Group Introduction
The Kiturami Group has set its sights on becoming an integrated global energy group that provides heating and cooling.
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A South Korean Boiler Brand with 50 Years’ of Developing a Modern Hot Water Ondol Heating System
As a company that has been focused on developing boiler technology for the past 50 years, Kiturami modernized the Korean traditional ondol culture, radically improving the living environment by industrializing the ondol technique; thus contributing to the growth of the national economy.
By innovating the ondol structure containing the wisdom of our ancestors and adopting a "pipe ondol" method, we were able to achieve the modernization of ondol heating and resolve the problem of heating, supplying hot water and heat for cooking with just a coal briquette-fueled boiler.
By developing oil boiler KS unit 1, a standardized oil boiler for the South Korean market, we led efforts to standardize oil boilers.
We developed an all-in-one oil boiler that is easy to install, opening the era of oil boiler for the masses with this product.
By developing and supplying storage-type gas boiler that is compatible with the Korean ondol culture, we created a steppingstone for South Korea to become a powerhouse in boilers.
By developing renewable energy-based electric boilers, solar-powered boilers, pellet boilers, and heat pumps, we are improving the domestic heating industry to the next level to keep up with the challenges posed by climate change.
Transformation from a company specializing in boilers into an integrated heating and cooling energy group
As an embodiment of the country's history with boilers, the Kiturami Group is evolving rapidly. We found a business opportunity in the paradigm of fusing heating with cooling and chose the systemization of heating/cooling, air conditioning as business objectives.
The domestic boiler industry achieved rapid growth in the 1980s and 1990s; beginning the mid-1990s, however, the demand for boilers started to decline gradually as the supply of housing in the country came close to the 1 house, 1 family level. After 2000, the industry growth plateaued.
The fusion of heating with cooling is the paradigm of our times and the business opportunity deemed worth pursuing by Kiturami. The company realized that it could never become globally competitive by separating the heating, cooling, and air conditioning businesses. In the 2000s, it began to prepare for its transformation into an integrated heating and cooling company as a global trend in the industry.
We shall strengthen our heating business—our main business—by introducing boiler products that are highly efficient and eco-friendly. We established the systematization of heating and cooling and freezing and air conditioning businesses as our group vision.
Kiturami contributed to boiler technology advancements by successfully introducing a reverse-combustion boiler in 2001, a 4-stage combustion boiler in 2009, a reverse-condensation boiler in 2012, the low NOx boiler and IoT boiler in 2015, and an AI boiler in 2018.
In order to secure new growth engines, Kiturami acquired several refrigeration and air conditioning companies starting with Kiturami Bumyang Air Conditioning in 2006, Shinsung Engineering in 2009, and Century in 2009. Likewise, by obtaining the best technological capabilities in freezers and air conditioners for nuclear power plants, air conditioners, freezers, and renewable energy, Kiturami has grown beyond being a boiler specialist to become a group company specializing in heating and cooling and energy equipment.
Moreover, in 2016, the Kiturami Group entered the energy supply market through its acquisition of Gangnam City Gas. We went a step further from being a manufacturer of energy equipment and transformed ourselves into an integrated energy group that offers heating and cooling solutions.
Kiturami's Past 50 Years & 50 Year for the New Future
On the 50th anniversary of its founding, Kiturami declared its grand vision and goal of becoming a “global integrated energy group in heating and cooling”; we are writing our own history of tackling new challenges to become a 100-year company.
We completed construction of the Kiturami Cooling and Heating Technology Research Center in December 2018. Located in Magokdong, Gangseo-gu District, the building was constructed on a 9900㎡plot of land with 3 floors underground and 11 floors aboveground. Research centers that had been scattered in Seoul, Incheon, Chungnam and Gyeongbuk are now working together in this building, creating much needed R&D synergies.
Eight research centers and R&D dedicated departments belonging to the group's subsidiaries such as Kiturami Bumyang Air Conditioning Company, Shinsung Engineering Company, and Century Company will move into the Kiturami Cooling and Heating Technology Research Center and develop the group's future growth engine together. The center currently employs 300 researchers but plans to increase this number to 500 by 2025.
The Kiturami Cooling and Healing Technology Research Center carries out core technology research in 5 areas: heating, precision control, freezing, air conditioning and renewable energy equipment, and integrated control system. Through the diverse combinations of different technologies, the research center plays a critical role in developing the future strategies of the Kiturami Group as a company that creates a living environment management system optimized for the environment where a user resides.
Furthermore, by developing microgrid (small intelligent electric grid) that connects the small household cogeneration power generation system with the energy storage system (ESS) and Internet of Things (IoT)-based energy management system (EMS) along with highly efficient heating and cooling air conditioning technologies, the research center intends to secure future core technologies for designing smart buildings.
Through the research center, the Kiturami Group will be able to induce technology exchanges between subsidiaries, improve efficiencies in R&D activities, and create other synergies. Likewise, by locating the research center in Seoul, the company will be able to recruit the best human talents more easily and draw the impetus for building the future growth engines needed by South Korea's heating/cooling and air conditioning industry.
The research center is a state-of-the-art R&D basecamp that will play a pivotal role in the Kiturami Group's ambition of becoming a global heating and cooling engineering company. The center will contribute considerably to the development of South Korea's heating and cooling air conditioning industry by gathering the R&D capabilities of the major subsidiaries leading the domestic heating and cooling industry.
From being a top specialist in heating and cooling, Kiturami Group has grown to be an integrated energy group
- Kiturami Boiler
- Kiturami Bumyang Air Conditioning
- Shinsung Engineering
- Century
- Kiturami Energy
- Nanokem
- Kiturami Refrigerator
- Kiturami Environment Technology
- Green Energy
- Kiturami Foundation
- Hantan River Country Club
- Hantan River Spa Hotel
- In Seoul 27 Golf Club
- TBC
- Dr. Robbin
- Kiturami Clean Tennis Court
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