The Korea Parking Equipment Industry Cooperative (Chairman Lee Jae-han, hereinafter referred to as the Cooperative) held its 19th General Assembly on March 27 at the Hamjibak Annex in Bangbae-dong, Seoul.

Prior to the general meeting, a citation ceremony was held to award the Chairman's Award of the Federation of Small and Medium Enterprises and the Chairman's Award of the Cooperative. President Oh Hyo-man of Kyungdong T&P and President Lee Kyung-jae of A&P Korea received certificates of commendation for the President's Award for Outstanding Management, while the Best Worker Award went to Kim Dae-young of Best Electronics and Kim Bong-am of Hanmac IPS, respectively. Among the union chairmen's awards, Choi Min-ki, president of Seokboy ENG, and Lee Byung-oh, president of Dongseong E&C, received the Outstanding Management Award, and Choi Tae-kyung, director of ASEA Electric, and Choi Nak-eun, representative of Post M&B, received the Model Worker Award.

In his opening remarks, Chairman Lee Jae-han said, "The reality is that SMEs are under pressure both domestically and internationally," adding, "I look forward to this year when SMEs can do what large companies can do and SMEs can do what large companies can do by creating their own industries, such as systematizing their own businesses."

 "Last year, suitable industries and items for SMEs were selected, and the Subcontracting Act was amended to give unions the right to apply for adjustment of the delivery unit price," said Cho Han-jin, who read an encouraging speech by Kim Ki-moon, chairman of the Federation of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises. "From this month, SMEs will be able to participate in public procurement bids at a lower cost, which is expected to reduce the guarantee fee for SMEs in the public procurement market by about 940 billion won a year." "The Federation of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises will strive to solve the three problems and polarization, such as transaction unfairness, institutional unreasonableness, and market imbalance, this year," he said, adding, "I hope that unions will also actively participate and make efforts to help small and medium-sized enterprises become more active."

At the general meeting that followed, seven items, including the audit report and revision of the articles of association, approval of the 2011 business report and settlement, approval of the 2012 business plan and balance budget, approval of the delegation of the board of directors, and operation of the small contract cooperative recommendation system, were presented and passed.

At the meeting, the cooperative announced its seven-point business plan for 2012, which includes promoting joint sales and co-branding through contract business, and simultaneously proceeding with a contract project to build a joint parking lot in a residential area. 

"We will establish quality control guidelines for members, organizational standards and specifications for products, and promote technology development through the technical cooperation subcommittee," said Lee Jae-han, chairman of the board of directors. "We will resolve difficulties through a survey of member companies and strengthen the organization through socialization and information exchange." "We will operate subcommittees and special steering committees for each industry and hold quarterly regular meetings and occasional consultation agenda meetings to develop expertise and specialization," he added.