Jungnang-gu Expands Shared Fashion Sewing Equipment Room Equipped with State-of-the-Art Automatic Cutting System

Seoul City Invests 420 Million KRW in Smart Process Support Project, Establishes State-of-the-Art Automated Cutting System...Repurposes Former Mangwoo-bondong Office, Creates 73-Pyeong Shared Fashion Sewing Equipment Room on 2nd Floor in Jungnang-gu...Gwanak-gu Advances Artterior Project in 669 Small Business Stores, Expresses Gratitude to Unsung Heroes...Geumcheon-gu Implements Indoor Air Quality Smart Management System in All Daycare Centers...Supports Year-Round Operation of 171 Air Purifiers in 50 Public Facilities Including Elderly Welfare Centers...Guro-gu Baekgok, Jungang, Hwawon Senior Centers and Gocheok, Narae Daycare Centers ‘Friendly...

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jong-il] Jungnang-gu (Mayor Ryu Kyung-gi) has expanded the Jungnang-gu Fashion Sewing Shared Equipment Room to a size of 240㎡ (73 pyeong) by utilizing the second floor of the building formerly used as the Mangwoo-bon-dong office (12, Mangwoo-ro 77-gil, Jungnang-gu).

After completing a pilot operation in December last year, full-scale operation began in January this year. The district expects that the expansion of the shared equipment room will enhance the productivity and competitiveness of local sewing companies.

The fashion sewing shared equipment room was equipped with advanced facilities using 420 million KRW received after Jungnang-gu applied for and was selected in last year's Seoul Metropolitan Government's clothing manufacturing industry cluster smart process support project. The equipment room is equipped with state-of-the-art automatic cutting equipment such as CAM/CAD automatic cutting machines, automatic spreading machines, and spreading tables. Jungnang-gu is the sixth autonomous district in Seoul to have a shared equipment room equipped with an automatic cutting room.

By using the equipment room, pattern making, marking, spreading, and cutting work, which were previously done manually, can be performed automatically and quickly with the help of professional operators such as cutting room managers, cutters, and cutting assistants. Additionally, special sewing equipment such as welting machines, bartacking machines, endless sewing machines, and overlock machines can be rented free of charge.

In particular, using automatic cutting equipment can reduce fabric waste, thereby improving productivity and playing a significant role in securing competitiveness through time and cost savings.

The service is free of charge and available to main clothing manufacturing companies with business locations in Jungnang-gu and designers who use clothing manufacturing companies in Jungnang-gu. Companies wishing to use the service can apply through the shared equipment room cutting schedule website, and detailed inquiries can be made by phone.

A representative of a local clothing manufacturing company currently using the equipment room said, "I am really happy that the idea proposed a few years ago has actually been realized, and now we can get free cutting service just by bringing work orders, patterns, and fabric."

Ryu Kyung-gi, Mayor of Jungnang-gu, said, "We will actively collect opinions from the field to revitalize the fashion sewing industry, which plays an important role in the local industrial economy," and added, "We will continue to make efforts to improve the productivity and competitiveness of local fashion sewing companies."

Gwanak-gu (Mayor Park Jun-hee) successfully completed the 2021 Artterior project and on December 30 last year, presented certificates of appreciation to the artists who sincerely participated in the project.

'Artterior' is a compound word of Art and Interior, a project where local artists customize the interior and exterior design, brand, and product packaging design of old and worn small business stores.

Through this project, a mural depicting General Gang Gam-chan's victory at the Battle of Gwiju was painted on the plain restaurant wall, and a charming mini flower bed was created in the empty space in front of the store.

Behind these changes were 143 visual arts experts who played a hidden role. Local artists participating in the project took charge of 3 to 4 stores each, consulting with small business owners on design to create the best results that attract consumers' attention, receiving great responses.

To support small business owners suffering from management difficulties due to COVID-19 and to revitalize the depressed alley commercial districts, the district tripled the number of supported small business stores compared to 2020, improving the environment of a total of 438 stores in the first half of 2021 to create distinctive alley commercial districts and enhance competitiveness.

To accommodate many small business owners wishing to participate, an additional budget of 850 million KRW was allocated in the second supplementary budget of 2021, and by January this year, 231 small business owners and 83 local artists were additionally recruited and selected to complete the project.

Also, 500 million KRW was allocated in the 2022 main budget to continue the highly popular Artterior project, including various projects such as intensive training to strengthen merchant capabilities and SNS promotion projects to revitalize alley commercial districts, leading local economic revitalization.

A district official said, "We hope the Artterior project will become a model of a win-win economy that benefits both small business owners and local artists during these difficult times due to COVID-19," and added, "We will continue to carry out various projects to revitalize alley commercial districts without fail and make every effort to create a special economic district together."

Geumcheon-gu (Mayor Yoo Sung-hoon) has established an 'Indoor Air Quality Smart Management System' that measures indoor air quality in real-time at all local daycare centers and other facilities to promote air quality improvement.

As the time spent indoors has increased due to COVID-19, the importance of reducing fine dust and managing indoor air quality in daily life is growing.

Accordingly, since December last year, Geumcheon-gu has installed 235 IoT-based indoor air quality measuring devices in 140 daycare centers and 9 nursing homes.

