In line with the growing investment in automobile manufacturing lines in these areas, POSCO-CWPC has been reinforcing its customer-oriented services in order to meet the changing needs of its customers.

POSCO-CWPC, directed under President Seo Young-Ki and established in June 2009, is an automotive flat processing center in the Wuhu Economic and Technological Development Zone of Anhui Province, China. It supplies high quality automotive flats to carmakers in the central and eastern regions of the nation and provides steel processing services in line with the specific demands of local customers.

In addition, POSCO-CWPC supports the development of new vehicles. Noting consumers’ increasing demands for faster and lighter vehicles, the company has been strategically providing services such as the development of lightweight steel products in partnership with POSCO Headquarters.

Furthermore, POSCO-CWPC completed its second plant located in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China last March, in response to the growing demand for automotive flats.In addition, POSCO-CWPC supports the development of new vehicles. Noting consumers’ increasing demands for faster and lighter vehicles, the company has been strategically providing services such as the development of lightweight steel products in partnership with POSCO Headquarters.

Starting with an annual sales of 88,000 tons in 2009, it has steadily increased its sales volume, almost doubling it to 155,000 tons in 2014. Moreover, POSCO-CWPC has formed a supply chain system with POSCO Guangdong Automotive Steel, a POSCO affiliate in China that specializes in automotive flat production.

Meanwhile, the company is striving to increase customer satisfaction with its products and services by working closely with its Technical Service Center in China, and actively advancing its solution-based marketing in relation to the development of lighter, more energy efficient and safer future vehicles.

In recognition of these accomplishments, POSCO-CWPC was selected as an Excellent Overseas Affiliate and awarded the Administration Integrity Prize.

Also recognized for its excellence by local carmakers, POSCO-CWPC received the Key Provider Prize in 2009 from Chery Automobile Co., Ltd. and the Progressive Enterprise Award from Wuhu Economic and Technological Development Zone (Wuhu ETDZ) in 2010.

Yet the accolades do not end there. The company was chosen as a Best Supplier and Excellent Supplier in 2014 and 2013, respectively, by Dongfeng Peugeot-Citroën Automobile Limited based on four evaluation criteria: quality, delivery, solution proposal and technical service. POSCO-CWPC was the only steel supplier among the awardees of 2014. To top off its accomplishments, the company received an award from Hefei Customs for its good track record of tax payment.

With its superior product quality and expansion of its solution sales platform, POSCO-CWPC continues to strengthen its position in the local automotive industry and aims to remain a safe, employee-friendly workplace by raising safety consciousness among all its workers.

To read the previous part of this series, click here.

In the second part of POSCO Weekly’s series featuring the recipients of POSCO’s Excellent Overseas Affiliate Prize, we introduce to you POSCO-CLPC, the recipient of the Market Frontier Prize, to share its achievements in amplifying sales and solidifying client relationships. (See the previous post here.)

POSCO-CLPC (President Lee Joo-sung) was established in July 2010 in the Shenyang-EU Economic Development Zone in Liaoning Province, China. Due to the increased automobile production in Northeast China, and subsequently the rising demand for automotive flat products, POSCO-CLPC now has an annual processing capacity of 170,000 tons.

POSCO-CLPC processes and supplies automotive flat products to carmakers such as FAW-VW, a joint venture between China FAW Group Corporation and Volkswagen, BMW Brilliance Automotive and Shanghai General Motors, using a just in time (JIT) production strategy. It also provides steel processing services to automotive component manufacturers in order to meet customers’ needs.

Starting with a sales of 38,000 tons in 2010, POSCO-CLPC has been showing steady growth, reaching an accumulated sales of 500,000 tons in December 2014. In 2014 alone, it achieved its highest annual sales record of 158,000 tons.

The year 2014 was a meaningful one for POSCO-CLPC, as its business endeavors to prepare for the increasing manufacturing capacity of BMW Brilliance and Shanghai GM in the Shenyang region came to fruition. After successful testing on seven auto parts, POSCO-CLPC became the new supplier of those parts and components, and its sales for BMW Brilliance has since doubled, compared to its 2013 figures.

Additionally, POSCO-CLPC has won a contract to offer blanking and molding services to BMW Brilliance for the BMW2 model, solidifying the relationship between the two companies.

Meanwhile, POSCO-CLPC’s sales volume for Shanghai GM and automotive component manufacturers has remarkably increased in response to the business trends of customers and the expansion of its supply to manufacturers of auto parts.

In recognition for its achievements in amplifying sales and solidifying relationships with its clients, POSCO-CLPC was selected as an Excellent Overseas Affiliate and awarded the Market Frontier Prize in March.

POSCO-CLPC is planning to increase its sales of automotive parts for upcoming vehicles in partnership with POSCO Headquarters, and to actively seek new opportunities to grow its business with global automotive component manufacturers that are scheduled to relocate to Shenyang. Also, it will expand its World Premium (WP) products and develop new opportunities for the sales of a variety of steel products, including stainless steel and electrical steel.

POSCO-MPPC (President Kim Kwang-bok) is an automotive flat steel processing center in Mexico. It opened its first plant in Huejotzingo, Puebla, in 2006. Since then, it has contributed much to the exponential growth of the automotive industry in central Mexico by offering steel processing services.

In order to provide prompter services to customers in northern Mexico, the company opened its second plant in Villa de Reyes, San Luis Potosí, in 2008. Subsequently, its third plant began operations in Celaya, Guanajuato, in 2013. With the three plants under its control, POSCO-MPPC is expected to play a greater role in POSCO Group’s global supply chain.

The combined processing capability of the company is 450,000 tons a year. It endeavors to meet the rapidly-growing demands of customers in the local automotive industry, which have recently been accelerated by a number of free-trade agreements with more than 40 nations.

In just nine years, it achieved an accumulated sales of 2 million tons, based on the steady growth of its production capability and the commitment of approximately 350 employees. Last year, the annual sales of the company surpassed 400,000 tons.

Another key factor behind its success is its aggressive search for new business opportunities. Since 2013, it has focused on developing new clients and expanding its market shares in non-automotive sectors, such as construction and machinery.

POSCO-MPPC has provided steel products to global carmakers including GM, Ford and Chrysler. Last year, it became the only recipient of GM’s Supplier Quality Excellence Award in the steel industry.

These remarkable achievements that span the past nine years would not have been possible without the dedication and commitment of the company’s employees. In addition to strengthening existing business relationships, they are working hard to cut down production costs and provide high-quality products and services.

In recognition of its efforts to increase profits through diversification, POSCO-MPPC has recently been selected as an Excellent Overseas Affiliate of POSCO. The award ceremony took place on March 25.

POSCO-MPPC is seeking to be a major steel supplier by continuing to contribute to the growth of Mexico’s economic development. To this end, it will deliver quality- and service-oriented total solution services across various fields including the automotive, electronics and construction industries.

As the number of vehicles Mexico produces annually is predicted to increase 54 percent from last year’s level to nearly 5 million in 2022 (according to IHS Automotive), the company will also make continuous efforts to meet the demands of the quickly growing local automotive industry.