To commemorate the opening of the CHANGeUP GROUND Pohang, on July 23rd, Professor William P. Barnett and Professor Hyun-sang Shin gave lectures under the theme of the value and performance of POSCO’s management philosophy, Corporate Citizenship. POSCO Newsroom delivers the lectures in detail!

The next site to visit is the special virtual lecture by Professor Hyun-sang Shin, a professor at Hanyang University Business School and the CEO of Impactree Search Lab, under the theme of ‘Evolution of POSCO: POSCO’s Transformation towards Corporate Citizenship’. Let’s take a look at how POSCO has changed, from the differences between its past and present perspectives on corporate philanthropy to an analysis of its management philosophy of corporate citizenship by looking back on its footprints.

l POSCO’s past, present, and future, “POSCO leaps through time!”: Professor Hyun-sang Shin

In this lecture, Professor Hyun-sang Shin analyzed POSCO’s management philosophy, Corporate Citizenship, by dividing it into three periods – ▲Before privatization ▲Globalization ▲After corporate citizenship declaration – and suggested the future direction.

Before talking about POSCO’s corporate citizenship, he introduced the four viewpoints on corporate philanthropy and explained the differences between the past and the present in each viewpoint. As time goes by, each viewpoint faces limitations. However, he said that corporate citizenship, the last of the four viewpoints and POSCO’s management philosophy, suggests a solution to the limitations arising from the other three viewpoints.

If a company adopts a viewpoint of corporate citizenship for corporate philanthropy, the next thing to consider is what kind of corporate citizenship it will pursue! Professor Hyun-sang Shin shows different types of corporate citizenship based on two familiar examples.

Authoritative corporate citizenship VS Imperfect but truthful and exertive corporate citizenship. Today’s corporate citizenship needs to contemplate which of the two directions it will be heading towards. If it moves towards the direction of imperfect but truthful and exertive corporate citizenship, how will it grow and develop, and how can it be evaluated and get feedback? Professor Hyun-sang Shin’s answers were in the ‘Novel Solutions to Social Problems’ by Professor James Phills of Stanford University.

The evaluation criteria for the cases of corporate citizenship presented by Professor Phills consists of three categories: Intention, Solution, and Performance. Based on this, Professor Hyun-sang Shin gave the analysis result of POSCO’s corporate citizenship by dividing it into three periods: Before privatization, Globalization, and After corporate citizenship declaration.

1. INTENTION: The analysis result of ‘Which problem of whose did you solve?’

To analyze the first criterion, Professor Hyun-sang Shin used W. Richard Scott’s Three Pillars of the Institutional Framework. This framework suggests that society consists of three pillars: Regulative (compliance with the law), Normative (embrace social needs and expectations), and Cognitive (support and appreciation from members, stockholders, and customers/clients). As an organization could collapse without getting resources and legitimacy from each pillar, the balance between the pillars has been emphasized. After corporate citizenship declaration, POSCO is gradually securing the balance between the three pillars with an increase in activities such as supply chain risk management, climate change response, and by-product recycling.

2. SOLUTION: The analysis result of ‘How did you solve the problem?’
In this category, collaboration with partners in corporate philanthropy is increasingly important. POSCO’s corporate philanthropy before privatization was more focused on simple cooperations such as independent projects or charities, and it went through the globalization period when it increased collaborations with some business partners. After the declaration of corporate citizenship, brand collaborations with clients such as INNOVILT and supplier collaborations such as ESG supply chain management and GEM fundraising increased. More collaborations with business partners imply a positive change towards the establishment of a win-win structure.

3. PERFORMANCE: The analysis result of ‘How well did you solve the problem?’

Professor Hyun-sang Shin emphasized the excellent use of the Five-Step Logic Model of Input→Activity→Output→Outcome→Impact to create a desirable change in this category. He explained the logic model by applying it to university students’ free tutoring service to underprivileged students. The input was how much resources the company invested in the university students’ volunteer system, the output was how much time the university students spent on the volunteer service under the company’s investment, and the outcome was whether the university students’ free tutoring service made much improvement in grade and satisfaction of the underprivileged students.

