POSCO Achieves a Perfect Score of 10 in five Key Areas, Including Technological Innovation, Processing Costs, and Upstream and Non-Steel Businesses

POSCO has been recognized as the “World’s Most Competitive Steelmaker” for the 15th consecutive year.

World Steel Dynamics (WSD), a well-known global steel analysis institution, revealed the results of its World-Class Steelmaker Rankings for 2024 on December 22 (local time in New York).

Established in 1999, WSD has, since 2002, evaluated 35 steel companies worldwide based on 23 criteria, including technological innovation, production scale, cost reduction, processing costs, financial soundness, customer access, and raw material procurement.

POSCO achieved the top overall ranking with a score of 8.62 out of 10, despite facing difficult sales conditions both domestically and internationally, including stagnant domestic demand, a surge in low-cost imported steel, and escalating global trade tensions. The company earned top scores in five categories: technological innovation, processing costs, skilled labor, mergers and joint ventures, and upstream and non-steel industries.

These rankings are an essential reference point for assessing the management performance and future potential of major global steel companies.

Earlier this year in April, POSCO was named a Sustainability Champion by the World Steel Association for the third consecutive year. Additionally, at the Steelie Awards in October, the company won top honors in three categories: technological innovation, communications, and education & training.

Dream comes true in 2068 achieving 500 billion sales?

POSCO has celebrated 50th year anniversary ‘Future vision declaration’ on April, 1st and announced future missions and visions as Top 5 world leading global steel company.

CEO of POSCO, Ohjoon, Kwon is sharing global missions and visions with audience at 50th anniversary

For the future, ‘Unlimit the Limit’

Ohjoon Kwon the CEO of POSCO disclosed POSCO’s new future slogan ‘Unlimit the Limit: Steel and Beyond’ by using TED speech method that is currently considered as one of the most efficient speech method. The mission that has been made based on POSCO’s challenges for 50 years history, is expressed the will of POSCO to ‘overcome the limit and go further to the next step’ especially challenging to non-steel industry.

POSCO is developing a plan to shift gradually from current profit system that 80% of income from steel industry to new profit system that produces profit from 3 different industrial fields: Steel, Infrastructure, New Growth in the ratio of 4:4:2. By successfully operating new profit system, POSCO expects that the mission can be accomplished by 2068 sales up to 500 billion dollars and 70 billon dollars of operating profit.

POSCO is focusing balance of 3 core elements, business, technology, culture. (Source:Bitcoinmagazine)

POSCO’s Perspective: Harmony of business, technology and culture

POSCO’s future vision also has been announced as ‘POSCO the Great’. This was the slogan that Ohjoon Kwon introduced as he had been elected as CEO of POSCO in 2014. The slogan was focused on simply recovering the strength. However, the new slogan is ‘Great Business, Great Technology and Great Culture’ indicating well-organized business structure, advanced technology and organizational culture.

POSCO has contributed significant impact on both Korean country and society in terms of steel and educational support. And POSCO has decided to keep supporting business for the country.

One of the plans that POSCO is contemplating, is establishment of the place for developing creativity for adolescent.

The ’Youth Creativity Center’(tentative) is going to be designed to provide various opportunities to adolescents such as giving experience to understand basic understanding of scientific technology and opportunity to improve creativity.

Furthermore, the ‘Youth Creativity Center’ will contain diverse spaces for culture and arts so all generations will be easy to access. POSCO is expecting the Youth center may be a competitive candidate on coming international contests.

Seoul POSCO center has opened a new product exhibition hall to communicate more with general populations and show their future vision. The exhibition hall has 30 seats visual promotion room. The room provides POSCO promotion videos and visualized POSCO images by 3D technique. Various animations and techniques are prepared to describe steels that are being used in our life and industrial demands of steel for future.

For celebrating 50th anniversary, POSCO will broadcast TV commercial named ’50 years challenge, New Dreams for next 100 years’ until June 10th and POSCO exhibition (Homage to POSCO) will be held in POSCO art gallery in lower ground level until May 8th. POSCO historical museum in Pohang is also going to open gallery (‘Visualized history of POSCO for half century’) showing numerous events during POSCO’s 50 years until June 30th.

POSCO is also preparing the event that gives valuable opportunities to share thoughts between CEO and employees in Seoul, Po hang, Kwang yang city.

