Prime E&C: Nuclear, tunnel safety drives about 60% of sales

Inspecting jet fans on the ceilings of expressway tunnels requires traffic lanes to be closed. Prime E&C's technical specialists have conducted performance verification and detailed inspections of this equipment at more than 400 tunnels nationwide. The company, which began as a fire-safety facilities management business, is now expanding into safety technology, including nuclear power plants and specialized tunnels.

Jet fans are ventilation systems that normally expel vehicle exhaust and, during a fire, control toxic gases and smoke to aid evacuation. Prime E&C developed its own mobile diagnostic system using field data. It also developed block-type jet-fan casings to prevent accidents caused by corroded steel casings falling after years of use, securing a patent for the technology. The company said there had been cases in the past in which jet fans went 10 or 20 years without proper inspections.

The company's specialized safety business already accounts for about 60% of sales. According to Prime E&C, it has secured about 80% of the market in qualification-assessment services related to fire safety at nuclear power plants and about 50% in tunnel fire-safety and ventilation. In performance evaluations for fire-safety facilities management companies, it ranked first nationwide for three consecutive years from 2024 through this year. Including 2020 and 2021, it has ranked first nationwide five times.

Digital transformation has also changed field operations. Developed over about seven years starting in 2010, the mobile-based smart fire-safety management system allows building owners and managers to check equipment status through an app and determine whether a fire alarm signals an actual fire or a malfunction so they can respond accordingly. As demand for contactless management increased during the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of clients rose from 400–500 to about three times that level, while annual emergency callouts fell from 1,500 to 750. Annual paper report consumption also declined from 300,000 sheets to 100,000.

So what will change in practical terms? Once the AI-based integrated maintenance management system currently under development is implemented, building managers will be able to review equipment replacement schedules and required budgets in advance instead of repairing equipment only after a failure. Prime E&C aims to connect fire-safety, electrical and mechanical equipment in a single system, but its AI system remains at the development stage. The company's sales rose 302%, from 5 billion won in 2017 to 20.1 billion won last year, while its workforce grew from 68 to 195 employees. The company is targeting sales of 50 billion won within five years.