Korea 2017-- Kumho is being flexible with foam

Just north of Ansan lies Sihung, home of Kumho Chemical Industry, a flexible foam producer, and what the company claims is one of the oldest Hennecke flexible foam lines in existence.

Like a much-loved sweeping brush that has had its head replaced twice and its handle three times, there is a Hennecke foam line resting quietly at the back of a production shed at Kumho Chemical. The line was bought in 1960 following a fire, and was the first of three lines from two different suppliers, explained Do Young Kim, one of two company presidents.

It is moot how much apart from the chassis is original, but it sits there unbowed by time and, nowadays, unbothered by the demands of production.

Kumho bought a newer Hennecke machine in 2009 and is full of praise for it. The company uses the Hennecke machine to supplement output from an older, 1995, Cannon Viking model.

Of the two lines currently employed for production, the Hennecke is used most. ‘Five years ago, we were still using the old Hennecke machine,’ Kim explained. ‘The new machine is good and has good control to make a good foam. Customers are demanding that.’

The Cannon Viking is old and the control is not quite as good as the new machine, he added, but it is still used regularly.

Business is harder today, as it is for many foamers, Kim explained. ‘Raw material prices are rising, but we can’t pass this on to the customers. They want lower prices at all times.’ To reduce the effect of higher isocyanate prices, customers want lower density, he added.

Resilient business

The company has doubtless weathered such storms in the many years since its foundation in 1957, when the Dong Sing company introduced flexible foam into Korea for the first time. This business was later purchased by Kumho Tyre, and subsequently was spun out, in May 1993, to the firm’s other President, JD Lee in a management buyout as it was a very small part of a relatively large tyre company.

Kumho Tire is currently the 14th largest tyre company in the world, with sales of $2.4bn in 2016, according to the World Tire Report from Tire Business.

Kumho Chemical, the foamer, employs 80 people at its 33,000 m2 site. About 55% of the company’s 6 kT/year output goes into flexible foam products, including beds (30%), seats and sofas (25%), and 15% is used in automotive, with the remaining 30% split evenly between electronic, clothing and construction applications, said Lee.

The foam commands a premium in the market, he claimed. ‘Korean foam is better than others,’ he said. ‘We can sell it at a higher price. Why is it so good? Because of continuous quality monitoring and by developing other foams such as viscoelastic. The Korean government, universities and industry work together to produce better products.’ Kim added that his company has benefitted from this.

Kumho supplies foam to several car makers, Lee said. The company self-formulates and, of the 80 staff, 20 are managerial or technical, with 60 in the production areas.

The company operates a 50m line and warehousing for blocks on the site. Kumho also slits foam for lamination. It has a loop-splitter from Fecken-Kirfel, and another from Albrecht Baumer.

For demanding automotive applications, Kumho has developed a process that removes the smell from foam by passing it through a heated tunnel. This drives off the volatile components, said Kim. He added that about 4,000 m of foam can be treated this way in about 8 hours.