‘Together the Better’, POSCO and Korea have strong bond in all history

True companion of Korean history

50 years of POSCO’s history is in the same line with Korean history which means that POSCO has been increasing growth for half century. POSCO was established in 1968, and the very first steel was manufactured in 1973. Since that year, total sales of POSCO has incredibly elevated by 686 times last year from 1973. 

Growth of POSCO gave great influence on major industry in Korea. Especially Korean automobile and shipbuilding industry had similar growth curve which means that materials manufactured from POSCO was true backbone for those industries. For instance, Korean ship manufacturing has reached to 23.5 million tons from 12 thousand tones from 1973. And automobile production also increased 4.11 million from 25 thousand cars.

SEE ALSO: What are Automobiles Made of?

Technology is another fundamental aspect of POSCO’s strength. POSCO has developed eco&efficient furnace by its own technology called ‘FINEX’ technology which fully satisfied current and future global trends, environmental and innovative. With this advanced technology, POSCO has exported its unique iron making technique in China in 2013. This describes that POSCO is global technology provider.

In addition, POSCO is the global top company that produces steel for vehicles. Approximately 9 million tons of steel for vehicle has been produced from POSCO which indicates that 25% of steel for car manufacturing is from POSCO. Simply 1 in 10 cars in global, uses steel from POSCO.

Relationship of growth between GDP per person in Korea and production of steel of POSCO

POSCO has established its own smart platform named ‘PosFrame’ that made POSCO is global leading steel company for smartization.

With all these achievements, POSCO has been listed in ‘worlds most competitive steel maker’by World Steel Dynamics for 8 consecutive years since 2010. Also POSCO has been top ranked in SAM-Dow Jones Sustainability index since 2005.

Our first interviewee is Associate Mijung Kim from the Stainless Steel Marketing Dept. in the Stainless Automotive and Home Appliance Steel Sales Group. Let’s listen to Kim’s marketing story, including what she considers the most important in marketing as a person involved in the export of stainless steel!

Can you introduce yourself please?

Hello, I’m Mijung Kim, an associate at POSCO’s Stainless Steel Marketing Dept. since February 2012. I have been responsible for the export of stainless steel since I first started working for POSCO. From my two years in marketing, I was not only able to learn a lot about stainless steel but was also able to gain the ability to lead business with a client. I initially found it challenging to adjust to POSCO’s environment as I was unfamiliar with corporate life, professional vocabulary and methods of work but I was able to adapt quickly with the help of passionate leaders and friendly colleagues.

What does POSCO’s Stainless Steel Marketing Dept. do?

Stainless steel thermoses, cups and spoons are familiar steel products that can be seen in our daily lives. Stainless steel are high-value added products that have a well-polished surface and resistance to corrosion. However, stainless steel suffer from severe price fluctuations because the majority of their raw material is nickel. In addition, there is a large range of clients, which makes the marketing of stainless steel a more difficult task compared to the marketing of other products. Despite the difficulties, sales managers are constantly working to establish effective conclusions of contracts and manage meticulous client relationship by developing smooth communication with purchasing and technical managers from client companies.

Currently, the Stainless Steel Marketing Dept. exports products made at POSCO’s overseas producer corporations and manufacturing centers in countries such as China, Vietnam, Thailand, Turkey and Italy. Considering the global marketing environments, POSCO keeps track of the fluctuations in the prices of raw materials, the characteristics of steel that clients demand as well as the business conditions of producer corporations to ultimately apply acquired knowledge in POSCO’s sales planning.

What do you consider to be the most important in POSCO’s marketing?

I believe that communication is the key to everything. During my time at POSCO, I realized the importance of communication as I worked with clients and producer corporations from Taiwan and South-East Asia. Once, I faced difficulties in fulfilling a contract due to extreme price fluctuations of raw materials during the contract period. Another time, I had to solve problems regarding a client claim, together with technical and purchasing managers. While overcoming such difficulties, I learned that sales managers should always listen carefully to and actively communicate with clients as the faintest client voice could suddenly influence contract and deals. I came to believe that good communication at times of difficulties can in fact draw more clients, and ultimately increase the sales of products.

POSCO’s Stainless Steel Marketing Goes Global

POSCO’s stainless steel are exported worldwide to countries such as China, Vietnam, Thailand, Turkey and Italy after being made in various producer corporations and manufacturing. Sales managers advertise POSCO’s products by visiting clients from diverse nationalities in real life. Every time I see some of the client companies’ poor production situations, I become even more determined to provide better stainless steel and services to clients.

