Innometry, a South Korean company that specializes in X-ray battery inspection machines, has recently been the talk of the global battery industry. South Korean battery manufacturers and foreign battery manufacturers have been inquiring Innometry about its X-ray battery inspection machines. Not only its machines are currently supplied to Samsung SDI, SK Innovation, LG Energy Solution, but they are also supplied to BYD from China and Northvolt from Sweden. The company is particularly drawing high level of interest from the market as Northvolt has been asking for its machines.
Northvolt is a company that has become the spearhead for European countries in trying to become independent on batteries. The European Union is supporting the company as much as possible, and European automakers such as Volkswagen and BMW have invested in the company. Northvolt is currently going through construction of a battery plant in Sweden and it has decided to establish a joint venture with Volkswagen in Germany.
Innometry obtained orders from Northvolt last December. A supply contract worth about $4.3 million (4.8 billion KRW) with Wuxi Lead Intelligent Equipment is for Northvolt. Wuxi Lead Intelligent Equipment is a company that oversees construction of battery production lines for Northvolt and it will receive inspection machines from Innometry and install them at Northvolt’s plant in Sweden.
The reason why Northvolt is asking for battery inspection machines from Innometry is because Innometry is being recognized for its technical skills from the industry.
Innometry’s X-ray battery inspection machines are different from other inspection machines that take an image of each battery and analyzes the image to see whether the corresponding battery is a defect or not in that they use a method of line scanning (time delay and integration (TDI)) and inspect batteries in real time.
Kim Jun-bo, who is the CEO of Innometry, explained that while other inspection machines need production lines to be halted in order to inspect batteries and slow down production, Innometry’s inspection machines are able to inspect batteries while production lines are running.
TDI technology requires large images to be analyzes in real time, and Innometry has solved this issue by developing its own software. In other words, the company’s inspection machines are different from others due to their accurate hardware technologies as well as software technologies. Innometry has also made its name known by developing a technique that allows its machines to inspect the entirety of cells rather than areas that are suspected of being defective.
Innometry started to distinguish itself in 2016 when there were cases of smartphones overheating. It grabbed an opportunity for growth by supplying its inspection solution using an X-ray to smartphone manufacturers and it became public through KOSDAQ in 2018.
The company is now facing a second opportunity for growth as countries around the world are making huge investments in rechargeable batteries due to opening of an electric vehicle era. Because more battery plants mean more demands for battery inspection machines, Innometry has been very busy in trying to meet these demands.
“Although the battery industry was impacted from COVID-19 last year, we expect our sales this year to at least double our sales from last year as the global economy begins to recover.” said CEO Kim. “We plan to grow as a company that specializes in battery-related machines by expanding our business towards battery manufacturing equipment.”
Staff Reporter Yun, Geonil | benyun@etnews.com