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.