Can you catch a glimpse of the bright future of POSCO’s stainless steel marketing from all the POSCO-pride and preemptive marketing strategies? We hope you felt the passion and hard work coming from Mijung, who is only on her second year in the marketing industry. At the beginning of August 2013, POSCO restructured its Stainless Steel Marketing Dept. to be industry-based in order to strengthen customer service. In the future, POSCO Stainless Steel Marketing will continue to provide technology, product and service tailored to industry demands, so stay tuned!

-Declared the 4 part innovation agenda that includes enhancement of steel competitiveness and financial structure to address crisis management

-Headed to steel plant immediately after inauguration ordering “world’s best products with competitive costs and quality”

Pictured here: POSCO’s Chairman, Ohjoon Kwon giving his inauguration speech at the Pohang headquarters on March 14^th

POSCO’s Chairman, Ohjoon Kwon has officially been inaugurated. On March 14, POSCO held its annual meeting of shareholders and board of directors to install Ohjoon Kwon as the 8^th Chairman & CEO. Following the shareholders meeting, he attended an inauguration ceremony at the Pohang headquarters wearing a Steel plant uniform and stated, “Oversupply in the global steel market puts a significant risk to POSCO’s competitive advantage” and therefore, “We need to regain our steel competitiveness based on the differentiated technology and a financial and organizational structure reform  to once again become the world’s leading steel company.”

Pictured here: POSCO’s Chairman, Ohjoon Kwon giving his inauguration speech at the Pohang headquarters on March 14^th

At the inauguration, CEO Kwon unveiled the new vision ‘POSCO the Great’ and stated that to achieve this, the ‘innovation POSCO 1.0’ would be actively promoted. ‘POSCO the Great’ implies ‘Let’s create a great POSCO’ and signals that the company will continue to contribute to the national economic development and create values for the world in order to become the most respected company nationally as well as globally. Reflecting Chairman Kwon’s philosophy and volition, POSCO 1.0 proposes a departure from pride and appearances and a return back to basics to regain unity and be the forerunner again. The goal is to become the world’s best in all business divisions by creating customer value through new ideas and unifying all employees under one vision.  Chairman Kwon announced a four part innovation agenda in order to quickly overcome the current crisis situation and prepare for the next 50 years of POSCO.

Pictured here: POSCO’s Chairman, Ohjoon  Kwon at the inauguration with ‘POSCO the Great’ and ‘innovation 4.0’ banners in the back ground

The first priority on the innovation agenda is to enhance the competitiveness of the steel industry. Its main focus is to create new, differentiating customer value through the combination of technology and marketing. The Company will create a Steel Solutions Center within the steel business division  to provide proactive response to customer needs and, also it will increase the sales of strategic products such as marine energy steel, high performance steel plates to cement its market position as a leading global steel company.

The second priority is to focus on the selection and concentration of plans that promote future growth. POSCO has been pushing ahead in materials, energy and other diverse new businesses, however going forward it will analyze business fit, core competencies, and market attractiveness to boldly determine whether to stop, sell or merge businesses for those businesses that are not globally competitive.  It will concentrate its growth energy in developing materials such as lithium and nickel that are essential for the future high-tech industry, as well as eco-friendly chemicals such as fuel cells and clean coal that are core of the clean energy business.

The third priority is to streamline the business structure and to dramatically improve the financial structure. For the time being, investment strategy will be focused on value-added growth rather than new investments for qualitative growth. Furthermore, at the appropriate time, it will list on the stock exchange certain subsidiaries that meet the IPO requirements or sell the equity holdings in order to maximize liquidity.

Finally, the management infrastructure will be reformed in areas such as internal organization, processes, and corporate culture . The current six divisions will be minimized to four for greater efficiency and to streamline decision-making hierarchy within the company. Furthermore, the number of executives in the supporting divisions will be reduced by 40% and transferred to marketing, steel mills, overseas offices and other divisions in order to boost performance. Especially, in order to promote strong performing organizational structure, individuals that hold expertise and experience will be appointed as expert executives and will be assigned to individual project with appropriate accountability and performance evaluations.