As you can see in the graph, POSCO started to get outcome reports on corporate philanthropy from the time of globalization, and the proportion of the report increased after the declaration of corporate citizenship. Although the increase in outcome implies a fairly positive change, Professor Hyun-sang Shin said that the company is still paying less attention to the outcome compared to the global standard. He suggested POSCO focus more on the outcome for its future development and also emphasized that the outcome should be applied to a solid strategy for business improvement so that the members can truly accept it.

In addition, he said that business outcomes might lead to an unintended way in the changing society and once again highlighted the importance of the authenticity of a company in those situations. The authenticity can be achieved through securing fairness with the balance between the three pillars of Regulative, Normative, and Cognitive, establishing a win-win structure through collaboration with business partners, and expanding outcome reporting into actual strategies in earnest.

POSCO Newsroom’s virtual lecture notes that delivered a meaningful lecture by Professor Hyun-sang Shin, who analyzed POSCO’s history of corporate philanthropy based on the viewpoint of corporate citizenship, ends here! We hope you had a meaningful time learning more about POSCO’s corporate citizenship.

To commemorate the opening of the CHANGeUP GROUND Pohang, on July 23rd, Professor William P. Barnett and Professor Hyun-sang Shin gave lectures under the theme of the value and performance of POSCO’s management philosophy, Corporate Citizenship. POSCO Newsroom delivers the lectures in detail!

The first site to visit is Professor William P. Barnett’s special virtual lecture under the theme of ‘POSCO and Corporate Citizenship: An Evolutionary Perspective’ to commemorate the opening of the CHANGeUP GROUND Pohang. Let’s learn about POSCO’s corporate management from Professor William P. Barnett’s unconventional viewpoint!

l Evolution in Corporate Management, “Learning more about POSCO’s Corporate Citizenship!”

Professor William P. Barnett, together with Professor Jae-goo Kim of Myongji University and Professor Moo-weon Rhee of Yonsei University, conducted joint research on POSCO’s management philosophy, Corporate Citizenship. Professor William P. Barnett mentioned that POSCO, which took corporate citizenship as its management philosophy, can be viewed from an evolutionary perspective by comparing it to the Red Queen Hypothesis. In particular, POSCO is the first company he wants to study as it has preemptively declared corporate citizenship in response to the rapidly rising ESG trend.

The Red Queen? An evolutionary perspective? If you are not sure about the relationship between these unfamiliar words and corporate citizenship, let’s look into the core content of Professor William P. Barnett’s virtual lecture with POSCO Newsroom!

According to Professor William P. Barnett, a company’s development of something new through innovation means that the company’s performance, quality of product, production innovation, and efficiency go up together. When a company becomes powerful in the market, the competitor also increases. Therefore, the company has to continuously innovate and improve its product quality and efficiency to not fall behind the competitors. In other words, competitive companies continue to innovate to stay ahead of their rivals, thereby creating a virtuous evolutionary circle in which innovation causes another innovation.

In an anecdote from Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There, the sequel to Lewis Carroll’s children’s tale Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, the Red Queen tells Alice that she must keep running to survive in the competition. The Red Queen Hypothesis, taken from this anecdote, explains that competition makes every company on the market stronger.

The most innovative companies have led the virtuous circle of change, and POSCO is at the forefront of the change, leading innovation in the manufacturing and steel industry. POSCO is evolving into a more innovative company by exchanging benefits with its partners as well as competitors.

Most companies attempt innovation with their own motivation. Then, what is POSCO’s motive for innovation, that is to say, the reason for POSCO to innovate?

