Yangsu Metal Challenges the Global Market with Seismic Safety Technology

Seismic Safety-Focused 'Platform Companies' Target
Jungjinkong Supports 'SME Technology Commercialization Capability Enhancement Project'
Performance Testing and Prototype Production Underway

The earthquake that occurred on September 12, 2016, in Gyeongju, Gyeongsangbuk-do, was the largest earthquake ever recorded on the Korean Peninsula since the Korea Meteorological Administration began monitoring earthquakes in 1978. With a magnitude of 5.8, seismic intensity 5 was also detected in nearby Ulsan. Yangsu Metal (CEO Oh Chang-su), located in Ulju-gun, Ulsan, is a company that established a solid foundation that did not shake during this earthquake. After the Gyeongju earthquake, the perception spread that the Korean Peninsula is not a safe zone from earthquakes, and as related regulations were strengthened, Yangsu Metal’s technological capabilities came to shine.

CEO Oh Chang-su stated, "We are developing seismic products that ensure sufficient safety while being easy to install, and at the same time, we are supplying intuitive and user-friendly fire protection seismic automatic design software." Since 2015, earthquakes with a magnitude of 3.0 or higher have increased more than threefold on the Korean Peninsula. If fire protection piping is damaged during an earthquake, secondary damage caused by earthquake fires can be even greater. In fact, during the 2016 Gyeongju earthquake, damage to non-structural elements such as fire protection piping was greater than damage to the building structure itself.

Ochangsuu Yangsumetal CEO

Established in 2003, Yangsu Metal’s technology focuses on minimizing this damage. The anti-shake brace developed with proprietary technology has been certified as an excellent R&D innovative product by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups and generates annual sales of 5 billion KRW. This product firmly secures piping so that it does not shake even in machine rooms with high ceilings. Additionally, the fire protection seismic automatic design software ‘TUTUM 3’ has been applied to many fire protection seismic design sites, reducing design time by more than 40% and decreasing construction volume by over 20% through optimized design.

Recently, Yangsu Metal has devoted efforts to developing the ‘seismic stopper.’ A seismic stopper is a device installed around vibration isolation equipment for fire protection equipment such as fire pumps and generators. It prevents fire protection equipment from detaching or toppling during an earthquake. In 2021, Yangsu Metal developed and patented a ‘variable structure seismic stopper’ that can simultaneously prevent detachment and toppling of fire protection equipment with a single stopper.

Although the technology development was completed, there were challenges in commercialization. The company lacked immediate financial capacity for new product development, making it difficult to proceed with performance testing and prototype production. The support from the Small and Medium Business Corporation (SBC) played a decisive role in helping Yangsu Metal overcome this crisis. With the support of SBC’s ‘SME Technology Commercialization Capability Enhancement Project,’ performance testing was conducted, and prototypes were produced. This project provides tailored commercialization support after assessing the likelihood of successful technology commercialization. Last year, the commercialization success rate of participating companies was 55.6%, which was 12.7 percentage points higher than the average commercialization success rate of 42.9% for government R&D projects.

With the support of this project, Yangsu Metal was able to mass-produce new products in a timely manner and, through marketing support, quickly secured opportunities to enter domestic and international markets by establishing new brochures and an English website. Their performance also increased significantly. Sales, which were around 14.5 billion KRW in 2020, rose by nearly 10 billion KRW to 24.3 billion KRW last year. This year, sales are expected to reach 28 billion KRW. Yangsu Metal has now set a goal to become a ‘platform company’ in seismic safety. They aspire to develop their business with products and services that reduce all risks, including earthquakes, fires, and industrial accidents. CEO Oh said, "Through continuous research and development to explore not only the domestic but also overseas markets, we will leap forward as the leading ‘Seismic Safety No. 1 Platform’ company."

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