Now it’s time to take a close look at a small but competitive business making a difference for the Korean economy. This week’s spotlight is on Omni System, the leader in Korea’s smart grid market.

Smart grid is an intelligent electric supply system that grafts IT technology to power networks to allow suppliers and consumers to exchange information on a real-time basis. When a smart grid system is put in place, power suppliers can check power usage in real time and flexibly adjust the supply, while consumers can control when and how much electricity they will use and avoid high-cost times. Smart grid is a strategic growth area for the future and a Korean company is making its mark in this field. That company is Omni System and its CEO Park Hye-rin is here to tell us more about her pioneering firm.

Omni System has two main businesses – system solutions and manufacturing. We have a line of basic hardware including water and gas meters and multipurpose meters. As for system solutions, we have an auto-metering system, or remote meter-reading system, that allows the meters to be monitored from afar. The reason our business is two-pronged is that analog meters are now outdated. Nobody wants someone to come in to their home to check water or power usage anymore. Digital meters can send and receive signals remotely and make on-site visits unnecessary. Our company started developing digital meters 15 years ago, when the company was founded. Omni System is the world’s first and best maker of digital meters.

Founded in 1997, Omni System is Korea’s number one company in manufacturing meters for water, electricity, gas, hot water, and heating. The company even has the software technology for remotely controlling each meter. In 2001 Omni System successfully tested its remote meter-checking system at a Hyundai Apartment model house. At the time the late Hyundai Group founder Chung Ju-yung had the highest praise for Omni System, helping to create a new market for digital meters. It was an innovative product at a time when meter readers visited each home to check usage. The speed of Omni System’s product development was ahead of the government-led project.

It hasn’t been that long since we became familiar with the term “smart grid.” It was six years ago, during the Lee Myung-bak administration, but we started this business 15 years ago. When digital meters are installed in every home and building, the next step is just supplying renewable energy through the smart grid system. That’s what we’re striving to do with both hardware and software, and how we came to be the top name in the smart grid business.

When meters transitioned from analog to digital, Omni System already had digital meters out on the market, with an amazing 85% market share. Continued research and development put Omni System at the top of the meter-reading industry, which is why the company allocates a lot of resources to research and development.

We challenged the market and never played the game with the same products. Let’s say there is an apartment that is operated and monitored remotely with a cell phone. We have to develop hardware and solutions that can accommodate that futuristic residence. We already have numerous products available, but we are always trying to come up with new products, because we have different consumer demands to meet every day. That’s the secret to our success.

Since consumers are proactive users of the smart grid system, Omni System always pays attention to their demands and tries to come up with the products that meet their needs. As a result, Omni System came to have diversified business models demanded by the market. Last year Omni System agreed to establish a joint venture firm with ISS Group, which is taking part in a new smart grid construction project in China.

ISS Group is a very well-known enterprise in the U.S., much like LG CNS in Korea and SI Enterprise in China. It made an offer to us. They have been searching for an American or Japanese partner in AMI or advanced metering infrastructure, but couldn’t find anyone with the right technology. They were amazed when they found us. So we decided to partner up with them technologically and have been taking part in the AMI portion of their Chinese smart city project.

Recognizing Omni System’s technological know-how, ISS Group put Omni System in charge of building the new city’s energy-monitoring infrastructure. China plans to build more than 200 energy-saving, eco-friendly cities with a population of over one million people each. So Omni System is now a part of a nearly 120-billion-dollar project to be continued until 2020. The door to the vast Chinese market is open wide for Omni System. What other strategies does Omni System have to make it into the global market?

If we take one step at a time, good opportunities will come our way. Opportunities are always available to a company with a sound technology base. A technology must be recognized and tested by customers. I think now is the time to venture out to the world market. So we are starting with small things. Also, we are the only company in Korea to have earned a KEMA certificate in the meter-reading industry.

Omni System, possessing Korea’s best and first technology, is confident that it will do well in the global market. The key is thorough preparation. The company already has production bases in Ukraine, Kyrgyzstan, and Vietnam, and acquired KEMA and MID certificates. Now Omni system is poised to venture out to the world.