Volkswagen partner SoluM eyes top spot in global ESL market

SoluM Co., a South Korean mid-sized electronic component maker, is eyeing record performance this year, thanks to orders from Volkswagen AG and Elon Musk’s spacecraft manufacturer SpaceX.

The world’s second-largest electronic shelf label (ESL) manufacturer said it expects to achieve 1.5 trillion won ($1.2 billion) in annual sales and 85 billion won in operating profit this year. In the first quarter of this year, it broke the previous records with 368.6 billion won in sales and 15 billion won in operating profit.  

The Kospi-listed firm was spun off from Samsung Electro-Mechanics Co. in 2015. SoluM has been supplying ESL products to the Volkswagen plant in Dresden since last year and was selected as an ESL provider to SpaceX in January of this year.   

ESLs refer to digital price tags that display product information such as prices in retail store prices. SoluM’s ESLs for Volkswagen show the assembly components, update the workflow in real-time and deliver the manufacturing operations manual.

“Our ESL enhances business efficiency and saves labor costs by displaying essential information on work,” said SoluM’s Chief Executive Jun Sung-ho in an interview with The Korea Economic Daily on May 16. The company ranked second in the global ESL manufacturing market last year, following France’s SES-imagotag. Sweden’s Pricer slid from second to third place.  
 
The firm stands out providing comprehensive solutions for the design, manufacturing, software and hardware of the ESL products. Its ESL lifespan is double and the operating speed is half, compared with competing products.

“We have increased the global industry share by pioneering markets in plants, logistics centers and hospitals. Our ESL sales this year will double last year’s,” said the CEO.    

The firm’s other core business, power supply, has been focusing on TVs and smartphones and is set to enter the global electric vehicle charging sector. Its charging module development project is in the final stage, aiming to localize the Korean EV charging market where Chinese products have previously reigned supreme. 

SoluM is in talks with some of the top Korean EV charging station companies and will supply the modules from the fourth quarter, the CEO said. Its power supply business will grow to triple last year's size, he added.

The company’s future growth engine is sensors used for smartwatches and healthcare systems. Through collaboration with Korean beauty and healthcare company Jubis, SoluM will showcase a digital healthcare device using its sensors in the second half of this year. It aims to grow shares in the local sensor market, where European and US products currently dominate.   
 
“Around 90% of our employees are devoted to the core businesses and 10% are focusing on the future businesses. We will keep growing and top the global ESL market by 2024,” the CEO said.

The company’s stock closed at 23,950 won with a 1.7% rise, reaching 1.2 trillion won in market capitalization. It went public on the Kospi market in January 2021 valued at 108.8 billion won.

Write to Byung-Keun Kim at bk11@hankyung.com
Jihyun Kim edited this article.