Chairman Lee Sang-jin of Korea Standards Association (KSA). (Photo: KSA)

In his New Year speech on Jan. 2, Korea Standards Association (KSA) Chairman Lee Sang-jin said the organization should strive for three objectives this year.

The celebration was held at the association’s new building in Samseong-dong, Seoul. Lee’s objectives are fulfilling the dream of having its own office building, achieving an integration as a base to create synergy and to complete the digitalization of the organization under the 4th Industrial Revolution to give a new birth to its operation.

By moving to a new building, the association gave birth to the age of “KSA 2.0,” effectively making it reborn as a knowledge service institution. The Digital Transformation Center (DTC) is the name of the new building. Since its establishment in 1962, the KSA had been striving for industrial standardization and quality management.

It moved into the DTC building on Jan. 2. DTC is 15 stories high and has a total space of 6,447 sq. meters.

The building has room for all of the affiliates and the facilities of KSA, with large lecture and conference rooms used as an open space to provide knowledge services. Since the KSA’s foundation in 1962 in line with the Industrial Standardization Act, it has served as a pioneer for Korean standards and their quality.

A view of Digital Transformation Center in Samseong-dong, Seoul, the newly relocated headquarters of Korea Standards Association. (Photo: NewsWorld)

It has contributed to the improved competitiveness of Korean companies by educating them on industrial standards and quality management, enhancing the methods of KS/ISO certification and quality/management innovation, publishing and distributing local and overseas standards, and holding different training programs and seminars.

Moreover, we at KSA are devoted to creating preemptive responses to a new change – the Fourth Industrial Revolution – such as the development and operation of data science-based management innovation programs and the creation of new business models.

The Fourth Industrial Revolution is no longer the upcoming future; it is the matter of the present.

Thus, more efforts must be put into adapting to changes and linkage between our accumulated expertise and new business models. “In this context, we at KSA will do our best to further advance the innovation of industrial standards and quality,” according to the body.

“In addition to the development of standards, we will fulfill our role as a professional global standards/quality knowledge service provider.”

“In particular, we will connect R&D, patents, and technological criteria; lead group standards; engage with more policy authorities and CEOs to achieve global quality competitiveness; and construct the Asia Quality Center to support companies in their innovative growth.”

Moreover, as a standards leader, the KSA will aggressively respond to global competition in conjunction with the establishment of a local community to secure a share of standardization.

The competition for standards is expected to get more intensive all around the world in the era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. The KSA will put forth a great deal of effort for Korean standards that will be reflected in the fields of the Fourth Industrial Revolution such as a smart factory, a smart city, the Internet of Things (IoT), and big data.

In particular, the diversification of KS/ISO certification policies has recently resulted in the rapidly changing certification market environment.

“Against this backdrop, we will not only provide our customers with high-quality certification services but also continue to advance the existing ones,” the KSA says.