Over 60 Years of Machine Tool Excellence

One of the three largest makers of machine tools in Korea, Hwacheon celebrates its 60th anniversary this year; and as a company, Hwacheon is fully ripe. Local Enterprise Odyssey is a new section on the Internet version of Hwacheon’s newsletter, and for the first cover story I have visited Hwacheon Machine Tool, rightfully because Hwacheon was born in the city of Gwangju, and has grown its business there for the past sixty years.

Around noon, October 18, 2012, the sky was high and blue and the breeze pleasant in the city of Gwangju with an autumn flavor. After driving along the open road for about thirty minutes from the Gwangju Express Bus Terminal, I arrived at the destination – the HQ of Hwacheon Machine Tool located in the Jangdeok-dong township of Gwangsan-gu district. Hwacheon Machine Tool has made its home in Hanam Industrial Complex, the largest industrial belt in the Greater Gwangju Area, making large conglomerates such as Samsung Electronics, LG Innotek, and Daewoo Electronics as its neighbors.

Hwacheon is not a widely known company to the public, yet one can’t discuss the development and growth of Korean industry without mentioning the name Hwacheon. Hwacheon was the first company to introduce machines that were used to build other machines. Hwacheon was the company which built the ground for Korean industrial revolution, and Hwacheon has been for the past sixty years synonymous with Korea’s machine tool industry.

Every two years since 2010, Hwacheon has been hosting the H-ROAD (where H is short for Hwacheon) event. This is a sizeable event where the company invites customers, engineers, and other guests to Hwacheon to showcase its new products and the machine tool technology. Held between October 31 to November 3 at Hwacheon HQ, the H-ROAD 2012 show was particularly large, since this year marks Hwacheon’s 60th year. At the show Hwacheon proudly introduced a collection of products which adopted Hwacheon’s new machine tool technology.

The other two largest names in Korea’s machine tool industry are Doosan and Hyundai, both of them companies of two mega conglomerates. Industry experts say that although Hwacheon does less in quantity, its quality is on a par with, and a lot of times better than, these two competing companies. In any industry it’s nearly impossible for a company the size of Hwacheon to compete against the chebol, or conglomerates; unless, that small company has some kind of competitive edge no one else has.

So, what is Hwacheon Machine Tool’s edge?

The Big Three: Hwacheon Bumps Shoulders with Korea’s Best

Our advantage is the sixty years of sophiscated techniques and accumulated know-how; and the craftsmanship of which we regard so highly in this company,says Ki-tae Kim, the director of Hwacheon Tech Research Center and the plant manager for Hwacheon Machinery Division. He adds, All this translates to the quality of our products.

Hwacheon Machine Tool was founded in May 1952 in Gwangju in the midst of Korean War, by the late Seung-gwan Kwon, now the honorary chairman of Hwacheon. Founder Kwon started his career as an apprentice molder at a local foundry in his teen age, where his perseverance and workmanship earned the Japanese shop owner’s confidence.

August 1945, the surrender of the Empire of Japan brought the hostilities of World War 2 to close. Consequently Korea won its independence from Japan, and the opportunity knocked on Kwon’s door. As the Japanese shop owner left for his home country, he gave Kwon full ownership of his shop – that day Kwon took his first step as an entrepreneur. At the time the shop was using the name Tomo-e Ironworks, where Tomo-e was the former owner’s Japanese family name, which Kwon renamed to Hwacheon Machine Works in 1951 during Korean War. The prefix hwa indicates fortune,and the suffix cheon translates to stream. Combined, the word Hwacheon means the stream or the starting point of fortune or wealth, and this was certainly fitting for a business whose goal was to create a profit.

In late 1950 Kwon set himself another challenge and decided to build a lathe. A lathe is a machine tool which rotates the workpiece on its axis to perform various operations such as cutting, sanding, knurling, drilling, or turning, with tools that are applied to the work piece to create an object which has symmetry about an axis of rotation. The lathe is an ancient tool, dating at least to ancient Egypt, and is also the most widely used tool. There were no lathes made in Korea in the 50s.

August 1959, Kwon built his first belt-driven lathe, which was also the lathe made in Korea. With the creation of this lathe Hwacheon became the first company to sow the seed of Korean machine tool industry, and since then he has dug one well that is machine tool. (Digging one well is a popular Korean expression which means if a man focuses on digging a well he will eventually hit water – you work hard for something you become expert at it.)

Hwacheon holds titles for many firsts in machine tool field. The company was the first to make an NC lathe back in 1977; first to exhibit its machine products in IMTS 1978; first CNC milling machine in 1983; first vertical center in 1987 to name a few.

