The Company Responsible for LG Energy Solution Batteries... Expected 50% Sales Increase

Power Electronics Measurement Equipment Company ODA Technology
Supplies Charging/Discharging and EOL Equipment for Secondary Battery Activation Process
Sorts Defective Batteries and Conducts Reliability Tests for Battery Safety
Selected for Ministry of SMEs and Startups Technology Innovation Development Project... 600 Million KRW Support Over 2 Years
Also Supplies DC Power Supplies for Semiconductor Processes at Samsung, SK Hynix, and Others
80 Billion KRW Sales in First Half... Expected to Surpass 20 Billion KRW in Sales This Year

Kim Jung-seok, CEO of ODA Technology, is explaining the company's EOL (End-of-Line battery pack performance testing) equipment.
[Photo by Kwak Min-jae]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kwak Min-jae] Secondary batteries are largely completed through electrode processing, assembly processing, and activation processing. In the electrode process, the battery's cathode and anode are made, and in the assembly process, the batteries are stacked and assembled. In particular, the process of activating the battery with electrical energy by repeatedly charging and discharging is a key process to verify battery safety. Power electronics measurement equipment company ODA Technology has been supplying power supplies (battery chargers), electronic loads (dischargers), and EOL (final battery pack performance inspection) equipment used in LG Energy Solution's secondary battery activation process since last year. ODA Technology's sales last year were 10.1 billion KRW. Having already recorded sales of 8 billion KRW in the first half of this year, the expected sales for this year are projected to increase by more than 50% compared to last year.

ODA Technology's main products are chargers/dischargers and EOL equipment, which are closely related to secondary battery safety. They supply these devices to LG Energy Solution, SK On, and Hanwha Q CELLS. In the secondary battery activation process, by using ODA Technology's power supplies and electronic loads to conduct about 10 cycles of battery charge-discharge tests, defective batteries can be screened. The power supply provides power to the battery to detect if charging is not possible, or to identify overheating and abnormal voltage/current in the internal cell battery during charging. Afterwards, through the EOL equipment, reliability tests are conducted once more to check whether the battery's internal resistance, temperature, and voltage values during charging meet the standard criteria.

DC power supply (battery charger) from ODA Technology. [Photo by ODA Technology]

CEO Kim Jung-seok said, "To prevent battery defects, fires, and damage, it is important to measure the battery's temperature and voltage values in real time as quickly and accurately as possible," adding, "In LG Energy Solution's internal tests, ODA Technology's products have been recognized for their technological excellence, showing the best precision and charge state response speed compared to other companies."

Electronic load (battery discharger) by ODA Technology. [Photo by ODA Technology]

Last month, the company was selected for the Ministry of SMEs and Startups' technology innovation development project in the secondary battery field and will receive 600 million KRW in support over two years. Based on this, ODA Technology plans to complete the development of a Cell-Cycler by the end of next year. The Cell-Cycler, which charges and discharges multiple battery cells simultaneously in the secondary battery manufacturing process, is used in greater quantities than EOL equipment, making the related market size large, according to the company. CEO Kim said, "As a result of investing 7-8% of annual sales in R&D, the basic technology development and performance testing of the Cell-Cycler have been completed," adding, "If we commercialize a Cell-Cycler that is one-third the size of existing products by advancing technology development, we expect to increase production volume in the secondary battery activation process by more than three times."

Overview of the production room at ODA Technology headquarters.
Photo by Kwak Minjae

CEO Kim, a graduate of Yonsei University College of Engineering, worked as an engineer for nine years at motor and pneumatic companies before founding the company in 2005 to localize charge-discharge test equipment used in secondary batteries. He said, "Seeing that the domestic power electronics measurement equipment field was significantly behind foreign countries, I wanted to compete with large foreign companies using domestic technology and products, so I jumped into entrepreneurship," adding, "Although we started with three employees at the time of founding, by continuously releasing high-quality products with price competitiveness, we have grown into a company with 68 employees and sales of 10 billion KRW."

Exterior view of ODA Technology headquarters located in Bupyeong, Incheon. [Photo by ODA Technology]

ODA Technology is also targeting the semiconductor field. It supplies DC power supply equipment used in semiconductor wafer processes to Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix, and semiconductor equipment company TES. Although semiconductor sector sales accounted for about 10% of total sales last year, it is expected to increase to 40% this year. CEO Kim said, "To increase production, we purchased a 5,160㎡ building in Bucheon and plan to complete a new factory 30 times larger than the existing one by 2026 with an investment of 70 billion KRW," adding, "We will actively target new industry fields and grow into a secondary battery and semiconductor power test solution company with sales of 43 billion KRW by 2026."

Incheon = Reporter Kwak Min-jae

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