[My Life’s OOO as Said by a CEO] Heui Jae Park SNU Precision, the representative 1 dollar

Making Precision equipment with graduates students

From professor to businessman … Unable to forget the day when the first export revenue arrived

National companies preferred Japanese products but foreign recognition soon came allowing for rapid growth

In the SNU Precision Headquarters in Choongnam Asan district and the company laboratory in Nakseongdae, Gwanakgu, Seoul, there is a framed dollar bill. It is the most important treasure of our company. Upon seeing the dollar, many criticize, saying “Does the dollar seem more mighty than the 10000won bill with King Sejong on it?” People misunderstand the meaning behind the dollar as a motivation to earn more money.

This dollar is the most precious dollar in the world. That is because it is the first foreign currency our company made after toiling through hard times with blood and sweat. When I started the company in 1998 under the name of a SNU Professor, it was during the IMF depression. Every passing day was shock itself directly visualized. Back then, there was a lack of foreign currency in the nation, and a US dollar was worth up to 2000 won. Korean firms such as Altoran were being sold overseas at ridiculous prices. I though the country was going to go bankrupt at that rate.

Citizens gladly gave up even their gold rings tucked away in their closets. As for me, I was an exchange student who got his doctorate through government funding from taxes. Needless to say, I was ashamed at the things I’ve done, or rather, not done. I thought back then, I should try to earn, even if it’s just a dollar, with my skills so I took 3 graduates school students and started SNU Precision.

▲ 박희재 에스엔유프리시젼 대표가 서울 관악구 낙성대동에 있는 연구실에서‘회사의 1호 보물’인 1달러 지폐 액자를 들어 보이고 있다. 이 1달러는 2000년 처음으로 제품 수출에 성공하고 받은 대금에서 인출한 것이다. /김지호 객원기자

During my time in Manchester University, my professor always used to ask, “How does our research contribute to the industry?” In other words, he was saying, if an engineer was to write this dissertation, the first thing he/she should do is to prove the research’s usefulness in the industry. I rang up related firms day and night , circling multiple exhibitions just to introduce the technology I developed. In some ways, I was prepared for a startup.

The first thing I developed after setting up the company was a sensor which measured the accuracy of machining tools. It was a device that used lasers or currents to determine how accurately a piece of metal was cut. It was something I though was an absolute necessity in the industry after taking on an average of 10 Company-institute research projects every year. Because I had experience ranging from R&D to marketing from SMEs, and even drawing up brochures, I was confident to some degree that I would succeed.

Reality, however, was much harsher. Even after multiple international conferences and exhibitions, response was nearly non-existent. It was disappointing for sure, but I still continues to go overseas. I replaced the title of professor with business man to raise awareness of our product. And as though the skies have seen the hard work we put in, a Swedish car part company told us they would purchase our product on the last day of a conference in the Netherlands held in May 2000. After flying all the way to Sweden to install the product for them, upon my return, there was money transferred to the company account. Immediately I ran to the bank to withdraw two 1 dollar bills. These bills are the ones in the frames today.

However, even though exports had started, the scale was too small to be profitable. Our new revolutionary breakthrough, I decided, would be LCD screens. I had goals to have my product displayed in the 2004 Tokyo LCD Exhibition and ultimately to sell them in Japan, the country leading the world in technology. Of the 50 million won him and his fellow professors funded, 10 million went into the product development. However, to participate in the Tokyo exhibition, I was quoted a shipping cost of 20 million won, money I could not spare. So, me and my graduates students thought of a loophole. The products and equipment which weighed well over 100 kilos were dismantled into parts which were divided, packed into their bags and checked in at the airport. Personal supplies were kept to a minimum, with one of my students wearing multiple layers of underwear and clothes onto the flight. Ultimately, our product garnered good response at the exhibition, thus enabling us to export LCD equipment as well. Following this achievement, our company managed to enter the KOSDAQ market in 2005.

Recently, we succeeded in independently developing a device that could evenly coat a highlighting material on the new and highly praised OLED board. The happiness, however, was short lived. National firms were taking in Japanese products as a standard. All the effort gone into developing the device was in danger of becoming fruitless.

So our company changed its focus onto the Chinese market, which was just starting to invest in OLEDs. After delivering a prototype to a Chinese firm, over a quarter of our employees spent many sleepless nights doing stabilization work on mass producing the product. Troubleshooting the errors after installation can take up to several months. One female engineer, who had plans of getting married even pushed her own wedding day for the company. After all the blood and tears, the Chinese firm ordered 60 billion won worth of equipment, an achievement surpassing the best Japanese firms at the time. Once the order came in, other firms followed suit.

Our company has now grown to one with 250 employees with an annual sales revenue of over 100billion won. What we’re proud of, is that fact that over 80% of the revenue comes from exports. Graduates students of the startup have all received their doctorates and currently work as managing directors, laboratory heads and production heads of the company. Even now when I look at the dollar bill hung in the office, it feels as though it’s asking me “How has your technology contributed to the Korean industry?”. And every time it asks the question, I’m reminded of the mentality of giving back to my country with my own developed technology.

[National R&D Head, representative Heui Jae Park]

CEO Heui Jae Park, a SNU Engineering’s Mechanical Design graduate, has been working as a SNU professor since 1993 after his doctorate from POSTECH, his motto being “Engineers should be more focused on solving problems in the industry rather than churning out journals”. He also constantly says if an engineering student participates in the development of a new technology in a firm, he/she should be receiving a Masters/Doctorate certification. The national science and technology council has brought up reports of an innovative plan for colleges of engineering, which reflects CEO Park’s statement to a significant extent.

CEO Park was appointed the MOTIE R&D Director of strategic planning last april, more commonly known as the national CTO. “At that point they told me I could retain my position as CEO so I took the position, but I am not receiving any form of salary” he said.

Article :  : http://biz.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2014/05/13/2014051304415.html