Heating technology is an indispensable fundamental technology in manufacturing new materials such as semiconductor devices, ceramics, and optical fibers that maintains the modern information society.

Besides the traditional industries such as metals and steel, the industrial furnace is also an essential tool for providing the necessary heating technology for such leading edge industries. Here, STI Co., Ltd, a professional electric furnace company, is promoting R&D of new material heating device based on creative and top level heating technology.

An electric furnace specialist, Taeil Seo who is the representative of STI Co., Ltd stepped into the industrial furnace market in 1988 under the name of Daese Heat and Electric Furnace. At that time, Mr. Seo, who attended the international mold exhibition held in Tokyo, Japan, saw the electric furnace that was exhibited, and he became involved with the electric furnace.

Exclusive production of electric furnace for semiconductor and optical communication

STI has mainly produced electric furnaces related to semiconductor and optical communication among many fields to which industrial furnaces are applied.

Most of all, semiconductor and optical equipment are very difficult to manufacture because they need leading edge functions, and the factory environment to be manufactured must be clean.

Therefore, it is a field that cannot easily be tackled in the production of equipment. However, STI has been leading the market by acquiring related patents and starting to manufacture electric and semiconductor related electric furnaces.

"Sintering furnace melting furnace", "Wafer sintering device", "Fiber optic preliminary stage", "Sintering furnace lifting and rotating device for the production of glass molding, , "Dehydration and degreasing of pre-form, which is a glass molding of glass," and "Manufacturing method and apparatus of quartz bellows using vacuum".

As a result, about 90% of the semiconductor and optical-related electric furnaces manufactured by STI are now being supplied to Samsung Electronics, and only about 10% are supplied to other related companies. In fact, STI has occupied an exclusive position in the domestic electric optical furnace business.

Representative Taeil Seo reaffirmed STI's position that "Since 1997, STI Co., Ltd has been co-developing with Samsung Electronics, which has no competitor in Korea." However, some gamers have expressed concern about the industry's over-competition that they are building up a heat treatment furnace developed by a third party rather than development. Therefore, the representative plans to design a product and apply for a patent every time a new idea comes up without a holiday. The patent application is the minimum means by which STI is able to defend itself against excessive competition in the industry.

In the future, STI plans to expand the proportion of shipbuilding, power plants, and steel by developing electric furnaces related to heavy industries as well as semiconductor and optical communication electric furnaces.”Currently, major companies such as Samsung Electronics and LG are major customers, but we will not depend on sales here," he said. Instead of concentrating on one item, CEO Seo plans to develop and sell a variety of items.

This is possible because it has the ability to take over the industrial field in various fields based on the experience that STI has accumulated for a long time.

Recently, STI Co., Ltd. has developed and released a new type of cooling system to heat treat heavy materials. This equipment is a new type of electric furnace that is cooled by furnace cooling unlike the existing furnace where the heat treatment product needs to be taken out of the furnace and cooled. CEO Taeil Seo said, "the synergy effect is great because we can freely set the cooling time."

In addition, CEO Seo intends to develop vacuum furnace products that can heat up to 5 to 10 tons of products. The domestic heat treatment market using vacuum furnace was booming a decade ago, but the vacuum furnace market has been shrinking due to the limit of several tons of heat treatment at a time.

With this in mind, STI is trying to create a new niche market by developing vacuum furnace capable of mass heat treatment. It is expected that the development of the equipment will be completed soon after the successful development of the primary technology. He did not forget to ask for attention in the future, saying, "The upcoming large-scale non-oxidizing heat treatment furnace is expected to change the dominance of the metal heat treatment market."

Besides, STI has been developing and selling ceramic electric kilns for 4 years. Until now, STI pottery electric kiln, which is easy to use anywhere and anywhere, has been spreading all over the country.

In this way, CEO Seo will try to supply various products in the future. We are going to do the franchise business by developing not only the electric kiln required to make ceramics, hand painting, glass, but also the roast in the electric furnace which is currently used for TFT, LCD / metal related / semiconductor / The target set by STI is 2011 sales of 30 billion won. At that time, KOSDAQ also plans to be listed on KOSDAQ for the first time in the industry.

STI has already been designated as a venture company in the domestic semiconductor and optical communication industry for the first time in the industry. In addition, the company has selected a number of modifiers such as the industry's first prospective export small and medium size enterprise and ISO9001 certification. Therefore, we will soon hear the news that STI has been listed on KOSDAQ with sales of 30 billion won. But it will not stop here. STI's challenge to new markets is endless.