Caris Guardrail, a local manufacturer of guardrails founded by Yu Cheol in 2016, has been gaining global attention recently for developing safe and eco-friendly guardrails that have passed various tests for commercialization in South Korea and the US.

Its PVC (polyvinyl chloride)-based guardrails received venture business certification and green certification, and passed the domestic vehicle collision test and US vehicle collision test in June 2018. It has obtained the world’s first patent for PVC-composite guardrails made from eco-friendly materials on the basis of state-of-the-art technologies, working to protecting major facilities around roads, vehicles, drivers and pedestrians, all the while also benefiting the environment.

Last month, Caris Guardrail also became the world’s first firm to receive the Innovative Award in the guardrail segment from the International Road Federation, which recognized it as a “game changer” in the industry.

After the company won the 2018 IRF Global R2T Conference & Expo Innovative Award in Las Vegas, throngs of foreign agencies and buyers expressed interest, leading to trade contracts between Caris Guardrail and foreign governments and enterprises.

This month back at home, the company received the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy’s Innovation-promotion Award, and the nation’s top science award, the Jang Young-sil Award, from the Korea Industrial Technology Association.

The company’s PVC-composite guardrails with a honeycomb structure offer increased strength and the elasticity needed to withstand impact from a vehicle moving at a high speed. The fluorescent material enables the guardrail to be seen in the dark under low-light conditions. The material also does not change color or fade after prolonged exposure to the sun’s ultraviolet rays.

Being a nonmetal product, the synthetic wall is anticorrosive. To maintain ecological standards, the walls do not incorporate glass wool, unlike many similar products made by other companies.

Out of the company’s several types of PVC products, the CG10 PVC Guardrail is the world’s first such guardrail developed with the latest technology. It is resistant to rust and corrosion for longer initial performance, so it has economic feasibility and contributes to road safety.

One unit of the guardrail weighs 28.2 kilograms and can be installed at post intervals of 1.5-2 meters.

The company has signed export deals with firms in Egypt, Mongolia, Malaysia, Indonesia, China and the Philippines, including an exclusive deal worth about 300 billion won ($266 million) with the Ministry of Military Production of Egypt.

Upon passing the US collision test this year, the company expects more export deals to follow under its goal to develop a guardrail system that is eco-friendly, cost-efficient and safer than steel guardrails.

By Korea Herald (khnews@heraldcorp.com)