The Korea Elevator Industry Cooperative (Chairman Kim Seung-ho) held its 17th general meeting at the Palace Hotel in Gangnam, Seoul, last month, marking a new beginning in 2012.

The general meeting was attended by So Ki-ok, director of the Safety Improvement Division of the Disaster Safety Division of the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, Kim Yoon-bae, chairman of the Korea Elevator Safety Technology Institute, Eom Yong-gi, technical director of the Korea Elevator Safety Management Institute, Kim Sun-tae, chairman of the Korea Elevator Maintenance Industry Cooperative, Kim Young-chan, chairman of the Elevator Installation Business Council of the Korea Association of Professional Construction Engineers, and Jeon Hae-jin, chairman of the Elevator Engineering Society.

The Chairman's Award of the Federation of Small and Medium Enterprises was presented to Jin Jin-ha, President of Donam Engineering, and Kim Yong-duk, President of Hanaro Elevator.

At the general meeting that followed, Chairman Kim Seung-ho said, "This year will be a year of preparation for the application of the EN code for elevator inspection standards and registration standards for the repair business, and we will create product standardization through drawing standardization." "Clouds and rain are necessary for the dragon to ascend. I hope that all member companies will play the role of clouds and rain this year," he said in his opening remarks.

The representative projects announced by the Elevator Association this year include ▲ collective standardization and co-branding of elevator products ▲ development of common technology for the association ▲ and the SME warranty credit project.  In particular, the SME Guarantee Credit Project, which will be implemented from the middle of next month, will be entrusted by the Korea Federation of Small and Medium Enterprises to guarantee the debt and obligation fulfillment of SMEs only for government procurement contracts. "This year, the association will play a pivotal role as an advocacy organization, focusing on the rights and interests of all SMEs in the elevator industry, the development of new technologies, and the expansion of the association's self-reliance base," said Kim Seung-ho, chairman of the board.

However, issues such as patent lawsuits and unprocessed securities (funds) that have been in progress for several years continued to be discussed at the general meeting. In addition, as the association's operating losses continued for five years after the abolition of the collective bargaining system in 2006, the issue of raising dues to resolve the accumulated deficit was presented, and another dues increase was decided four years after the 2008 increase.

The biggest topic at the AGM was the industry's and the union's response to the revision of the Elevator Act. "Elevator inspection standards will be applied to EN standards, elevator manufacturing will be changed to a registration system, and the repair business will be divided into three stages, such as by speed," said Kim Seung-ho, chairman of the board of directors. "We need to take swift action through consultation among member companies, rather than looking at distant mountains as if holding onto someone else's lantern," he said.