Dongyoung Industry, a fire door specialist that entered corporate rehabilitation in 2017, is accelerating its rebound. Although the company faced a management crisis over joint surety obligations, it concluded its rehabilitation early and returned to a growth track on the strength of technology built through exports to Japan and construction experience at nuclear power plants and high-rise buildings.
Dongyoung's crisis began with the financial troubles of an affiliate. The company sold the affiliate, but some joint surety obligations remained, leaving it in a precarious state. After the sale, the former affiliate failed to operate normally, leaving Dongyoung responsible for the joint surety. The company ultimately entered corporate rehabilitation in January 2017.
It maintained its technological capabilities even amid the crisis.
When corporate rehabilitation begins, major construction firms often restrict the registration of partner companies, because capital impairment and legal risks are reflected in credit ratings.
Dongyoung indeed struggled to win new orders. However, it maintained trust by carrying out existing order projects without disruption.
"We entered rehabilitation, but construction firms recognized that there were no problems with factory operations, on-site installation, or material supply, so we were able to complete all existing projects," said Cho Hyun-sik, CEO of Dongyoung Industry. "By building trust through quality and after-sales service (AS), we were able to expand our transactions again."
After concluding rehabilitation early in February 2020, the company resumed registering as a partner of major construction firms and succeeded in normalizing its operations.
Dongyoung's competitiveness lies in its technology.
The company has exported fire doors to the Japanese market for more than 20 years. It supplied seismic doors and high-end design doors in Japan, received technology transfers from Japanese firms, and applied them to the domestic market.
Representative cases include a high-rise mixed-use residential project in Yokohama, Japan, and supply records for a Nagoya building constructed by Shimizu Corporation.
Domestically, the company carried out high-rise building and nuclear power plant projects.
The company developed special fire doors certified by the U.S. safety certification body UL and supplied them to Lotte World Tower in Seoul. It carried out the common-area fire door work applied from the fourth basement floor to the 121st floor above ground. It also handled the production and installation of fire doors for Shin Hanul nuclear reactors 1 and 2.
It is currently continuing to win related orders for the Shin Hanul reactors 3 and 4 project.
On the strength of such technology, the company recently secured 500 million won in working capital in February this year through the Korea Technology Finance Corporation's challenge and recovery support program. The funds were used to purchase raw materials and expand production.
"As sales increase, the scale of raw material input is also growing," a company official said. "Because fire doors involve a time lag from production to construction to payment collection, securing working capital is important."
Dongyoung Industry has also recently moved to expand its PD cover business as a new growth engine.
PD covers are products installed in apartment facility inspection openings, and the company is expanding the market by leveraging construction convenience and price competitiveness. The company plans to pursue cost reduction and productivity improvement by introducing automated production equipment.
