LG Hausys leads PF insulator market

By Bahk Eun-ji

CHEONGJU, North Chungcheong Province ― LG Hausys plans to increase sales of its phenolic foam (PF) insulator sixfold by 2018, manufacturing products at home and abroad.

This industrial town in North Chungcheong Province is home to the PF insulator plant. PF is an insulating material used in energy-saving materials in buildings.

“We will see a change in the construction market in Korea,” said Kim Myoung-deuk, head of decorative material department.

“Many people will prefer remodeling their houses, and eco-friendly materials will be more popular.”

Kim and other executives met on Friday at their plant in Oksan-myeon, Cheongju.

LG Hausys began mass-producing the PF insulator in October 2013. Last week was the first time the company has opened its plant to the media.

The company aims to post 14 billion won in sales this year, up from 8 billion won in 2014. Sales are expected to top 50 billion won by 2018. It is a challenging goal, considering the stagnating construction industry.

“Until now, around 80 percent of the insulator market has mostly been polystyrene or urethane, but a move to materials with higher insulation performance and better fireproofing is forecasted,” the vice president said. “We will be able to achieve this challenging goal.”

Researchers also estimate that the market share of the high-performance insulator in the whole insulator market will increase from 10 percent this year to beyond 30 percent by 2018.

LG Hausys’s PF insulator is considered the best-performing architecture insulator in Korea with thermal conductivity of 0.018 watt per meter per Kelvin (W/mk), which is about twice as efficient as polystyrene insulator(0.034 W/mk), the most widely used material.

From a consumer’s point of view, this reduces the cost of heating an 84 square meter apartment by 300,000 won, or 21 percent, compared to polystyrene insulator.

LG Hausys has supplied its PF insulator to about 7,000 households, which helped consumers reduce heating costs significantly.

The company was also awarded a certificate for is limited combustible material from the Korea Institute of Civil Engineering and Building Technology (KICT), Korea Conformity Laboratories (KCL), Fire Insurers Laboratories of Korea (FILK). The product also has the best fire safety rating in Korea.

LG Hausys plans to focus its business capacity on developing products such as insulators for fire doors and sandwich panels, and expanding into China. The Chinese government is preparing to enforce an energy-saving policy that tightens the insulation level in buildings, especially in the north. Because of this, it is estimated the high-performance insulator market will grow more than 50 percent annually.

“We expect the high-performance insulator market to grow continuously, on policies for fire safety and energy saving, and because of growing consumer interest in reducing the cost of heating and cooling,” Kim said.