POSCO is taking ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) as its stepping stone for innovation and evolving towards perfect corporate citizenship.
Professor William P. Barnett says that even though many companies took corporate citizenship as their management philosophy, they are not taking concrete measures to implement it. Without practical and concrete measures to achieve corporate citizenship, a better world is just a fantasy. However, POSCO is implementing practical and concrete actions to support its goal of achieving corporate citizenship, he added.

l POSCO positioned itself as a leading ESG management company in the steel industry

POSCO recently announced its three-stage plan to pursue carbon neutrality by 2050. The plan is to reduce carbon emissions by 20% by 2030, 50% by 2040, and finally achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. To this end, POSCO set forth an objective to reduce the existing blast furnace facilities and commercialize the hydrogen-reduction steel facilities by 2050. In particular, it presented a policy to solidify its carbon-neutral position unparalleled in the global steel industry by accelerating the development of HyREX technology.

Many experts predict that challenges and opportunities will coexist in the upcoming era of profound change, and the importance of ESG will be even greater. Then, what is the main content of the ESG business that POSCO is promoting in preparation for the profound change?

POSCO has long been a good example of corporate development and innovation, and the members have also actively participated in its innovation. Many experts were uncertain and skeptical about POSCO’s technical prowess at the time of its establishment. Still, with the unwavering belief of becoming a leader in technological innovation, POSCO has grown into a company walking shoulder-to-shoulder with the world’s greatest corporations. Consequently, the initial vision of POSCO has made what POSCO is today.

Professor William P. Barnett said that it was utterly regrettable to give a lecture virtually as he could not visit the site in person due to the pandemic. In response, POSCO CEO Jeong-woo Choi expressed his gratitude to Professor William P. Barnett for giving a lecture in the evening due to the time difference.

The lecture finished in a warm atmosphere, but is this the end of the Special Symposium on Corporate Citizenship?
Wait! In the next episode, Professor Hyun-sang Shin will be joining us. Let’s continue to look into the core content of Professor Hyun-sang Shin’s virtual lecture!

It has been 3 years since POSCO made a public declaration about its management philosophy, ‘Corporate Citizenship’ with the wish of being a 100-year long company in July 2018. What will be talked about here is: POSCO’s intensive effort and remarkable achievement to follow the philosophy with the Special Symposium for a Path to the Future Management with 3 Years of POSCO Corporate Citizenship, which was held on July 21st.

l Setting Standards for Work-Life Integration with the Declaration of the ‘Corporate Citizenship’

POSCO desired to identify its new culture to make the growth of a 100-year long company earning respect from others while not only sticking to the philosophy ‘Contributing to the Nation with Steel Production’ with a 50-year history but also developing together with interested parties and contributing to the community.

This background drove the company’s proactive declaration of the management philosophy, ‘Corporate Citizenship: Building a Better Future Together’ in 2018. POSCO with its management philosophy, ‘Corporate Citizenship’ – pursuing ‘the value of coexistence’ while growing together across the industry and countries – has reached a stage in its evolution by contributing to the community.

After the declaration, POSCO keeps moving forward with three strategies:
△ Business With POSCO, to create value with customers, suppliers, and business partners
△ Society With POSCO, to shape a better society together,
△ People With POSCO, to nurture company culture of trust and creativity.
Employees engaging in innovation work with ‘the Three Principles’:
△ Pursue quality over formality
△ Pursue action than talk
△ Pursue practical interest rather than finding a cause

In July 2019 – 1 year later – ‘the Charter of Corporate Citizenship’ was declared as a business direction to move forward for the ‘Corporate Citizenship’.

▲ On July 25th 2019, the Charter of Corporate Citizenship was declared in the convention room of Pohang Head Office. The CEO of POSCO Group, Jeong-woo Choi, and the employee representatives are holding hands with each other after the declaration.

The charter concluded by the discussions with advice from internal or external panels and opinions from employees includes practical principles to achieve the POSCO’s Corporate Citizenship. In order to allow the principles to work in every business activity, it sets details for the principle:
△ to create a healthy industrial ecosystem with business partners,
△ to be a leader dealing with social problems and enhancing society,
△ to foster a company culture on trust and creativity to create a place ensuring employees feel valued and happy.

