DAIN System Co., LTD and the Entrepreneur Behind It
Have you ever seen those huge cylindrical rolls of paper at a printing or packaging plant? Or even the much smaller rolls that sit on our desk, from which we peel off the sticky mailing labels we place on our envelopes? Somehow, those rolls become perfectly wrapped for intended use. But how?
Enter DAIN System Co., LTD. Located in northeast Gwangju, the successful company manufactures equipment to aid in the process of wrapping paper and other materials around cylindrical rolls. The equipment made here is sold throughout Asia, though mostly to China, and helps other companies in the industry get their jobs done more effectively. DAIN System prides itself on being open to its customers and offering them solutions by developing the highest technology and supplying the best equipment.
DAIN System’s key product is the POSCO Strap Master, which is based on DAIN System’s own innovation, the “Roll Wrapping and Roll Handling System.” This is a process in which robotic arms help wrap materials around large cylinders. To create a mental image of this roll wrapping system, imagine two large, robotic arms about 30cm in diameter and up to seven meters tall, similar to something you might see in a modern automotive plant. Together, these arms perfectly wrap a variety of materials, including steel and paper, around large cylinders that are then shipped to various manufacturing plants.
You may recognize the name POSCO, the name of the world’s fourth-largest steel manufacturing company, attached to DAIN System’s key product, the POSCO Strap Master. POSCO, headquartered in Pohang on South Korea’s east coast, acknowledged DAIN System’s cutting-edge technology and asked the company for permission to include POSCO in the name of the product.
What is intriguing about this branding is that POSCO approached DAIN System, not the other way around. POSCO saw this product being used successfully within DAIN System and the companies that purchased the product, and recognized it was an integral part of the roll wrapping industry. Now four in ten of these products made by DAIN System are sent to POSCO for use in its own steel plant in Pohang.
In 15 years, the company has become one of the most prosperous small to medium-sized enterprises in Gwangju, with an annual output of more than 10 billion won. It has continued to grow since its inception in March 2000 and employs a group of seven researchers in areas relevant to the roll wrapping industry. 
Largely responsible for the success of bringing DAIN System from a local company based in Gwangju to a major player in the international manufacturing industry is Mrs. Jung Soon Lim, president of DAIN System Co., LTD. Her business sense and entrepreneurial mind help her manage the company and its employees in a harmonious way.
When the company was first established, she was partnered with two other entrepreneurs, men who each had a mind for machinery. Paired with her business knowledge, they made the perfect team. Over the years and due in part to illness, however, the company eventually became hers alone. While she admits she is ignorant of machinery, she invests a great deal of energy to make up for the knowledge gap. She says she must invest more energy and time than a man in order to get ahead. She spends time memorizing everything about the machinery in order to be able to better present her company’s products to prospective clients. She says, “Presentations must impress the audience at whatever the cost to do it.”
POSCO has not been the only company to approach DAIN System asking if it can put its name on one of its products. However, it is one of the only proposals that has been accepted. Her “impressive presentations at any cost” tactic is working well enough that she can reserve the right to accept or reject proposals from other companies. She says she must be firm in her decisions and not waver in making them. “It is important to understand the mental thinking of clients, of those making proposals, and also of my employees.”
“A fundamental part of the company,” she says, “are my employees. Without them, the company would not have progressed as far as it has.” She gives each area in the company its own autonomy; she is a macro-manager rather than a micro-manager. “Each department makes their own decisions. They must propose changes to me, and I will accept if it feels right.”
Mrs. Jung also says she wants her employees to have a satisfying life that balances both work and family. She has to balance her own life in the same way, so extending this encouragement to her employees is only fair. This attitude may be one of the reasons why her employees stick with her long-term. Jung says, “Most of my employees have been with me since the beginning.”
Jung is also happy with her work because for her, there is no retirement age. In Korea, a company can tell an employee to retire at a certain age because the government deems it is time to retire. If you own your own business however, you can work as long as you desire, and that is what she intends to do. She says she often forgets her age because she is busy with her own enterprise. “It is not an easy job, but it is a satisfying job.”