Input 2021.01.09 08:00
Localization of headlight inspection equipment… “Efforts to develop standard equipment for inspection“
“In the presence of Chairman Joo-young Jung, Hyundai Motor Company employees came up with ideas and we made special equipment for vehicle maintenance. The table lift (equipment used to take out engines and missions) made at that time is a steady seller.
Kwak Young-dae (79, photo), chairman of Auto Equipment, who met at the Gwangju headquarters in Gyeonggi-do, said, “It is regrettable that the exchanges stopped after Chairman Jung passed away.”
Chairman Kwak said, “I am surprised to see people in large companies even develop software in factories,” and said, “We have a system that can make any maintenance equipment with a product idea.”
Since 2008, Auto Equipment is the only company in Korea to produce a direct-fired painting booth. Exquisite temperature control is possible when applying and drying the paint, giving the paint a shine and reducing drying time. The large 1st and 2nd class maintenance shop painting booths are products of auto equipment.
Chairman Kwak said, “The paint booth at the imported car repair shop also has a market share of 80%. Complex technologies such as air mixing, odor ventilation, and temperature control were applied.” Occupy it.”
Recently, under the request of the Korea Transportation Safety Authority, it developed and delivered a vehicle low beam inspection equipment. In the meantime, headlight inspection has been targeting high beams that are dangerous to oncoming drivers, not low beams that are turned on when driving at night. Starting this year, it received a request for development ahead of the application of the low beam inspection method.
Chairman Kwak said, “The law that I made when I used to turn on twin lights due to the lack of streetlights has only changed, so I have localized Japanese equipment,” he said. “I will try to develop standard equipment so that domestic cars can inspect them with domestic equipment.”
In the 1970s, when Kwak started the business, the maintenance method was unusual. If there are scratches or bends when unfolding the distorted door, putty (repair agent) is applied and hardened to make a shape with sandpaper, but the putty hardens every 1 to 2 hours and the efficiency decreases. As a solution, briquettes were filtered through a stocking net and mixed with putty.
He said, “I thought that the briquettes absorb moisture and solidify quickly,” he said. “In 10 minutes, I brought the hardened putty from the US and went around the country to teach how to use it. Within a few years, the briquettes disappeared from the workshop.”
Equipment other than chemical products has been devoted to localization. Chairman Kwak said, “In the West, we work with a vehicle on it, but Koreans can sit squatted and work,” he said. “We made new equipment that fits our body shape.” A typical equipment is a clamp that unfolds and restores the crushed steel plate of a vehicle. It was first produced 40 years ago. “There will be one clamp we made in every workshop around the country,” he said.
Electric vehicles and autonomous vehicles are a challenge. The Korea Transportation Safety Authority prepares high-tech vehicle inspection standards, and is participating as a research company. Chairman Kwak said, “Even if the battery function of an electric vehicle is deteriorated, the goal is to create a product that restores the function without discarding it within this year.”
Chairman Kwak is also serving the maintenance industry. Since 2012, sheet metal education is provided for free once a month. This is because if you don’t put a signboard for a large franchise, you will not have a chance to learn about the latest sheet metal technology at the workshop. It also sponsors the body repair field at the National Skill Competition.
Chairman Kwak said, “Even if the scale of the auto equipment is small, it is not a shaken company,” and said, “I hope that the company will continue with a picture of the president like one or two in the future.”