DK Board EPS Insulation Material Obtains 'Performance Certification' from Ministry of SMEs and Startups

Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Achieves First Pass in Physical Model Fire Test, Drawing Attention

Reaffirming Excellence in Technology and Performance… CEO Han Gap-ho “Leading Market Innovation”

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters, Reporter Yoon Jamin] The fire-resistant EPS insulation material with core material, a product that integrates four patented technologies developed and invested in by DK Board over more than 10 years, has recently been recognized for its performance by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups.

On the 13th, according to the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, a performance certification was issued for DK Board Co., Ltd.'s fire-resistant EPS insulation material with core material.

This was based on Article 15 of the "Act on the Promotion of Purchase of Small and Medium Enterprise Products and Support for Market Development" and Paragraph 4 of Article 11 of the Enforcement Rules of the same Act. The validity period of the performance certification is until February 1, 2026.

In particular, this achievement follows the recent success last month when the product was the first to pass the real-scale fire test for wet exterior wall finishing using fire-resistant insulation material with core material, announced by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport.

Performance certification is a certificate that confirms and proves the excellence and performance of products developed by small and medium enterprises through strict evaluation, to expand the purchase of technology-developed products by public institutions.

Products with confirmed performance certification can be preferentially purchased by public institutions, and are also granted the qualification to enter direct contracts with public institutions and local governments under the National Contract Act.

DK Board's fire-resistant EPS insulation material with core material boasts advantages such as maximizing insulation effect, excellent workability, and enhanced fire resistance compared to conventional expanded polystyrene (EPS) insulation materials.

Moreover, it has received high praise from architects for significantly compensating for the drawbacks of combustible insulation materials and dryvit exterior wall finishing construction, which have been identified as causes of major fire incidents such as the Uijeongbu apartment and Jecheon sports center fires.

The path to obtaining this performance certification was not easy for DK Board. It had to undergo several rounds of disqualification over more than two years.

CEO Han Gap-ho said, "During the 2020 National Assembly inspection of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, Justice Party lawmaker Sim Sang-jung questioned the Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport about whether it was correct to recognize a material as semi-noncombustible when one side of the test specimen was coated with aluminum foil or fire retardant showing semi-noncombustible performance, but the other side was a material that burned fiercely." He added, "Anticipating that the Building Act would be strengthened to require semi-noncombustibility for core (single material), we started a new challenge by beginning pilot production of a supplemented product from October of that year."

He continued, "After shipping the first mass-produced product in June 2021, we confidently knocked on the Ministry of SMEs and Startups to obtain the performance certification, but were disqualified four times. However, without giving up, after repeatedly analyzing the causes of failure to obtain the certification, we found the answer and today proudly received a qualification judgment."

He added, "This performance certification acquisition officially recognizes the performance and excellence of DK Board-X, the fire-resistant EPS insulation material with core material, by a national institution. We will become a company that boldly innovates the current frontline construction sites and insulation material market, which are causing enormous property damage and numerous casualties due to fake test reports and expired test certificates," he emphasized.

Meanwhile, DK Board has also been focusing on promoting the excellence of the DK Board-X product. Last year alone, it participated as the only insulation material company in a total of 13 architectural exhibitions such as Korea Build, Kyunghyang Housing Fair, Dong-A Expo, and Korea Architecture Industry Exhibition, receiving much interest and positive responses from architects and public institution construction officials.

Furthermore, this year, following participation in the Daegu and Seoul Dong-A Architecture Expos on the 26th of last month and the 9th of this month, DK Board plans to further solidify its status as a pioneering company of fire-resistant insulation materials by participating in the KINTEX Korea Build Architecture Expo in Ilsan on the 16th.

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