Pictured here: POSCO’s Chairman Kwon shaking hands with employees on the day of his inauguration

Shortly after the inauguration, Chairman Kwon paid a visit to #3 steelmaking plant in Pohang and encouraged employees with an indication of his management priority in the job sites. Steel plant furnaces are the heart of steelmaking companies as the filtered impurities from molten metal are transformed into high quality, top grade steel. On this day, Chairman Kwon announced, “POSCO will continue to invest in innovation in order for Pohang and Gwangyang Steelworks to once again produce the world’s best products with competitive costs and quality.”

 Pictured here: POSCO’s Chairman, Ohjoon Kwon visited workers at #3 steelmaking plant in Pohang shortly after the inauguration to reassure employees that he would help make POSCO the world’s best

Earlier, at the annual meeting of shareholders and board of directors, candidate Jinil Kim was appointed as in-house director and president of steel manufacturing, and Dongjoon Yoon and Younghoon Lee were both appointed as vice president in-house directors. Moreover, Ilsup Kim, President of Seoul School of Integrated Sciences & Technologies, Youngsun Woo, Executive Partner at law firm Seah, and Donghyun Ahn, Professor of Economics at Seoul National University were appointed as outside directors. Ilsup Kim and  Youngsun Woo will also assume the responsibility over the Audit Committee members.

See below for the full inaugural speech that Chairman Kwon gave.

[box]Fellow colleagues,

Valued shareholders, customers, stakeholders,

Ladies and gentlemen,

I am truly honored and thrilled to stand here today as the 8th CEO of POSCO. In my excitement, I also acknowledge the large responsibility I have to follow in the great success of POSCO’s past generations.

[showhide type=”post” more_text=”Show less…” less_text=”Show more…”]

Looking back to previous years, I can see the noble vision of the founders of POSCO. The first generation of this outstanding company strived to make something out of nothing, to build a solid foundation for our company in accordance with the direction of this nation.

Moreover, the following generations, armed with a passion for technology development and innovation, contributed to POSCO becoming one of the most globally competitive steelmakers in the shortest time in history.

With our unmatched commitment to staying competitive, POSCO has continued to create sound profits and consistent value. Furthermore, in the spirit of mutual partnership, we have shared growth with our various stakeholders. Such efforts have boosted Korea`s economic development, and have been praised by the Korean people.

Members of POSCO!

POSCO, once the pride of the nation, is now in the midst of unprecedented challenges. With credit ratings being downgraded and share prices being weakened, “expansion” may no longer be our highest priority. At its worst, survival of the company itself could be threatened.

As I begin my term at this important juncture, I ask a few questions to both myself and to all POSCO employees.

Do we still have the same passion and sense of duty that we used to have toward the nation’s economic development?

Do we still have our spirit of embracing challenge, embodied in our slogan “Resources Are Limited, Creativity Is Unlimited”?

Is our spirit of self-sacrifice still alive in placing our company and our country before ourselves?

Fellow colleagues,

As members of POSCO sharing the same fate, none of us are free from the current crisis. We all have to avoid living off of past glory. We must now dedicate ourselves to a fresh start and a new direction.

As of now, there are a number of urgent issues that we must resolve.

While the global economy is expected to remain stagnant for the time being, the steel market has long suffered from serious oversupply. Under such circumstances, we can no longer resort to our traditional competitive edge.

Meanwhile, our global expansion projects, once enthusiastically promoted, have yet to be settled. What concerns me even more is these projects may become a burden to the company depending on how the market unfolds.

Members of POSCO,

I would like to take today`s inauguration ceremony as an opportunity to declare our new corporate vision, “POSCO the Great.”

“POSCO the Great” refers to a POSCO that continuously contributes to the country`s economic development and is ultimately loved by the Korean people. We can achieve this goal through the following three values – Creativity, Harmony, and Top class management.

“POSCO the Great” also refers to a POSCO respected internationally by consistently creating new customer value and growth engines based on steel, POSCO’s core strength.

Today, I propose the key program of “Innovation POSCO 1.0” that will drive our corporate vision of “POSCO the Great.” The “1.0”  in “Innovation POSCO 1.0” represents being New, being Unified, and being No. 1.

“Innovation POSCO 1.0” aims to create customer value through “New” ideas, “Unifying” all of its members under the same vision, and with POSCO being the world’s “No. 1” company in all its business sectors.

