Machine tool builders in Korea have been playing a catch-up game for the past decade. A review of current developments in machine tool technology indicates that Korea is rapidly pulling up with manufacturers in Japan, Europe and the United States. The products from Korea closely match their counterparts from other global suppliers in terms of capability and quality. Often, the Korean models represent an attractive value in terms of price and delivery. Korea's recent SIMTOS, the country's biennial machine tool show, confirmed the maturity of machine tool building in this country.

A brief look at some of these builders and at a few of their machines reveals this country's current level of technological achievement. Buyers ought to take note of Korea's growing reputation as a source of high-tech machine tools.

Hwacheon is the largest machine tool producer in Korea that is primarily devoted to machine tools. The company has an especially wide range of turning centers, vertical machining centers and CNC milling machines. A horizontal machining center is also in the lineup. Other machines include engine lathes, grinding machines and radial arm drill presses. Currently, the company is focusing on adapting standard models to specific industries. The features, options and accessories of special appeal to each of these target industries are prepackaged as an economical solution.

Hwacheon's U.S. offices are located in the Chicago suburb of Vernon Hills, where the company maintains its service, spare parts and engineering staffs plus a showroom. For the U.S. market, the company offers turning centers and machining centers.

New products to note: The Hi-Tech 250 series CNC lathe has as many as seven axes in simultaneous operation. This series is aimed at automotive and medical manufacturers, whose parts usually have turning and milling requirements where handling from lathe to mill is very costly. So the company designed this machine with multi-axis turning and three-axis milling so that parts can be completed in one setup, thus reducing time and labor. Difficult geometry such as compound angles can be achieved, the company claims. In addition, a very high speed and very accurate lathe, the Ultra Precision, reads in 50 millionths resolution and has a 10,000-rpm spindle. This model represents the leading edge of technology for lathes from Hwacheon.

For machining centers, the company offers 25,000 rpm spindles on all of its 40-taper machines and 12,000 rpm on 50-taper machines. With feed rates as high as 1,000 ipm and special speed-and-accuracy software to match, the company seeks to meet the most demanding milling needs.

Several machine tool builders in Korea have origins with the large manufacturing conglomerates and major automakers that dominate the industrial scene in that country.

Hyundai, the premier car company in Korea, is a major manufacturer of machine tools through its MachineTools Group, which has U.S. offices in Mount Prospect, Illinois. The company builds and markets CNC lathes, and vertical and horizontal machining centers. In the past 2 or 3 years, Hyundai Motor Co. has made impressive inroads in the U.S. auto market by focusing on the needs of the American car buyer. A similar thrust into the U.S. machine tool market is underway in the machine tool division. For example, all U.S. machines are now available with Fanuc controls, which are widely accepted among U.S. buyers as standard equipment or as an option among U.S. buyers.

The company is coming on strong especially in the slant bed lathe segment. The HiTurn 250C is representative. This 12-inch lathe has a 23-inch swing over bed, with a 3.5-inch bar capacity and a turning length of 26.9 inches. The 30-hp spindle motor provides 30 -30,000 rpm.

The company's most advanced lathe is the new HiTurn-160M, a 6-inch lathe with turn/mill capabilities. This machine features a 12-station tool turret that accommodates live tools powered by a 3.7-hp motor. The Fanuc Oi-TA control unit provides CNC functionality and a PC interface.

Doosan-Koreais typical of the many corporate conglomerates with different divisions. Its annual sales volume is approximately $7 billion. The Doosan Machine Tool Division was established in 1967, and it entered the U.S. market in 1996. An independent company, Doosan Machinery USA, handled the importation, marketing, sales and service of these machine tools.

In November 2001, Doosan Korea announced that a new subsidiary company would be established in the United States for machine tool products. The new company became Doosan Machinery America, Inc., located in Sterling Heights, Michigan. It has the marketing/sales responsibilities for the North and South American markets. In February 2002, Doosan moved into a new 12,000-square-foot facility that has an extensive showroom with many model machines available for customer demonstrations. Doosan also carries a broad range of spare parts and provides service and application engineering from this new facility.