The installed measuring devices, shaped like clocks, display fine dust concentration in four colors: blue (good), green (normal), yellow (bad), and red (very bad), allowing users to grasp air quality status at a glance. The color of the hour digits indicates indoor fine dust concentration, while the color of the minute digits shows outdoor fine dust concentration transmitted from the national measurement network (Air Korea). Additionally, if carbon dioxide concentration increases, the device blinks to indicate the need for ventilation.

Going forward, Geumcheon-gu plans to analyze pollution causes by facility using big data from air quality measurements and devise improvement measures, continuously striving to protect residents' health by proposing customized guidelines.

Yoo Sung-hoon, Mayor of Geumcheon-gu, said, "As indoor life has increased due to COVID-19, the importance of indoor air quality management is growing," and added, "We expect the newly established Indoor Air Quality Smart Management System to play a significant role in protecting the health of children and the elderly vulnerable to fine dust."

Dongjak-gu (Mayor Lee Chang-woo) is supporting the operation of air purifiers in public facilities within the district to protect residents' health from harmful environments such as viruses and fine dust, and has launched a special indoor air quality inspection during the 3rd fine dust seasonal management period.

Air purifiers have become essential household items as demand for comfortable and clean air has increased regardless of season due to increased indoor activities caused by fine dust and COVID-19.

This year, the district supports the year-round operation of 171 large-capacity, high-performance air purifiers in 50 public facilities such as daycare centers, elderly welfare facilities, and libraries.

The distributed air purifiers are certified with CA certification (Korea Air Purifier Association standard certification), KC certification (Korea Agency for Technology and Standards safety certification for living and electrical products), and verified for energy consumption efficiency and harmful gas removal rates.

The district supports maintenance and management such as filter replacement, cleaning, and after-sales service every two months through contractors and plans to conduct regular guidance and inspections.

Last year, to protect the health of infants and young children vulnerable to fine dust and viruses, the district expanded the supply of smart air showers to a total of 47 locations including district-run daycare centers and Moms Heart Cafes.

The smart air shower removes fine dust, bacteria, and other harmful substances attached to the body by blowing air when users pass through the gate, and improves indoor air quality through an eco-friendly LED sterilizer.

Also, in line with the '3rd Fine Dust Seasonal Management' implemented since December last year, the district is inspecting indoor air quality management status at public transportation facilities and multi-use facilities where children, youth, and elderly vulnerable to fine dust and viruses gather.

This month, as the importance of indoor air quality management increases due to high concentrations of fine dust in winter, heating, and increased indoor activities, special inspections will be conducted at facilities used by health-sensitive groups such as daycare centers, academies, medical institutions, and elderly care facilities.

Inspection items include proper operation and maintenance of mechanical ventilation systems and air purifiers, availability of action guidelines and manuals during high fine dust occurrences, etc. For facilities used by health-sensitive groups, non-face-to-face methods will be prioritized, but on-site inspections will be conducted if there are improvements in quarantine situations or facility requests.

Park Yeon-su, Director of the Clean Environment Division, said, "We will continue to support proper maintenance and management of air purifiers in public facilities and regularly inspect ventilation facilities to ensure residents can live in a comfortable environment free from worries about viruses and fine dust."

Five public senior citizen centers and daycare centers in Guro-gu have been converted into 'eco-friendly buildings.'

Guro-gu (Mayor Lee Sung) announced on the 7th that "to actively respond to the climate crisis, we have promoted a remodeling project to convert public senior citizen centers and daycare centers in the district into Zero Energy Buildings (ZEB) and recently obtained building energy efficiency grade certification."

The building energy efficiency grade is a system certified by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport that evaluates energy performance including energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions to efficiently manage building energy, and certifies buildings into 10 grades (1+++ to 7).

When certified for building energy efficiency grade, incentives such as tax reductions and relaxation of building floor area ratio and height restrictions are provided.

Guro-gu started remodeling work in May last year to convert Baekgok Senior Citizen Center, Jungang Senior Citizen Center, Hwawon Senior Citizen Center, Gocheok Daycare Center, and Narae Daycare Center into Zero Energy Buildings and completed it in November. A total of 2.703 billion KRW from city and district funds was invested to replace internal and external insulation materials, windows, heating and cooling facilities with high energy efficiency products and to carry out structural improvements and reinforcements.

After completion, the remodeling performance improvement of Zero Energy Buildings was confirmed and energy efficiency grade verification was conducted through a designated company by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport. As a result, the buildings received certification of building energy efficiency grade 1++ or higher.

The buildings apply passive technologies that minimize heating and cooling energy use and active technologies that produce renewable energy. Through this, energy consumption is minimized, and renewable energy can be self-produced with a solar power system of 33 kW capacity.

A Guro-gu official said, "To reduce greenhouse gases, we will convert not only new buildings but also existing buildings into Zero Energy Buildings," and added, "We will continue to make efforts to reduce greenhouse gases to actively respond to the climate crisis."

Guro-gu previously completed remodeling work to convert Gung-dong Senior Citizen Center and Gaon Daycare Center into Zero Energy Buildings in October last year and received building energy efficiency grade certification of 1++ or higher.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.