Learn more from your Wisconsin representatives from Premier Machine Tool Midwest 414-254-5150 / info@pmtmidwest.com

Over 60 Years of Machine Tool Excellence

One of the three largest makers of machine tools in Korea, Hwacheon celebrates its 60th anniversary this year; and as a company, Hwacheon is fully ripe. Local Enterprise Odyssey is a new section on the Internet version of Hwacheon’s newsletter, and for the first cover story I have visited Hwacheon Machine Tool, rightfully because Hwacheon was born in the city of Gwangju, and has grown its business there for the past sixty years.

Around noon, October 18, 2012, the sky was high and blue and the breeze pleasant in the city of Gwangju with an autumn flavor. After driving along the open road for about thirty minutes from the Gwangju Express Bus Terminal, I arrived at the destination – the HQ of Hwacheon Machine Tool located in the Jangdeok-dong township of Gwangsan-gu district. Hwacheon Machine Tool has made its home in Hanam Industrial Complex, the largest industrial belt in the Greater Gwangju Area, making large conglomerates such as Samsung Electronics, LG Innotek, and Daewoo Electronics as its neighbors.

Hwacheon is not a widely known company to the public, yet one can’t discuss the development and growth of Korean industry without mentioning the name Hwacheon. Hwacheon was the first company to introduce machines that were used to build other machines. Hwacheon was the company which built the ground for Korean industrial revolution, and Hwacheon has been for the past sixty years synonymous with Korea’s machine tool industry.

Every two years since 2010, Hwacheon has been hosting the H-ROAD (where H is short for Hwacheon) event. This is a sizeable event where the company invites customers, engineers, and other guests to Hwacheon to showcase its new products and the machine tool technology. Held between October 31 to November 3 at Hwacheon HQ, the H-ROAD 2012 show was particularly large, since this year marks Hwacheon;s 60th year. At the show Hwacheon proudly introduced a collection of products which adopted Hwacheon’s new machine tool technology.

The other two largest names in Korea’s machine tool industry are Doosan and Hyundai, both of them companies of two mega conglomerates. Industry experts say that although Hwacheon does less in quantity, its quality is on a par with, and a lot of times better than, these two competing companies. In any industry it’s nearly impossible for a company the size of Hwacheon to compete against the chebol, or conglomerates; unless, that small company has some kind of competitive edge no one else has.

So, what is Hwacheon Machine Tool’s edge?

The Big Three: Hwacheon Bumps Shoulders with Korea’s Best

Our advantage is the sixty years of sophiscated techniques and accumulated know-how; and the craftsmanship of which we regard so highly in this company, says Ki-tae Kim, the director of Hwacheon Tech Research Center and the plant manager for Hwacheon Machinery Division. He adds, All this translates to the quality of our products.

Hwacheon Machine Tool was founded in May 1952 in Gwangju in the midst of Korean War, by the late Seung-gwan Kwon, now the honorary chairman of Hwacheon. Founder Kwon started his career as an apprentice molder at a local foundry in his teen age, where his perseverance and workmanship earned the Japanese shop owner’s confidence.

August 1945, the surrender of the Empire of Japan brought the hostilities of World War 2 to close. Consequently Korea won its independence from Japan, and the opportunity knocked on Kwon’s door. As the Japanese shop owner left for his home country, he gave Kwon full ownership of his shop – that day Kwon took his first step as an entrepreneur. At the time the shop was using the name Tomo-e Ironworks, where Tomo-e was the former owner’s Japanese family name, which Kwon renamed to Hwacheon Machine Works in 1951 during Korean War. The prefix hwa indicates fortune, and the suffix cheon translates to stream. Combined, the word Hwacheon means the stream or the starting point of fortune or wealth, and this was certainly fitting for a business whose goal was to create a profit.

In late 1950 Kwon set himself another challenge and decided to build a lathe. A lathe is a machine tool which rotates the workpiece on its axis to perform various operations such as cutting, sanding, knurling, drilling, or turning, with tools that are applied to the work piece to create an object which has symmetry about an axis of rotation. The lathe is an ancient tool, dating at least to ancient Egypt, and is also the most widely used tool. There were no lathes made in Korea in the 50s.

August 1959, Kwon built his first belt-driven lathe, which was also the lathe made in Korea. With the creation of this lathe Hwacheon became the first company to sow the seed of Korean machine tool industry, and since then he has dug one well that is machine tool. (Digging one well is a popular Korean expression which means if a man focuses on digging a well he will eventually hit water – you work hard for something you become expert at it.)

Hwacheon holds titles for many firsts in machine tool field. The company was the first to make an NC lathe back in 1977; first to exhibit its machine products in IMTS 1978; first CNC milling machine in 1983; first vertical center in 1987 to name a few.

Learn more from your Wisconsin representatives from Premier Machine Tool Midwest 414-254-5150 / info@pmtmidwest.com