Innometry is in Jeongnam Industrial Complex in the southeast of Hwaseong-si, Gyeonggi-do. The company I visited again after 9 months since last March was completely different. The only factory suddenly expanded with a new building next door, and another factory was operating 1-2 minutes away by car. What is even more impressive is that all three factories were busy assembling large equipment with no empty spaces. Young-ju Kim, head of the Innometry Development Headquarters, said, “The number of orders is increasing, and we have secured and operated factories 2 and 3 in July and October, respectively, in order to have a customized response to each customer.”
Innometry is a place where you can see the electric car effect. It is through a ‘battery inspection equipment’ that they are able to find whether electric vehicle batteries are produced according to the design and whether there are any abnormal junctions or defects.
Car safety is directly related to a human’s life, so battery inspection is essential. Safety standards are more stringent than IT products or home appliances such as laptops and smartphones. As such, there is an increased in the frequency and items for inspection, and the number of equipment manufacturers are looking for is also increasing.
This is reflected in the company’s performance. In 2021, it achieved sales of 46.5 billion won, more than double compared to the previous year, and in 2022, it exceeded the previous year’s annual sales in just three quarters. CEO Gab-soo Lee said, “We recorded cumulative sales of 49.6 billion won by the third quarter, and the order backlog reached a record high of 50.6 billion won,” and continues, “We expect to achieve nearly double growth in 2022.”
In addition to the virtuous cycle of ‘expanding the electric vehicle market → increasing battery supply → expanding inspection demand’, the company is also encouraged by the fact that the demand for new inspevtion is emerging. Young-ju Kim, head of the development headquarters, said, “In the past, electrode alignment or gaps were checked, but recently, there is a growing demand from automakers to check that there are no other causes of fire inside the battery, even by increasing inspections.” He further explains, “This means that there is an opportunity for market expansion in the inspection equipment industry”. Accordingly, he explains that the number of inspection equipment, which used to be 1 or 2 units per battery manufacturing line, has recently increased to 2 to 4 units.
Innometry is expanding its production capacity to the third plant and more than doubling its manpower to respond to these market changes. The three major domestic battery company customers are pursuing aggressive capacity expansion, and timely manufacturing and delivery of equipment has become important due to the addition of an increasing number of inspection items.
CEO Gab-soo Lee said, “When converted into sales, we have raised our production capacity to a level where we can stably mass-produce more than KRW 150 billion worth. We have secured liquidity of up to KRW 80 billion by adding a cash flow of KRW 50 billion and a credit limit of KRW 30 billion as of the end of the third quarter. He emphasized, “We will respond to large orders with stable production capacity and financial power.”
Battery factories are being built all over the world, including China, the United States, and Europe. Wouldn’t demand decrease again due to a certain level of facility investment? CEO Gab-soo Lee said that it is still a long way off. He said, “Although the global economic recession continues due to the war and COVID-19, the growth of the electric vehicle battery market is certain until at least 2025,” and continues, “Although the growth rate may slow down, we are positively looking at it until 2030, when battery raw materials are depleted.”
On one side of the Hwaseong Innometry Plant, an equipment placed under a cover stood out. A company official introduced it as a stacking device that stacks battery cells, hinting that “it will reach a speed that has not been seen before.” Innometry was preparing to expand its business from battery inspection to manufacturing.
Reporter Ji-woong Kim (jw0316@etnews.com)