Respected members of POSCO!

“Innovation POSCO 1.0” is an urgent plan to swiftly overcome the current crisis, but more importantly, it is a plan to prepare for the 50 years ahead of us.

Under the “Innovation POSCO 1.0” program, we have four initiatives.

First, we will fundamentally strengthen the core competitiveness of the steel business through technology-based solution marketing.

We will launch a Product Solution Center within the Steel Business Division to preemptively respond to potential needs of our customers.

We will fortify our status as the global top supplier in our seven key product domains which include steel products used in the energy industry; this emulates our past achievement of securing global leadership in the ultra-light automotive steel business.

We will transform Pohang and Gwangyang Steel Works into the world’s most competitive manufacturing sites by further intensifying our unique innovation capabilities and rooting out all the safety and environmental risks.

Overseas steel projects in regions such as India and Indonesia will be stabilized as early as possible by actively cooperating with partnering companies based on our spirit of shared growth and prosperity.

Second, we will nurture future mega-growth engines through strict selection and concentration among our non-steel business segments.

New projects currently being pursued in the fields of materials, energy, and other various areas will undergo a rigorous process of re-evaluation.

Our business feasibility assessment based on technology and market competitiveness yielded the tentative result of  “core materials” and “clean energy” as our potential mega-growth engines.

“Core materials” are essential ingredients for future high-tech industries, with Nickel and Lithium as promising candidates.

In the area of “clean energy”, technology in response to global warming, fuel cells and clean coal chemicals are promising candidates.

Just as we used steel, “the Rice of Industry”, to lead the economic development of Korea, we will usher in the new era of “Creative Economy” by generating more jobs in the sectors of “core materials” and “clean energy.”

Third, we will streamline our business structure and significantly improve the financial soundness of POSCO.

To maximize the synergy in each business segment, we will manage our key subsidiaries more effectively while massively trimming out non-core businesses.

Rather than pursuing expansion-oriented investments, we will adhere to high value-add investments, which will have a profound positive impact on our enterprise value.

We will move to lower the risk on our ongoing investments by inviting and cooperating with strategic and financial investors.

As for the suitable subsidiaries, we will file for an IPO at an appropriate time depending on the capital market situation. Our equity holdings in subsidiaries could be reduced to secure sufficient liquidity.

Furthermore, we will strengthen our communication with the capital market so that we can earn trust from investors.

Fourth, we will overhaul our management infrastructure such as organization, systems, processes, and corporate culture.

We will ensure that our organization will function more efficiently by downsizing the current six divisions into four divisions and simplify organizational hierarchy to streamline the decision making process.

In addition, we will curtail the number of executives in supporting departments, and some of the back office employees will be relocated into the value creating front line such as marketing, production and overseas sites, thereby producing higher financial outcomes.

Any employee who has generated additional profits by proposing and completing a challenging project will be given corresponding incentives.

We will also discard the “insider-only” practice and “the sense of superiority” that have been prevalent in POSCO as remnants from the legacy of a steel monopoly.

Meanwhile, we plan to further upgrade POSCO’s proud tradition of sharing activities so that we can fulfill our responsibility as a corporate citizen.

Fellow colleagues!

We are about to embark on a grand journey toward “POSCO the Great.”

Although we are facing a steep cliff to our rear and a fierce storm to our front, we do not have the luxury of hesitation because time is not on our side.

Fortunately, the path ahead of us is not all too unfamiliar to us.

Engrained deep within our DNA are the memories of great achievements during the days where we thrived without any capital, technology, and experience.

For the future of a reunified Korea and for another 50 years of POSCO, let us fortify the stepping-stones so that our next generation can continue to build upon the history of “POSCO the Great.”

When “POSCO the Great” is finally realized where POSCO is loved by the Korean people and respected by the citizens of the world, we will later look back to the cliff and storm of today and see that these were only part of a short-lived prelude to the great achievement of our vision for the future of POSCO.

Let us embark this new journey together for our greater POSCO.

I express my deep gratitude to the members of POSCO who have dedicated themselves in our operations, with their trust in management. I pay tribute to your loyalty to the company.

Whenever we have faced difficult times throughout our 45-year history, our management and employees have fought together, in unity, to sail through each and every hardship. I am strongly convinced that we can overcome today`s crisis based on our triumphs of the past.

Last but not least,

I give you my firm commitment.

