StepHow and Techcross Successfully Complete 'WISSLY' PoC to Advance AI Transformation in Marine Environmental Equipment Manufacturing

SEOUL, South Korea — Artificial Intelligence Transformation (AX) is rapidly gaining momentum in the marine environmental equipment manufacturing sector. Companies are increasingly leveraging AI to unify siloed manufacturing data—spanning design, quality control, production processes, and maintenance—to drive sharper, data-driven decision-making on the factory floor.

Marine tech pioneer Techcross and AI workflow automation startup StepHow announced on July 6 that they have successfully completed a Proof of Concept (PoC) project powered by StepHow’s enterprise AI platform, 'WISSLY,' aimed at accelerating AI transformation within Techcross's manufacturing operations.

The joint project involved deploying WISSLY, an Agentic RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation) based AI platform, to ingest and synthesize over 50,000 highly specialized manufacturing data points owned by Techcross. This extensive dataset included blueprint engineering documents, quality test reports, process logs, and maintenance histories.

Through this live pilot, the two companies validated a specialized data search and analytical framework tailored to marine environmental equipment manufacturing. Furthermore, they successfully verified the feasibility of expanding AI deployment into compliance benchmarking, internal workflow analysis, and job-function mapping.

Techcross is a global industry leader specializing in the development and manufacturing of critical marine environmental systems, including Ballast Water Management Systems (BWMS) and Exhaust Gas Cleaning Systems. To proactively adapt to tightening International Maritime Organization (IMO) environmental regulations and the rising demand for custom-engineered vessels, Techcross has been aggressively pursuing a manufacturing data-driven AX strategy.

The core objective of this PoC extended far beyond simple keyword searches. Instead, the focus was centered on whether the AI could comprehensively analyze engineering histories, Factory Acceptance Test (FAT) results, quality bottlenecks, and international regulatory filings to generate actionable insights for live manufacturing operations.

The collaboration successfully indexed diverse formats of manufacturing data, including design blueprints, FAT reports, classification society certificates, Bills of Materials (BOM), and production logs. Using natural language queries, the teams successfully validated various deployment scenarios, such as retrieving historical project data, analyzing recurring quality anomalies, and navigating complex regulatory compliance frameworks.

StepHow’s WISSLY is an enterprise-grade AI productivity platform designed to aggregate and structure massive volumes of fragmented corporate data, dynamically formulating search strategies based on user intent. Unlike basic search tools, WISSLY can decompose complex, multi-layered queries into sub-tasks and cross-analyze multiple documents simultaneously to deliver highly accurate, evidence-backed answers.

The PoC also demonstrated the platform's ability to ingest ISO manuals and internal standard operating procedures (SOPs). This confirmed the viability of using AI to monitor compliance standards, audit workflow efficiencies, and map out roles and responsibilities across different job functions.

In tandem with the technical deployment, the companies conducted hands-on AI and Agentic RAG training for Techcross’s production and R&D personnel. Utilizing a Problem-Based Learning (PBL) model, the training leveraged actual manufacturing logs and ISO guidelines to foster an AI-ready organizational culture and cultivate internal tech champions.

"By connecting our fragmented manufacturing data into a unified, actionable corporate asset, we have unlocked the potential of AI-driven search and analytics," said a representative from Techcross. "Moving forward, we will continue to elevate our engineering quality, regulatory readiness, and overall operational productivity."

"This PoC successfully validated a tailored AI data utilization model specifically optimized for the heavy marine equipment manufacturing industry," added Sung-wook Hwang, CEO of StepHow. "We have established a scalable AX blueprint that extends from core manufacturing analytics to ISO compliance and workflow optimization."

Building on the success of the PoC, the two companies have been officially selected as a supplier-demand pair for the AI Innovation Voucher Program, sponsored by the Ulsan Information Industry Promotion Agency. With StepHow serving as the solution provider and Techcross as the adopting enterprise, they will now proceed with full-scale, on-site deployment of the WISSLY-powered data integration and analysis system.

Looking ahead, StepHow and Techcross plan to expand the AI's operational scope across the entire manufacturing lifecycle—including engineering, quality assurance, production, and lifecycle maintenance—while drafting a mid-to-long-term AX execution roadmap to seamlessly bridge corporate knowledge with manufacturing data.

Meanwhile, StepHow is an alumnus of the 14th batch of 'IBK Changgong (Mapo),' a premier startup acceleration platform operated by the Industrial Bank of Korea (IBK), and continues to receive scaling support from Synergy IB Investment, a co-operator of the platform.