Hankook seeks 'top-tier' position with new technology center

DAEJEON, South Korea—The recently opened Hankook Technodome research center represents a significant step forward for Hankook Tire Co. Inc.'s research and development infrastructure, according to Hyun Bum Cho, president and chief corporate strategy & finance officer of Hankook Tire Worldwide.

Marking an investment of $234 million, the seven-story Technodome has floorspace totalling 316,000 square feet and is equipped with more than 90 state-of-the-art research labs and a smart-work system. The facility is designed to improve R&D efficiency and productivity of the tire development process.

Technodome is part of Hankook's plans to achieve sustainable growth and become a global top-tier company, Cho said, who is also chief corporate management officer of Hankook Tire.

Approximately 2.3 percent of Hankook Tire's total sales is invested in R&D annually, Cho said, adding that the company expects this level to grow in-line with anticipated increases in its global market-share.

As part of its R&D push, Hankook seeks to attract top global talent, Cho said, noting that the company currently employs 1,000 R&D staff—about 5 percent of its total workforce—and aims to house 1,000 R&D staff at the Technodome by the year 2020.

The Technodome, he added, employs numerous test engineers as well as researchers who study materials, mechanism, integration of material, tire performance and many other aspects of tires.

"A tire is an outcome of integration of physics, chemistry, material engineering, environmental engineering and many other sciences," Cho said. "Also, there are test engineers who participate in every step of testing to prove the research results."

According to Cho, Technodome will take a central role in Hankook's R&D effort, working in cooperation with technical centers in North America, Europe, China and Japan.

"Global-scale R&D plans will be incubated in cooperation with other global R&D centers of Hankook Tire at Hankook Technodome," he said.

Among the state-of-the-art testing facilities at the Technodome is a driving simulator room, in which a large part of tire performance can be predicted before it is tested in real-life situations. Three sets of data are used to evaluate the tire: vehicle data, tire data and driver data.

The driving simulator, Cho said, does not require an actual driver.

"It can assess tire performance simply with vehicle information … and is designed to accumulate and store information on numerous cars and tires from around the world."

Technodome also is equipped with advanced noise and friction-testing facilities, including an anechoic chamber designed for in-use testing of tires.

Evaluate noise

The chamber, Cho said, "blocks all the sound from the outside and evaluates every noise that a tire makes. A 10-ft. sized drum under the anechoic chamber replicates on- and off-road driving and enables researchers to analyse tire noise in different environments.

Cho went on to note increasing demand for integrated mobility solutions. In response, he said, Hankook is developing intelligent tires that are capable of providing real-time information on a range of criteria, from tire wear to road conditions.

The Hankook Technodome also will serve as a hub for the development of original and applied materials technologies such as new alternative rubber materials and non-pneumatic tire models made out of an advanced unimaterial that is easier to recycle than traditional rubber, Cho said.