[For more diverse corporate information on the startups mentioned in this article, please visit the Unicorn Factory big data platform 'Data Lab'.]
"When visiting factories, it is common to see veteran workers diagnosing and prescribing solutions for machine issues using their own unique know-how. While this approach is valid, what if AI (artificial intelligence) could perform these non-standardized machine diagnoses and prescriptions more accurately and quickly? Supporting on-site workers with AI and transforming the operational model itself is the vision of 'AI Native Factory' that OnePredictpursues."
Sung Min-seok, Executive Vice President of OnePredict, recently shared this vision in an interview with MoneyToday's startup media platform 'Unicorn Factory'. OnePredict is a startup founded by Professor Yoon Byung-dong of Seoul National University's Department of Mechanical Engineering, specializing in AI-based predictive maintenance technology. Since joining OnePredict, the executive vice president has led the company's scale-up efforts, expanding its solutions from single-machine equipment diagnosis to covering entire production processes.
Beyond single machines: 'pdx' covers entire processes
Before joining OnePredict, the executive vice president served in technical planning at Doosan Enerbility (formerly Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction) and led IoT platform management and scale-up initiatives at Soco and 42dot. He joined OnePredict in 2024 and oversaw packaging the company's proprietary technologies into B2B enterprise software.
At the time of his joining in July 2024, order volume stood at around 700 million won; by 2025, it surged vertically to 10 billion won. Of this amount, 9 billion won came from the pdx single product line. pdx is an intelligent industrial asset integrated management platform built on AI. It is a solution that can manage multiple facilities grouped into processes or LINE units. Since its launch in 2025, it has rapidly expanded its customer base, becoming OnePredict's Lee Kkeu-neun (CEO) growth driver.
pdx not only analyzes basic data generated by equipment but also integrates and analyzes information across the entire factory operation system to identify root causes of problems and improve production efficiency. By proving improvements in final product quality and overall yield, it is rapidly expanding its customer base at industrial sites. A representative client is Nongshim. Currently, Nongshim is conducting a pilot test to introduce OnePredict's solutions into its new factory.
The executive vice president explained, "While building typical industrial AI systems takes about 13 months, OnePredict can start AI operations immediately after on-site application and just 2–4 weeks of retraining, based on high-quality data accumulated over many years."
OnePredict's solutions are being utilized across diverse industries including railway vehicle maintenance, defense sectors, and data center heating and cooling facilities. Notably, last year the company also supplied its solutions to Motiva Enterprises, a Saudi Aramco subsidiary and North America's largest refiner.
He stated, "The on-site landscape has completely changed since introducing our solution. In the past, when problems occurred in factories, it took several weeks for expert analysts to visit the site and identify the root cause. Now, AI instantly generates analysis reports and sends 'work orders' to workers, reducing downtime and delivering significant cost-saving effects."
"National core data will not be transferred overseas"
OnePredict aims to build the 'sovereign AI' vision, which has emerged as a national priority, within industrial sites. In an era where global big tech companies dominate general-purpose AI, relying on foreign clouds for sensitive data from national critical infrastructure such as manufacturing and energy could pose fatal security threats.
The executive vice president said, "Sovereign AI emphasized by the government means more than just securing domestic models; it refers to control over industrial data and overall AI utilization. OnePredict's technology, which operates directly on-site from equipment data collection to operational decision-making, is a concrete execution model of sovereign AI that can be expanded across national industries."
While existing AI companies have relied solely on data stored on external servers, OnePredict differentiates itself by generating 'AI-ready data' directly from industrial site facilities through domestic solutions. By establishing a structure that continuously produces data on-site, it fundamentally blocks the possibility of factory data leaking overseas.
The executive vice president remarked, "Current industrial AI is comparable to ADAS (Advanced Driver Assistance Systems) in autonomous driving, where the system only warns of problems and assists with braking when issues arise. Going forward, we plan to advance technology through stages where AI makes its own judgments and intervenes on-site to solve problems, ultimately reaching Level 5 autonomous driving where human intervention is entirely unnecessary."
OnePredict plans to accelerate not only in the domestic market but also in overseas markets this year. The executive vice president stated, "We are actively considering entering the Japanese market, where AI transformation (AX) in industrial sectors started somewhat later than in Korea and demand is growing, as well as expanding into North America and Vietnam. We will first target domestic companies with multiple factories abroad to rapidly expand global references."
[MoneyToday startup media platform Unicorn Factory]
in FUTURE
