Sports facilities were experiencing many difficulties even before COVID-19 due to the increase in fees for water and electricity as well as labor costs. In addition, their business became more difficult when COVID-19 hit the nation. Most public sports centers run by the government or local governments also suffer from chronic deficits. Poor facilities and unsystematic operation and management are also major causes of operational difficulties. Sports centres use huge amounts of water, electricity, gas, and other public services, which are very difficult to manage. Recently, Gungang Nanum (CEO Lee Heong-dae), a sports facility management solution company, has launched an innovative EMS for sports facilities that can be operated and managed from membership to energy control in an integrated manner, attracting great attention from industry officials. 

 

The operation solutions integrating on/offline management

Kiosk registration, payment and interlocking

Ninety percent of sports facilities run by the National Facilities Corporation suffer from chronic deficits. Private sports facilities are also experiencing serious operational difficulties due to rising utility service fees and labor costs, as well as excessive competition among rivals. It is time for a fundamental system transformation. Gungang Nanum’s sports facility management solution provides the perfect solution to the sports facilities industry in crisis. 

The core of the solution starts with seamless online and offline integration. Through this, systematic membership management is possible and energy usage can be checked in real time. Reducing unnecessary energy use in facilities and enabling economical and efficient energy management are key contexts of the solution. In particular, brick-and-mortar kiosks can be expected to replace on-site manpower and reduce labor costs. 

The solution is divided into membership management and energy management systems. Customers can register, pay, and cancel membership online or on site. The kiosk is equipped with biotechnology such as facial recognition and fingerprint recognition to increase convenience. All member registration and payment conducted at online and offline kiosks are immediately integrated in online membership management. After paying online, customers can receive a QR code or barcode and enter it at the kiosk on site to use the facility immediately. It sounds easier said than done, but a service like this has been hard to come by. 

 

EMS, real-time energy usage quantifies in graphs and converts them into costs

Real-time automatic calculation of energy unit price per person, and checking energy usage at any time for certain time and period

Gungang Nanum’s EMS is truly an innovation. Users can check the customers in the sports facility in real time and the current use of water, electricity, gas, etc. in one screen with graphs and figures. The figures are converted to the exact amount and the energy cost per person. Simply put, the utility service fee and the customer’s usage fee are calculated and converted into a cost for energy use per person. When I checked the status of a hotel sports facility in Daegu, I found that each customer was using water, electricity, gas, etc. worth 950~1000 won. 

All figures measured in real time are stored as data. If the administrator wants, he can check the energy usage by period and time of day, and receive an alarm if the current energy is used abnormally. In addition, you can check the temperature of the sauna’s hot water tank and bath in real time, and you can check the program on your mobile phone. In other words, the owner or final manager of the facility can check it in real time anytime, anywhere. There is also a program that can automatically control the machine room. In addition, various energy generators and air conditioning systems are also interlocked and can be controlled together.

Gungang Nanum CEO Lee Heong-dae says, “In sports facilities, labor costs account for about 50%, water and heating and cooling for 30~40%, and goods for 10~20%. Currently, many sports facilities are operating in the red, repeating a vicious cycle of failing to provide quality services. It is necessary to maintain financial health through efficient and reasonable management solutions and to secure a system that can increase the satisfaction of customers who use the facility. We are presenting a new paradigm by providing efficient integrated management solutions for sports facilities.”

 

Perfect customization from fitness centers, sauna, water parks and swimming pools to international shooting ranges

Another advantage of the Gungang Nanum solution is that everything from design to development, manufacture and installation is done directly. In other words, it can be customized according to needs and wants. The solution has been installed and operated effectively in hotels, saunas, water parks, and swimming pools nationwide, and has also been installed in places such as international shooting ranges. Shooting ranges, where strict gun control is in place, are linked to the police, and the number of people entering and leaving is strictly checked. The fact that the solution can be customized to manage all of these guns in an integrated way means that it can be used in all sports facilities in the country. In addition, in places such as golf driving ranges, it is possible to make real-time reservations for vacant batting seats, and in the case of facilities operated by national institutions, it provides membership registration availability and discount functions in connection with the database of the Ministry of the Interior and Safety. This integrated solution, developed by Gungang Nanum, has been praised by industry insiders as “a unique and innovative product that has never been seen before.”

 

▲ Gungang Nanum / CEO Lee Heong-dae

Tailor-made solutions for sports facilities

Promoting development of the domestic sports facilities industry

CEO Lee majored in sports and worked and ran sports centers for 25 years. Based on this experience, he knows better than anyone about the most necessary and suitable solutions for sports facilities. Most of the workforce at Gungang Nanum’s office in Daegu is professional program developers. With Lee at the forefront, all employees are working hard to develop innovative programs. 

Lee says, “Our systems and solutions are not meant to replace existing human jobs. It’s just an analysis. Through the manpower and solutions that can be analyzed, the sports facility industry should further develop and move in a good direction. In the era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, all industrial fields are innovating. Our sports facilities industry must also move forward. We want to put all our skills into being the best company in the athletic facility industry in two years.”

신태섭 기자  tss79@naver.com