In July 2020, POSCO issued the Corporate Citizenship Management Standards (CCMS) to provide detailed guidelines to call for actions.

▲‘The Corporate Citizenship Management Standards (CCMS)’ were announced on July 28th 2020 as a keymap to keep being on track and reach the ‘Corporate Citizenship’

The Charter of Corporate Citizenship provides the concepts and direction of its management philosophy, ‘Corporate Citizenship’ that the employees should adopt while CCMS suggests a standard on actions and decision making, which helps employees practice and achieve practically for work and life.

l Establishing a new department for the Corporate Citizenship, holding meetings for advisory and strategies

POSCO’s new organization and conference groups established to implement its management philosophy, are leading POSCO in the right direction, playing their roles with responsibility.

In 2019, the internal governance set up a department for the Corporate Citizenship to control action and spread the philosophy more widely. In 2020, it also founded the Environment, Society, Governance Group (ESG) under the Corporate Citizenship department and established a firm foothold. In 2021, the ESG committee was established under the Board of Directors.

As an external advisory organization, the Corporate Citizenship Committee which directly advises the CEO began on March 15th 2019 welcoming its initial members: three external experts from the economic, management, humanities and social science, and law industry, and also seven other directors from inside and outside the company.

▲ The Corporate Citizenship Committee’s first meeting being held on April 8th 2019. Members shared opinions on revising ‘the Charter of Corporate Citizenship’ to inform employees about the importance of Corporate Citizenship to encourage their actions.

A Corporate Citizenship Committee’s meeting is held quarterly to discuss POSCO’s direction, management strategy advice, and suggestions especially regarding Environmental, Social, Governance (ESG) trend changes, and lastly, they review the results from achievement in social value following the plan.

The advisory organization, the Corporate Citizenship Advisory Conference, that began this year, gives direct advice to the CEO. It also consists of three additional experts in safety, environment, and organizational culture to provide more ESG related advice. The organization takes suggestions about industrial safety, health, and ESG business management strategies over its current assignment.

▲ The first half of the strategy meeting of the Corporate Citizenship held on April 16th, POSCO’s directors, the presidential boards, the heads of overseas corporations are attending online and in-person to talk about the company’s advancements, adaptation to social changes, and how to maintain competitiveness and continue to create a 100-year long legacy.

Moreover, POSCO analyzes its actions carried out by the philosophy for the entire groups, attending the Corporate Citizenship Strategy Meetings annually since July 2019 to share the best practices and reshape the strategy with 20 presidential board members in every first and second half of the year. On April 16th, the meeting for the first half of 2021 was held to discuss for the solution to be more distinctively competitive and to create a strategy to further maintain its reputation for 100 years.

l The birth of ‘the Five POSCO Corporate Citizenship Brands’ to shape a better society

Same as other content from ‘the Charter of Corporate Citizenship’, POSCO has carried out various projects at the corporate level and understood its role within the society as a member by suggesting solutions for social problems to create a better society. In 2019, the ‘Representative Six Projects’ were selected and subsequently announced publicly to further help people’s understanding of these activities while publicizing the meaning of Corporate Citizenship.

On the other hand, the project reorganization was required as followed by the company’s reaction to climate change, the need for communications on the environment and safety. Its separated projects and achievements by each different group helped expand the role of the management philosophy, ‘Corporate Citizenship’. Finally, the ‘Five POSCO Corporate Citizenship Brands’ were launched for the purpose of having more diverse projects in March 2021.

The brands are divided into five categories: the signature brand, ‘Green With POSCO’ to lead the hydrogen industry in an action of ‘Carbon Reduction’ and achieve it by 2050’, ‘Together With POSCO’ to create developments together with suppliers and customers, ‘Challenge With POSCO’ to revitalize the venture ecosystem and foster new growth within the industry, ‘Life With POSCO’ to actively resolve social challenges such as a low birth rate and the increase in unemployment rates while ensuring its employees’ safety and happiness. ‘Community With POSCO’ aims to suggest development models for both the community and company to maintain sustainability and coexist together.

