South Korea's thermal protector line remains buoyant

Makers in South Korea contend for the market through product performance enhancements and competitive pricing.

Intense rivalry significantly reduced the number of South Korea suppliers of thermal protectors, but this has not discouraged the few left from keeping the segment dynamic to attract market attention. Makers continue to improve product performance further, and implement cost-cutting measures to offer competitive prices.

BTK Co. Ltd is developing a model, which will surpass its current main release, the BM-3. The latter version provides thermal as well as overload protection. Its triple safety mechanism consists of two bimetals and a fuse, compared with one or at most two on the market, said CEO and president Chang-Hie Park. The materials used ensure a wider cutoff range of 30 to 180 C, while the norm among rivals is 50 to 150 C. The applications include microwave ovens, kimchi refrigerators, foot massagers, measuring instruments and X-ray machines. The BM-4 model will be launched in June 2016.

Sung Woo Industrial Co. has invested in R&D to elevate product quality but not quotes. The manufacturer said its rates are 10 percent lower than equivalent units overseas.

To bring down expenditure, many local suppliers conduct production in China. Seki Controls Co. Ltd has an assembly facility in Yantai in Shandong province. The factory has an annual capacity of 80 million units, while the domestic plant can churn out 20 million units. Makers such as BTK focus on automation to streamline operations and enhance efficiency.

South Korea companies are confident of increasing demand for the component. "There are attempts to eliminate the use of thermal protectors through a circuit approach," said BTK's Park. "But it can hardly be a perfect alternative to thermal or overload protectors with their more stable operation through the bimetals." BTK exports 20,000 to 70,000 units each month to Japan, Germany, Italy and Indonesia. It targets to penetrate Thailand, Taiwan and Mexico with the BM-3 model.

Sung Woo, which specializes in nonresettable thermal cutoffs, is still positive about the huge market for the line in the US, Europe and Japan. The company, which can produce 10 million units monthly, generates 50 percent of sales from these destinations and mainland China.

Seki employs local agents to ensure proximity to customers in Hong Kong, Taiwan, mainland China, India, the US, Germany and Spain. It sells more than 60 million units of the ST-22 model annually, and about 20 million of the ST-12.

See a comparison table of thermal protector suppliers on GlobalSources.com