Cutting-edge materials raise the bar

With an eye to the future, Hanil Hightech is poised to emerge as the region’s market leader for high-performance products and materials in the ever-developing world of hybrid and composite materials. Established 20 years ago as a forerunner in the display and semiconductor industry in South Korea, the company now has expanded its market share with its forays into the medical & healthcare, automotive, battery and energy industries. Hanil Hightech Vice President, Mr. Chungwoo Shim, shares with International Plastics News for Asia (IRNA) the company’s operations and future plans.  

Mr. Chungwoo Shim, Vice President, Hanil Hightech

IRNA: Hanil Hightech has such a diverse range of products for a variety of industries, how would these innovative products fare against competitors in the ever changing technology market?

Mr. Shim: Our company has always taken pride in paving the way for innovative products and design in the display and semiconductor industry. This all started with Hanil Hightech introducing the first PEEK (polyether ether ketone) production and development in South Korea. Two decades ago when everyone else were importing PEEK materials, Hanil Hightech decided to morph the trading company into the first PEEK injection business in the region. The semiconductor boom that shortly happened in the following years gave the company the opportunity to expand our manufacturing line to include the production of high performance materials and products.

One example of these are our hybrid ball bearings for manufacturing industries that require materials that survive the harshest and strictest environments in terms of cleanliness, vacuum state, and exposure to extreme heat, chemical, and magnetic conditions.  Hanil Hightech plastic and ceramic hybrid bearings are optimized to operate in said conditions at the same emit the minimum pollution using minimum lubricants.

The same strict quality control and cutting edge design & technology that we pour into our bearings are applied to the our other manufacturing products such as equipment parts for OLED, LCD, semiconductor plants, injection molded parts for medical apparatus such as ultrasound machines, x-rays, and various prosthetic parts.

IRNA: You mentioned the strict and stringent processes your company adhere to in order to ensure the best products. What are the steps taken to ensure this is maintained in the production cycle?

Mr. Shim: We have had our ISO9001 Quality Management System certification ever since we founded our manufacturing and production facilities. This means maintaining two decades of ISO certified status without fail. Just recently, we garnered the coveted SQ Quality Certification (A Grade) issued by Hyundai Kia Motor Company (HKMC). This was after a grueling 2-year application process to the HKMC Board. Hanil Hightech was also awarded the INNO-BIZ Enterprise status by the Korean government. This business award is for small-to-medium manufacturers who are frontrunners and leaders in innovation and design.

We also have in our employ five Quality Control engineers in our QC division. This division, coupled with our competent and strict plant managers, ensures that each and every product that goes out to our clients meet their strictest requirement and measurements. We have no qualms in getting rid of up to 80% production output if it doesn’t meet our standards. This sometimes happens with the uncertainty of the raw materials grade provided by our suppliers. We take care of ensuring only the very best reaches our customers.  

IRNA: Where are your manufacturing plants in South Korea?

Mr. Shim: Our factories are located mostly in the Gyeonggido province. The two biggest factories are located in Hwaseong City, specifically in the Hyangnam and Yanggam districts. The former, Hyangnam, is also the company’s main headquarters location. The Hyangnam facility takes the lead in the production of the LCD-OLED Cassette pallets, photo mask cases, special/hybrid bearings and engineering plastic products. The Yanggam production plant manufactures automotive parts, healthcare products, CFRP components, aside from specific engineering plastic products. Our automotive parts carry the TS16949 certification, the equivalent of an ISO certification for auto parts manufacture.

Our Jiksan factory is in Cheonan City. This facility processes mostly LCD-OLED cassettes and some special bearings. The Sandong factory in Gumi, a much bigger facility with total plant coverage of 10,000 square meters, also handles LCD-OLED cassette and hybrid bearing production. Both Jiksan and Sandong factories also serve as storage facilities for the company in that area.

Hanil Hightech has partnered with Woongjin Korea for most of its injection molding machineries, with a couple from LS Korea. Other injection molding machines are sourced from various countries. Our factories’ total production capacity has a monthly output of 200,000 bearings, 800,000 automotive parts and 200 medical equipment parts. For our raw materials, we locally source our plastic pellets and carbon raw material for carbon fiber materials with premium Korean suppliers, while our PEEK materials we get from a trusted US supplier.

High-performance products and materials from Hanil Hightech meet the requirements of the display and semiconductor sectors. 

IRNA: How is the current market for high-performance materials and parts?

Mr. Shim: Currently, the domestic market accounts for 90% of our total production output. The bulk of our 6th Generation LCD-OLED cassettes and jigs line goes to our biggest clients, Samsung and LG display manufacturing divisions. The production of our special/hybrid bearings, machined and precision injection molded parts is mostly distributed to our local automotive and semiconductor partners. For our medical and healthcare parts and products, our production output goes to the Korean government with the provision of prosthetic inner parts and motorized wheel chair components. Hanil Hightech also supplies the government with super engineered plastic parts for the military/defense equipment.

For our export markets, we count Germany, Japan and China as our main clients. The company mainly supplies prosonic parts for ultrasound machines and catheters to Siemens Medical in Germany. For our Japan and China (Hong Kong) customers, we ship our LCD-OLED cassette trays and semiconductor parts.

IRNA: What are the major challenges that Hanil Hightech face at present?

Mr. Shim: Producing high performance parts for semiconductor and LCD display industries is very challenging. For one thing, expansion to export markets is very competitive with the various manufacturing facilities in other region catering to the demand. What Hanil Hightech aims to overcome is the lack of partnership, exposure and marketing in said regions, namely the US and Europe markets. Breaking into Germany is good, with our Siemens Medical partnership. We hope to establish the same kind of relationship with other leading companies in various countries not only in the ASEAN region but in the EU/Northern America regions as well.

This of course would be with the company’s goal of developing a strong client base with the provision of exceptional high performance parts that exceed market expectations and standards. We constantly strive to push our research and development to the limit. Our engineers apply a lot of effort and man hours in research and development of better hybrid material combinations and innovative technology with regards to the manufacturing processes.

IRNA: What are the company’s plans for future development and expansion?  

Mr. Shim: For immediate expansion plans, we are currently eyeing establishing manufacturing plants in China and Poland. To achieve this, Hanil Hightech aims to expand its high performance parts export market in Southeast Asia markets. In fact, at this very moment, I am flying to China to talk with our Chengdu partners for expansion of our LCD-OLED marketing and distribution.

Last year, Hanil Hightech netted $40 million in sales and profit. We plan to exceed that amount in the next couple of years with the goal of doubling the total sales figure. Part of our expansion plans also includes venturing more into the medical field with the development of high precision performance parts for robotic limbs and hands. In every venture and move that we make, Hanil Hightech always maintains to strive for highest satisfaction of every customer.

Hanil Hightech Co. Ltd.

269, Toseong-ro, Hyangnam-eup, Hwaseong-si

Gyeonggido, Republic of Korea

Tel: +82-31 352 7722

Fax: +82-31 352 9448

E-mail: mskim@hanilhightech.co.kr

Website: www.hanilhightech.co.kr