More details of the brand projects are shared in ‘An Easy-to-understand Five POSCO Corporate Citizenship Brands’

l Having the moment to share the achievements of the ‘Corporate Citizenship’ projects and researches

POSCO holds an annual event to showcase best practices and achievements. In the annual event in 2019, Tae-won Chey, the Chairman of SK Inc., and Ki-moon Ban, former Secretary-General of the United Nations was invited as special guests to hold lectures in order to further enhance the quality of the event.

The first commemorative performance event around the theme “Corporate, Becoming a Citizen” was held on the 3rd of December 2019, shortly before the COVID19 pandemic occurred. It drew a wide audience with its diverse selection of prepared programs from the commitment to action for the six representative projects, panel discussions, and conferences. Also, visitors had chances to have on-site experience of the ‘Corporate Citizenship’ – touring a public information hall, sharing achievement, visiting booths for the venture platform, charity flea market, and enjoying busking performances, which were all well received by those in attendance.

▲ On December 3rd 2019, the achievement was shared first in Atrium on the 1st floor of the POSCO center. More than 1,000 people including employees, officers from national organizations, experts, and citizens joined and created an atmosphere of joy.

Additionally, the best practices were shared in each category, Sang-young Lee, a leader from POSCO International for Business Section, Yo-han Lee, a leader from POSCO Chemical for People section, Jong-chul Lee, a team leader from POSCO Community Serving Volunteer Group for Society section. Their truthful and humorous stories moved the audience.

On December 8th 2020, the Corporate Citizenship Culture Day was held with the theme of ‘a Path to the Future Management with the Corporate Citizenship’. During the event, Ki-moon Ban, former Secretary-General of the United Nations, gave a special lecture about ‘Sustainable future for the corporate and directions for POSCO with the ‘Corporate Citizenship’ in front of about 10,000 employees.

Moreover, the book with a summary of corporate accomplishments from activities and research on numerous areas including management, economy, and sociology, was released and swiftly had a discussion meeting with the authors and professors.

l Special symposium to celebrate 3 years of the ‘Corporate Citizenship’:
a Path to the Future Management with 3 Years of POSCO’s Corporate Citizenship

It has been three years since the declaration and on 21st July 2021, a special symposium was held to talk about ‘a Path to the Future Management with 3 Years of POSCO’s Corporate Citizenship’. For the event held both online and in-person, important members of the company and academic panels: Jeong-woo Choi, the CEO of POSCO Group, Soo-keun Kwak of the ‘Corporate Citizenship Forum’, an honorary professor of Seoul National University (also a leader of the Corporate Citizenship Advisory Conference), Ho-keun Song , a chair-professor of POSTECH (also a director on Society department of the Corporate Citizenship), Hyeong-goo Mun, an honorary professor of Korea University (also a department director of the Corporate Citizenship–People).

POSCO Group CEO Choi announced ongoing achievements and said, “after the declaration of ‘the Corporate Citizenship’, POSCO reinforces competitiveness in particular business areas such as electric vehicles, environmentally friendly materials, and hydrogen energy business while also building a global collaboration system for expanded use of a by-product of steel production, the virtuous circle system to re-use waste resources and to further the development of hydrogen-based steelmaking. Lastly, the corporate’s accomplishment is to enable people to enhance the safety management policy, and reinforcing facilities, while developing and implementing smart safety technology.”

Not only, Professor William P. Barnett of Stanford University, Professor Jae-goo Kim of Myongji University, Professor Moo-weon Rhee of Yonsei University, Professor Hyeon-sang Shin of Hanyang University and Seong-jin Park, the head of POSCO Industry-Academy-Research Cooperation Office were all invited to give special lectures about the value and achievement of the philosophy.

▲ On the 21st of July, Choi, the CEO of POSCO Group is conducting an online Q&A session with William Barnett, the professor of Stanford University as well as the speaker of the event, marking the three-year anniversary of the declaration.

