[BizLeader] Growing Demand for Gear Reducers... SBV Tech Targets Global Electric Vehicle Market

Expansion of Main Harmonic Type High-Precision Reducer Applications
Also Applied in Defense Sector, Gear Processing Machines, Service Robots, etc.

"As the era of electric vehicles progresses, automotive convenience features are becoming more sophisticated. There is an increasing demand for harmonic type high-precision reducers that achieve miniaturization and weight reduction."

SBV Tech, a company specializing in the manufacture of harmonic type reducers, is targeting the global electric vehicle market. Ryu Jae-wan, CEO of SBV Tech, told Asia Economy that the demand for reducers in the electric vehicle industry has recently increased.

Ryu Jaewan, CEO of SBV Tech. Photo by Jang Hyowon

CEO Ryu said, "Previously, it was difficult to apply these in the automotive sector due to cost issues, but as convenience features become more advanced, there is a growing demand for development utilizing the lightweight and compact characteristics unique to harmonic type reducers. SBV Tech has been steadily developing related parts in advance."

While robots have mostly been used in large-scale production processes such as semiconductors and automobiles, they are now expanding into areas closely related to daily life. In this context, harmonic type high-precision reducers, which are components of robots and SBV Tech's main products, are gaining attention. SBV Tech's products are recognized for achieving miniaturization and weight reduction. The company expects to expand its sales scale in the electric vehicle sector.

CEO Ryu stated, "We are preparing for the development and commercialization of a drive module that integrates motors, controllers, and sensors based on general robot reducers. When combined with motors, reducers can become products for various fields, such as convenience feature drive devices for electric vehicles, drive devices for mobility equipment, steering control device reducers for automobiles, and active suspension devices. SBV Tech's products can be applied in these diverse areas."

In addition to the electric vehicle market, SBV Tech is pursuing three sales growth strategies. One representative strategy is expanding the defense sector. Since the defense sector must use domestically produced products to avoid supply chain disruptions in emergencies, SBV Tech, the first domestic company to develop harmonic type reducers based on proprietary tooth profiles, has developed various defense products and is increasing its performance.

The second strategy is expanding the application areas of harmonic type reducers. Recently, SBV Tech has been focusing on the 'dental milling machine' sector. Harmonic type reducers are increasingly being applied to dental milling machines used in dental clinics. SBV Tech regularly supplies a significant volume of reducers for this purpose.

CEO Ryu explained, "The use of precision machine tools for tabletop installation in dental clinics has recently increased, and harmonic type reducers are being applied to these products. We are pioneering markets in fields that previously did not use reducer products."

The third strategy involves development in the service robot sector, which is expected to grow the fastest. Service robots such as barista robots and serving robots seen in daily life, logistics robots, quadruped robots, and wearable robots require the adoption of small and lightweight reducers. SBV Tech, which has strengths in miniaturization and weight reduction, is targeting this market.

In preparation for the growing business scale, SBV Tech is also preparing to relocate and expand its factory. To this end, SBV Tech recently issued convertible bonds (CB) worth 30 billion KRW. The company plans to purchase factory land using the public offering funds secured at the time of listing and the funds from this CB. SBV Tech's goal is to secure the capacity to produce 250,000 harmonic type reducers by 2025. At 100% operation, this corresponds to approximately 100 billion KRW in sales.

CEO Ryu said, "Although overall performance in the first quarter of this year declined due to a downturn in the bearing sector's upstream industries, sales in the precision reducer sector more than doubled compared to the same period last year. SBV Tech has built a foundation for a quantum leap within 2 to 3 years by conducting reliability verification with customers over many years and accumulating references."

Meanwhile, SBV Tech, based on proprietary technology, is the number one domestic company mass-producing precision reducers for robots and was listed on the KOSDAQ market in October last year. A reducer is a power transmission device that controls the motor's rotational speed and situation. SBV Tech has secured all core original technologies, including ultra-precision processing of ultra-small sizes, proprietary tooth profile design, materials, and heat treatment technologies, to design and manufacture precision reducers for robots, based on its existing ultra-thin bearing parts business.