Rising to the global Big 4 in the lubricating oil industry: Small but Powerful Giant, Changam Cals

Changam Cals is a Small but Powerful Giant, boasting their unique technology and rising to become one of the Big 4 corporations in the lubricating oil industry. Specialized lubricating oil is different from ordinary lubricants, and acts as a crucial ingredient in helping automobile, smartphone, electronics, munition equipment, robotics machinery work smoothly without error. Chang Am Cals, also known as CALS Corporation, owns Asia’s biggest automobile equipment factory in Asan, with the capability of creating 420 different types of specialized lubricating oils. Not only this, they also work in the domestic automobile industry as well as exporting their products oversees to over 20 different countries. With these results, Chang Am Cals have been recently selected by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups as a global Small but Powerful Giant.

Chang Am Cals Products

CEO Koo Yeon-chan states that “We originally started as specialized lubricating oil export agency, and is now aggressively attempting domestication. We went from having no technology to one of the top 4 corporations, leading the global market alongside American, German, and Japanese corporations.” Mr. Koo uses his experience working in foreign corporations, and founded the Chang Am Trading Firm in 1980 as a lubricating oil export agency. By using 6 years worth of profit as his foundation, he attempted the domestication of specialized lubricating oil. However he had to face major problems. He had originally relied on a foreign corporation’s technological transfer in order to construct a factory and manufacturing equipment. However, the partner firm suddenly pulled out of contract. He did not give up however, and by receiving technological transfer from a German company, he was able to make lubricating oil domestication into a reality.


Although he achieved domestication, local companies did not use the product. They lacked trust in Chang Am’s products. During the Seoul Olympics in 1988, an opportunity arose. As the domestic oil market started expanding and foreign exports started decreasing, it became an advantageous situation for Chang Am Cals. Mr. Koo mentions his “close relationship with Daewoo CEO Kim Woo-joong, who had passed away around that time. While everyone else were skeptical of our product quality, he was the one who delivered the oils that we had developed to 19 different Daewoo Automobiles. From this point on, domestication of lubricating oils was possible, and it became an opportunity to announce Chang Am Cals to both local and foreign markets.”

Because of the domestication of Chang Am Cal’s products, the export prices were also lowered, benefiting local businesses. By replacing foreign products with local ones, Chang Am Cals was able to move into the global market. They were the third in the world to develop Vagerail KS-530. This eco-friendly grease replaces the previous fluoric grease, and is in heavy demand due to the environmental trend in Europe and North America. With this opportunity, Chang Am Cals excelled beyond the technology of the United States, Germany, and Japan, and became the leader of the global market

Mr. Koo states that “Chang Am Cals have been able to domesticate all 640 types of man-made specialized lubricating oils, including CASMOLY grease and LuNon304CM hard grease. Currently they are manufacturing around 420 types of specialized grease." Chang Am Cals’s specialized oils have an extremely wide variety, including high temperature use, contact use, paste type, et cetera. These products are applied everywhere, such as automobile chassis.


In order to reach this level of success, Chang Am Cals’ incredible research development skills had to act as a foundation. Chang Am Cals lab, founded in 1997, holds equipment for various research and analytical experiments, and is continuously creating new oils and different grease additives. No matter how difficult the situation is, Chang Am Cals invest over 10% of their profits to R&D, expanding their research infra. Their products last for over 10 years, unlike the products of their rivals which only last for 5 years. They also hold a 20~30% competitive edge in prices. As a result, they were able to score first place in the United States GM test (held over 5 years since 2014), and expanded their GM materials to 7 million dollars.

Mr. Koo plans on foreign development, claiming that “the current Chang Am Cals’ profits are 60% domestic and 40% exports. We plan on expanding into the global market by focusing on Detroit and Tokyo, the biggest automobile market in the world. Starting from GM distributions, we also plan on establishing a factory in the United States.”
Due to the coronavirus, Chang Am Cals experienced a 20% decrease compared to last year, but due to continuous demand from China they predict around 9 million dollars worth of profit. In the case of last year, their direct exports increased around 12% to 6.5 million dollars, and indirect exports of 5.25 million dollars, amounting to 11.75 million dollars in total.

Chang Am Cal’s workplace welfare is also at the level of giant conglomerates. This is due to Mr. Koo’s philosophy, considering the workers as a source of pride alongside the research facility. Marriage benefits, maternity benefits, old-age benefits are offered to the workers. Benefits are also offered up to 4 children, as well as supporting tuition for all workers. For long term workers and excellent workers, special vacations are also given. Mr. Koo and Chang Am Cals also work hard for societal restoration through donations. Mr. Koo himself is part of Honor Society Club, an organization of over 100 million won in individual donations to the Community Chest of Korea. He is also continuously supporting local development such as donating to Korea Polytechnic University Asan Campus and other university scholarships.

Mr. Koo plans for the future, stating that “We are a company that only researches one department. With endless research technology, innovation, and investments, we will venture into space technology in the future. We will become Asia’s greatest within the next 5 years, and world’s greatest specialized lubricating oil company in the next 10 years.”

Chang Am Cals CEO Koo Yeon-chan

[Editor's Note: Money Today collaborates with the Seoul Business Agency to provide media usage, marketing and consulting to companies in Seoul that show innovative growth and global growth competitiveness.]