Professor Barnett explained that “in the times of ESG management, POSCO is actively leading the industry by introducing the management philosophy, ‘the Corporate Citizenship’. The value and standards on others should be suggested too.”

In the following session, a total of 12 corporate case studies were presented and linked the achievements of the POSCO Group with corporate citizenship in collaboration with the five major brands based on research from scholars in the major Korean universities. The results were shown by each of the brand’s case study professors, and executive employees from the corresponding case studies with their results. The presented materials have been published in an E-book format and are available for download on POSCO’s website. (POSCO’s Website – Home)

The POSCO’s Symposium was held to declare corporate citizenship as its management philosophy and everyone involved shared their accomplishments. Corporate Citizenship will be truly achieved only after the Charter of Corporate Citizenship and CCMS cultivates the philosophy to every employee to follow and act accordingly.

In upcoming September, POSCO sessions will be held at the World Knowledge Forum (WKF) arranged by Maekyung Media Group to discuss new possible company roles and shape the future based on the achievement created within the 3 years of Corporate Citizenship. Moreover, at the end of November, the Corporate Citizenship Brand Day will be held for its employees to present and discuss their best practices produced by their experiences and actions with Corporate Citizenship. These events will allow everyone to take a close look at the changes that have been implemented through these times and aid us in becoming a 100-year-old company earning respects by customers, business partners, and suppliers alike.

POSCO marked three years with the declaration of ‘Corporate Citizenship’ in July 2018. POSCO has fiercely worked to accomplish the Corporate Citizenship. Respectively, the Corporate Citizenship has now established itself as a management philosophy to provide the way of future management. Nevertheless, POSCO will still put its effort into shaping a better society, creating higher company value through practicing the Corporate Citizenship with sincerity.

I POSCO provides unused space on ships to SMEs that do not have transactions with POSCO…starting from the 1st of the upcoming month.

I Expects to be a catalyst for “win-win export logistics” between large domestic companies and SMEs amid a logistics crisis

▲ On the 21st, POSCO and the Korea International Trade Association signed a “small and medium-sized enterprises marine transportation support business agreement” at the Trade Tower in Samsung-dong. From the left, Kwan-sup Lee, Vice Chairman of the Korea International Trade Association(KITA), and Kwang-soo Kim, Head of Logistics Business Unit, POSCO.

POSCO starts to actively support small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that have been struggling to export due to the recent shortage of ships and a surge in shipping costs.

POSCO (CEO Jeong-woo Choi) and the Korea International Trade Association (Chairman Ja-yeol Koo) signed a “small and medium-sized enterprise’s marine transportation support business agreement” at the Trade Tower in Samsung-dong, Seoul on the 21st, attended by Kwang-soo Kim, Head of Logistics Business Unit of POSCO, Kwan-sup Lee, Vice Chairman of KITA, and Mi-ae Kim, who is in charge of the public-private joint import/export logistics response center in the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy

POSCO developed and has been operating a trial of an ‘export logistics Joint platform’ since this year to help small and medium-sized customers ship small amounts of cargo together with POSCO, listening to their difficulties in securing ships in time due to small export volumes and often having to pay relatively high fares which lowers their export competitiveness.

The ‘Export Logistics Joint Platform’ is POSCO’s win-win logistics platform developed to eliminate the hassle of exporting companies wishing to join the shipping company by contacting them frequently to check the shipment schedule and it makes everything from schedule confirmation to joint application possible online at once. During the trial period, the combined amount of customers with POSCO steel products amounts to 40,000 tons.

Through this agreement, POSCO also plans to open its platform to small and medium-sized enterprises that have no direct business relationship with POSCO from the 1st of the upcoming month. POSCO which has signed long-term transportation contracts with major national shipping companies based on a stable export volume of 15 million tons per year, plans to systematically support small and medium-sized Korean companies by actively utilizing the global logistics infrastructure network. The total target cargo is bulk cargo including steel and the transportation area is about 80 ports in seven regions around the world.