To our customers, suppliers, and partners, we will bring you mutual growth in return for your steadfast support.

To the shareholders and investors, we will reply with higher profits in return for your unwavering trust.

To the communities and the Korean people, we will respond to your warm encouragement by making POSCO your pride and joy.

Thank you. (End) [/showhide] [/box]

This marked the first time in 40 years that POSCO began producing molten iron overseas since its first effort on Yeongilman Bay in Pohang. POSCO’s 40 years of devotion to steel has begun to make its appearance overseas.

Approximately 500 employees and government officials of both countries attended the ceremony. These attendees included the Indonesia president Yudhoyono, the head of Indonesia’s Ministry of Trade Hidayat, the Vice Minister of  Korea’s Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Energy Kim Jaehong, Korean Ambassador to Indonesia Kim Yeongseon, ASEAN Ambassador Baek Seongtaek, POSCO CEO Chung Joonyang, Krakatau President Irvan, client companies, construction companies, suppliers, external partners, and regional representatives.

In his congratulatory speech President Yudhoyono said, “I anticipate that Krakatau POSCO’s steel products, manufactured at these cutting edge facilities will both satisfy steel demand in Indonesia, and greatly contribute to economic growth and job creation.”

CEO Chung said, “The past 30 months of integrated steelworks construction was not an easy journey, but we have succeeded with the strength of Korean technology and Indonesia’s excellent manpower. Just as POSCO’s philosophy of serving its home country by the means of steel production became the basis for national economic development in Korea, I am certain that Krakatau POSCO will serve Indonesia in the same capacity.”

Krakatau POSCO was jointly established by POSCO and Indonesia’s state-run Krakatau Steel at a share ratio of 7 to 3, and boasts iron making, steelmaking, and steel plate production facilities. The company is capable of producing 1.8 million tons of slab and 1.2 million tons of steel plate.

Krakatau POSCO plans to reach positive operating profits in 2014, its first year of operation, through proactive market development and low-cost production technologies. The company will proactively secure sales networks in the domestic market where prices are higher than exports, and sell 1.5 million tons of slab and 600,000 tons of steel plate in Indonesia.
The company also plans to secure competitiveness in its early stages, through innovative cost reduction activities such as utilizing POSCO’s unique production technology which can employ low grade materials, and thus gradually utilize Indonesian steel ore in place of costly imported steel ores.

Over the course of the integrated steel works project, the POSCO Family companies in each field, including construction, power generation, and IT, gathered together to mark a new milestone in overseas steelworks construction. When the Pohang Steelworks was first built 40 years ago, POSCO had to solely rely on overseas technologies but it can now construct overseas steelworks on its own.

POSCO E&C was responsible for overall engineering and construction of the integrated steelworks including iron making, steelmaking, and steel plate production facilities, while POSCO Energy was in charge of constructing a steam power plant. POSCO ICT established the EIC engineering and IT integrated system, while POSCO CHEMTECH supplied a processing facility producing limestone furnace and coke byproducts. POSCO M-TECH built a factory to produce aluminum deoxidizers, necessary for molten iron production. Daewoo International will support overseas exports and domestic sales of the steel materials produced in Indonesia, as well as new resource development in Indonesia.

In addition, 248 Korean small and medium sized companies participated in the construction of the Indonesian integrated steelworks, setting an example for win-win cooperation between large scale and small and medium sized companies. These small and medium sized companies were thus enabled to be involved with advanced steel facilities and global capabilities via POSCO.

The necessary equipment for the steelworks was provided by 222 small and medium sized companies, including Taechang Machinery which provided equipment to custom cut steel plates according client requirements, and Hyundai Mechanic & Electric which provided electric power receiving and distribution facilities. Overseas on-site construction was carried out by 26 companies, including Dongjin and Daeah E&C.

Indonesia makes up a large market, with a population of 250 million, maintaining an average annual growth at 6%. The market has excellent steel consumption potential, as 12.5 million tons of steel are necessary for economic growth. However, Indonesia has mostly relied on imports, with annual steel consumption per person of 50kg, less than one-twentieth that in Korea. There are no quality and cost competitive steelworks in surrounding economic areas, including Vietnam, Malaysia, and Myanmar, thus ensuring further market potential for the steel industry in Indonesia. By commencing operations of the Indonesia integrated steelworks POSCO plans to complete a steel belt spanning China-Vietnam-Indonesia-India to target the Southeast Asian market, and continue to grow as a global steel company offering the world’s best competitiveness.

