The Hankook Technodome will have 90 separate laboratories to enable a wide range of R&D activities to be carried out simultaneously.
Hankook Tire Co. Ltd. announced that it held a groundbreaking ceremony for its new R&D center, the Hankook Technodome, in Daejeon, Korea, when the company announced its strategic R&D vision.
Hankook Tire says its mid- to long-term strategic R&D plans include new tire research and testing facilities, which would in turn facilitate a considerable increase in Hankook Tire's technological capabilities.
A new high-tech R&D infrastructure will be established in Korea with two main bodies, the Hankook Technodome in Daejeon, and the Hankook Test Engineering Center in Sangju.
Hankook says the Technodome, with a total investment of $262 million (KRW 266 billion), is projected to be completed by 2016 when the high-tech facility will become an incubator for innovative new technologies with future-oriented features.
The Hankook Test Engineering Center is expected to be completed by 2018 and will serve as a hub for tire evaluation technologies. It will also be equipped with state-of-the-art tire testing facilities.
Together, the two high-tech R&D facilities will act as the core instruments of the company's overall R&D infrastructure.
"We strongly believe that acquiring more robust, more advanced R&D capabilities is a crucial step in our growth formula towards becoming a global top-tier tire brand," said Seung Hwa Suh, vice chairman and CEO of Hankook Tire.
"The Hankook Technodome has been designed to reflect our confidence in R&D and will be a meaningful milestone in Hankook Tire's history. In addition, combined with our proactive corporate culture, the high-tech R&D facility will provide a great foundation for us to realize a management structure based on quality and progressive leadership."
The company says it will invest in retaining and attracting the best engineers and researchers in the field. The total of 700 researchers at Hankook Tire's current R&D center in Korea will grow to 1,000 researchers at the Hankook Technodome.