Details will be posted this month on POSCO’s e-commerce site, (www.steel-n.com) and the Korea International Trade Association’s homepage (www.kita.net), and wired consulting is also available through Korea International Trade Association Logistics Service Office (02-6000-5754) or Trade Call Center (1566-5114).

This is the first time that large companies have started supporting export logistics for SMEs amid the ongoing global shipping crisis caused by the covid-19, and POSCO expects the cooperation to serve as a catalyst for “win-win export logistics” between large companies and SMEs in Korea.

Kwan-sup Lee, Vice Chairman of KITA said, “With the support from POSCO, we expect that the logistics difficulties of SMEs will be resolved to some extent.” “Starting with this support project, we hope to see more cooperation between large and SMEs in the future,” he added.

Kwang-soo Kim, Head of Logistics Business Unit of POSCO said, “We are pleased that POSCO could join the Korea International Trade Association in overcoming the government’s logistics crisis.” “We will share our years of maritime transportation experience and logistics infrastructure assets with small and medium-sized exporters to contribute to the nation’s trade development and further practice our corporate citizenship management philosophy to grow together with small and medium-sized exporters,” he added.

l Bridged the gap between large and small companies and resolving the challenges of our times through autonomous social consensus… showing an exemplary case

l Established ‘Joint labor welfare fund’…establishing a foothold for partner companies to grow into hidden champions by increasing wages and welfares

I CEO Jeong-woo Choi said, “Let’s realize the win-win value as reliable partners to move toward a 100-year company.”

POSCO (CEO Jeong-woo Choi) will strengthen its competitive power in the steel industry through win-win development with the partner companies and resolve the challenges of our times, such as narrowing the gap between large and small companies.

POSCO held a ‘Joint Declaration Ceremony of Win-Win Development between POSCO and Partner Company’ at the POSCO Head Office in Pohang with the ‘Win-Win Council of the Partner Companies,’ consisting of labor-management representatives of POSCO’s partners in Pohang and Gwangyang on the 24th. Sung-hyun Moon, the chairperson of the Economic, Social, and Labor Council (ESLC), Cheol-woo Lee, the governor of Gyeongsangbuk-do, Kang-deok Lee, the mayor of Pohang City, Jung-jae Kim, the member of the National Assembly, Byung-wook Kim, the member of the National Assembly, Yun-tae Kim, the director of Daegu Regional Employment and Labor Administration, the labor-management representative of POSCO’s partner company, Kyoung-seok Kim, POSCO trade union committee, and Jeong-woo Choi, CEO of POSCO attended the event.

On that day, POSCO and the ‘Win-Win Council of Partner Company’ announced the ‘POSCO-Partner Company Joint Declaration on Win-Win Development.’ The two sides agreed to strengthen global business competitive power along with win-win development of large and small companies through autonomous social consensus and spread a positive impact throughout the industry by establishing an exemplary model that leads the growth and development of the local industrial ecosystem.

Under the social consensus called the ‘Joint Declaration of Win-Win Development’, POSCO decided to do its best to create safe working conditions for its partners’ employees, bridge the wage gap, and improve welfare benefits, and help its partners grow into small but strong companies. In addition, more than 90 regional partners agreed to strengthen their technological competitive power as shared growth partners with the respect for joint declaration and actively participate in win-win development and a safe working environment based on stable labor-management relations.

Moon, chairman of the Economic, Social, and Labor Council (ESLC) said in a greeting, “This joint declaration is an exemplary case of social dialogue for the realization of inclusive growth and is worth using in the industry as a model for dialogue and communication between large and small companies.”

Yoo-young Kim, co-chairman of the Gwangyang Win-Win Council of Partner Company said, “Each cooperative employee will make every effort to maintain the most competitive steel company status based on the improvement of the working conditions for partner companies through this declaration ceremony.” “We are always proud to be working with POSCO, a global company, and we will help POSCO to maintain their highest competitive power and the partner companies will also grow into hidden champions,” said Heon-duk Kim, co-chairman of the Pohang Win-Win Council of Partner Company.