This was the second case where all thick plates of a single project were supplied altogether, and POSCO is the only global steel company to have done so. The first being was for FPSO unit of the Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering (DSME) where 90,000 tons of thick plates were supplied.

The 150,000 tons of thick plates supplied was approximately 58% of the entire 260,000 tons of steel materials required in Shell’s LNG development project structure, and is equivalent to an amount that can build 7 buildings at the POSCO Center scale which used 20,000 tons of thick plates.

The ‘Shell’s FLNG Project’ to which the company successfully supplied all thick plate materials is a 3 billion USD scale order won by Samsung Heavy Industries from Shell in 2010 for the world’s first LNG drilling, production, and storage facility (FLNG: Floating Liquefied Natural Gas).

It is a mega-scale offshore plant that has a length of 468 m, a width of 74 m, and a height of 100 ml, producing 3.5 million tons of LNG annually, with the capacity to store 450,000㎥ of LNG which is equivalent to three days of all LNG consumption in Korea.

▲ Image of the world’s first LNG drilling and FLNG facilities led by Shell

POSCO was able to supply all thick plates to the massive project as it was recognized for excellent materials, timely supply, and responsiveness to urgent requests.

POSCO satisfies strict safety and quality standards applied to energy steel materials used in offshore and deep sea plants such as the FLNG, as they must be able to be processed for application to various parts, have corrosion resistance against water, and have high toughness and solidity of steel materials, as they must firmly connect each part of the facilities and equipment.

To supply all products within the appointed date of delivery, the company also prepared all necessary thick plate production lineups for the project and minimized defect rates.

In addition, the ability to efficiently respond to urgent steel material orders due to inevitable frequent changes in design played a factor in being able to supply all the materials.

This project is particularly being seen as an exemplary case where joint correspondence with the client company led to successful execution.

POSCO has successfully carried out steel material development for LNG partitions and low temperatures, as well as applicability tests and the WPQT (welding procedure qualification test) for shipyard drydock equipment through joint technology cooperation with Samsung Heavy Industries.

POSCO prepared a project task force where all related departments of quality control, manufacturing, production, and transportation logistics participated so that there was no delay or mishaps in supply through production status monitoring as well as quality and supply management.

The company will continue to proactively provide support at early project stages so that client companies can receive large-scale overseas orders, and plans to provide a firm system to be able to supply excellent quality steel materials at the right time when needed.

Furthermore, considering energy steel materials as a future match for the steel industry, the company expects to see results in its efforts of strengthening R&D and investment, through marketing in the field, and to also strengthen its position in the energy steel material market.

The global energy steel material market has been supplied by select steel companies of Europe and Japan with high technology levels and excellent supply records, but POSCO has rapidly increased market share by successfully completing major global projects based on its technology.

Meanwhile, the company has completed development of 23 types of steel, with an additional 60 types of energy steel material developments planned for completion.

Further, POSCO family companies POSCO E&C, Daewoo International, and Sungjin Geotec, by supplying steel materials concurrently with energy plant orders, has the goal of reaching a market share of more than 10% in the global energy steel material market by 2020.

POSCO joined hands with PT Krakatau Steel, Indonesia’s state-run steel company, and started construction of an annual 3 million ton scale integrated steelworks in Cilegon, Indonesia, in October of 2010.  Krakatau POSCO, the local subsidiary, is targeting completion of construction by the end of December, with construction progress currently at 98%.

On the 7^th, one day before the first coke was produced, Krakatau POSCO charged the first coal into the coke oven as the blower, the core facility of the coke making process, was operated.  Approximately 36 hours after coal was charged into the 58.9 ton coke oven, and at a temperature of 1150℃, carbonized coal was made into coke for the first time in Indonesia, on the 8^th.

Fandi, who was in charge of driving the first charging car said, “I am happy and excited that Indonesia has produced its first coke.  The results of eagerly learning from the consultants dispatched from Korea can be seen in the outcome.  I am once again amazed by their will and feel thankful.”

Through the construction of the Krakatau POSCO integrated steelworks, POSCO plans to firm its position as a major global steel company and continue to prepare a stepping stone to enter the Southeast Asia market, which has high growth potential.