SC1/WG11) and the expert on the CNC machine tools and smart factory, Professor Suh has developed and published about 140 technical documents. This time was especially significant since it has taken him 5 years to achieve this feat with the support from several countries that lead the world in CNC machine tool technology.

A machine tool is called the “mother machine” in the sense that it is a machine that makes machines and an indicator of a nation’s technological prowess. It not only affects hardware and software solutions, but also service industries and others. Among them, smart machine tools, which contribute to optimization of manufacturing systems as well as prediction and preservation of anomaly detection using Internet of Things, digital twin, and artificial intelligence technology during processing, are key infrastructure for smart manufacturing innovation.

This approval of the ISO international standards, which was supported by the Korean Agency for Technology and Standards since 2018 (a program to advance standard technology), is anticipated to not only boost the international profile of Korea, a latecomer to the smart machine tools industry, but also raise Korea’s brand and technological strength when Korean industries preemptively adopt international standards.

Professor Suh has been participating in the CNC controlled system development program (K-CNC) for smart manufacturing tool that had begun in 2020 to improve Korea’s global competitiveness. In this project, he had been conducting pilot studies aimed to systematically develop the Korean smart CNC machine tools based on the ISO 23704.