In Celebration
of World Standards Day
ATS awards 50 individuals and 10 organizations in a ceremony

The Korean Agency for Technology and Standards (ATS) honored World Standards Day with a ceremony held at its auditorium with some 500 people attending.
Dignitaries that attended the event included Reps. Kim Yong-kap, chairman of the National Assembly Industry-Resources Committee, Minister of Commerce, Industry and Energy Lee Hee-beom. At the ceremony, 50 people who made great contributions to the development of standards and 10 organizations received medals and citations
President Chang Byung-woo of Otis-LG Elevator, received the Order of Industrial Merit Silver Medal; Professor Park Se-kwang of Kyungbuk University was awarded with Industrial Citation; Sohn Doo-ik, director-general at the Korea Industrial Safety Corp. won the Industrial Citation;Professor Chang Ui-son of Hanyang University clinched the Presidential Citation; Cho Ji-hwan, office director at the Korea Gas Safety Corp. was given the Presidential Citation; Director Lee Kyo-il of the Hanil Cement Co. won the Prime Minister? Citation; President Huh Kyu-hwan of Samsung Industry Co. was presented with the Prime Minister's Citation; Team Chief Kim Kyu-hyun of the Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute(ETRI) received the Prime Minister's Citation.
Included among the 10 companies that won the awards for standardization were: Korea Midland Power Co., Electronics and Telecommunication Research Institute, Hankook Chinaware Co. and Kumho Electric Co., among others.

Korea Midland Power:

Korea Midland Power has been credit for raising public trust in its installation by standardizing them as power installation equipment under Korea Standard(KS). The citation given to the company from the ATS read that the company has been able to cut power generation costs and reducing the rate of malfunctioning by increased use of power generation equipment bearing KS marks. The citation also said its localization of power generation equipment has had an import substitution effect of 21.1 billion won. The company has strengthened national competitiveness by upgrading the quality of electricity and trust in power installations. Midland Power also has been noted for its management effectiveness and boosting profits through the implementation of the JB Power Vision 2008 and standardization of its office process. In 2004, the company overshot all of its operational targets and realized 1.9 trillion won in sales and more than 200 billion won in net profit. The company set up a special team to cope with the Kyoto Protocol actively and has been engaged in the research for the development of environment-friendly power generation technology. Under its master 10-year Plan for R&D and Standardization, the company has been making research on wind power generation, hydrogen fuel battery, and solar energy development.

Electronics and Technology Research Institute:

ETRI has been given credit for strengthening the internatio-nalization of standards to enable Korean firms to make inroads to foreign markets. Accordingly, the institute last year acquired international standard certificates including ISO, IEC, JTCL, ITU, and IEEE for Korean products in the areas of MPEG-21, mobile Internet, Internet communication,-- 15 altogether. ETRI provided technologies for the internationalization of MPEG, DMB, and WiBro and as of the end of 2004, it helped Korean firms to secure 127 cases of international patents and from 2001 and at present, the institute has 39 international standard technologies paving the way to earn a great amount of technology fees, and spur technology development by the information and communication industry.
ETRI has been operating standardization expert system to have each technology expert in the system to push the standardization of technologies in their respective areas. Through the system ETRI has been able to improve the standardization of the technologies developed so that ETRI would be competitive and take a leading position in the stages of international standardization. ETRI has also been operating the Special Interest Group(SIG) to spur efforts for standardization on the level of the institute. Currently, about 200 standardization experts are working with SIG in 9 fields. ETRI has also been operating the standardization committee to map out the direction of its standardization strategies and reform the systems related to standardization inside ETRI and evaluate its activities.

Kumho Electric Inc.

Kumho Electric as a maker of lighting equipment with a 70-year history, obtained KS mark for its electric bulb in 1963 to become the first KS mark winner. The company received confirmation as a venture firm under the evaluation conducted by the Korea Technology Credit Fund sponsored by the Small Business Administration branches in Gwangju and South Jeolla Province in February, this year. The company also obtained KS marks for its fluorescent lamps(KS C 7601) and four others. The company also obtained Q-Mark and ISO9001 certificates for its lighting equipment, in addition to JIS and UL certificates. The company first went into lightings manufacturing business in 1935, making its name in various areas of the business including industrial lightings, and the information industry displays and become a leader in the industry. The company secured the KS mark for its light bulbs in 1963 and those for its fluorescent light bulbs also were obtained. The company also won the Q mark, ISO 9001 certificate, the environment mark and the high effective energy equipment certificate. Among foreign certificates, the company secured Japan? JIS mark, and UL mark of the U.S.

Hankook Chinaware:

Hankook Chinaware has been cited for its efforts to achieve a brand vision for its products under the theme of the creation of arts in daily lives. The company also tried to carry out its mission entitled, "Improving Health of Customers and Quality of Their Lives." The company has been praised for making its brand name known worldwide as Chinaware representing Korea.
The company understood the brand management has been key to a company's success and built and managed the system for brand structure and focused its management on the segregation of products and positioning. The company monitored the results of its promotion to make them an indication point. The company with its history tracing back62 years to 1943, first developed fine bone china with more than 50 percent of bone ash contents and in 1989, the company went to develop Super Strong Chinaware for the first time in the world. Super Strong Chinaware with three times strong hardness than ordinary fine Chinaware can be used in the dish washer machines and cook food in ovens. The company operates 7 plants in the Chongju Industrial Complex and three plants in Indonesia under its local subsidiary Hankook Ceramic Indonesia to turn out 3.5 million pieces of Chinaware a month. The company was the first in the Chinaware industry to win KS marks for its bone China and Super Strong products as a result of carrying out QM activities for over 25 years. It also won for the first time in the world Chinaware industry the international quality assurance certificate ISO9001 and the international environment certificate ISO14001. In 1991, the company won the Industrial Standardization Award, followed in 1999 with the Consumer Satisfaction Excellent Enterprise Award and the Quality Management Order of Industrial Merit Gold Medal.

Ace Bed Co.:

Ace Bed Co., set up in 1963, worked its way up in the industry with a management ideal that it should make the best beds, continuing to develop technologies and investment in facilities. The company has the largest bed manufacturing plant in the world has been able to make itself the best bed maker in the world with its challenging spirit and step ahead of others in technology since its foundation in 1963. It became the first company to operate a research center of its own, the automation of the factory to improve its products with an understanding that scientific quality and high-tech production facilities can make the company to produce the best beds. The company continued to exert its efforts for the development of new technologies to improve its products under the catch phrase of "World Ace" to globalize its operation in the past 42 years of its hard work. During the process, the company has firmly established itself as a top bed maker in the world with the biggest market share in the country. The company first obtained the KS mark for its beds and standardized bed manufacturing and in the process, winning the Quality Management Grand Prize. Its been drawing the attention of rival firms at home and abroad for its all-in-one technology as a leader in technology challenging rivals in advanced countries.
The company? mattresses are made of materials that have anti-virus, anti-mold, anti-bacteria and anti-insects and they are stuffed with pure goat furs, which are very good in absorbing dampness. nw

The anniversary ceremony of World Standard Day is celebrated at the Koran Agency for Technology and Standards auditorium.

President
Chung Jang-sup

President
Lim Ju-hwan

President
Park Myung-koo

President
Kim Young-shin

President
Ahn Sung-ho