In addition, Kyoung-seok Kim, the POSCO trade union committee said, “Let’s create a better workplace by finding ways for POSCO and its partner companies to be win-win for each other under a safe working environment through conversations.”

POSCO CEO Choi said, “POSCO was able to make it by dedications and initiatives of partner companies. Let’s work together to realize the basic value of win-win development and become a strong partner for each other for a new leap forward as a 100-year company.”

As an action plan under the ‘Joint Declaration of Win-Win Development between POSCO and Partner Company,’ partners will establish a ‘Joint Labor Welfare Fund’ in Pohang and Gwangyang respectively within this year, and POSCO will contribute financial resources. The fund will be used to improve welfare benefits, starting with the establishment of a children’s scholarship system that employees of partner companies are most interested in. About 16,000 employees of partner companies will benefit from this joint declaration.

Meanwhile, five group companies, including POSCO, signed a three-year business agreement in 2018 with 777.1 billion won worth of support over the past three years to bridge the wage gap between large and small companies. In addition, POSCO has expanded recreational facilities to share with its partner companies, and also operating a ‘Joint Workplace Daycare Center’ that can be used with the children of employees of partner companies in Pohang and Gwangyang. In particular, POSCO has newly established and is currently operating an organization dedicated to supporting the safety operations of its partner companies to create a safe working environment for partner companies’ employees earlier this year.

l CEO Jeong-woo Choi said, “We will reinforce our position as a supplier in the world’s largest automotive steel sheet market, China.”

l Responds to the local needs of automakers in China by establishing a local production and sales system for automotive steel sheets

POSCO (CEO Jeong-woo Choi) signs a contract with China’s HBIS Group Co., Ltd (河钢集团有限公司, HBIS) to set up a joint venture for production and sales of automotive steel sheet in China.

The two companies held a signing ceremony online attended by POSCO CEO Jeong-woo Choi, Head of Steel Business Unit Hag-dong Kim, President of HBIS Yu Yong, and General Manager of HBIS Wang Lanyu and decided to set up a 50:50 joint venture on the 25th.

“Through the partnership with HBIS Group, we plan to reinforce our position as the most competitive automotive steel sheet supplier in the world’s largest automotive steel sheet market, China,” CEO Jeong-woo Choi said during the signing ceremony.

HBIS, the second largest steelmaker in China and the third-largest steelmaker in the world producing 44 million tons of crude steel as of 2020, is on the list of Fortune Global 500 along with POSCO.

POSCO and HBIS plan to build a plant with a production capacity of 900,000 tons of galvanized steel sheets in the economic development zone of Laoting County, Tangshan City in Hebei Province by investing a total of US$600 million, with US$300 million each and aim to start construction in next January and complete it by the end of 2023.

In addition, it plans to incorporate Guangdong CGL(Continuous Galvanizing Line) which is currently operated by POSCO in Guangdong Province, China, and has an annual production capacity of 450,000 tons of steel sheets as a subsidiary company into the joint venture. As a result, the joint venture will have a production capacity of 1.35 million tons and the two companies will supply half of the cold-rolled coil (Full Hard), depending on their ratio of share.

POSCO expects to establish a stable supply system in response to the continuously growing demand for automotive steel plates in China upon this opportunity of cooperating with HBIS.

China, the No.1 automobile producer in the world that produced 25 million units, which is 32% of the world’s automobile production last year, is expected to continue to grow as the world’s largest demand market for automotive steel sheets in the future.

▲ POSCO sets up a joint venture with HBIS for the production and sales of automotive steel sheets in China, the world’s largest automotive steel sheet market. The photo shows the overall view of Guangdong CGL, which is scheduled to be incorporated as a subsidiary of the joint venture.

Together With POSCO is a brand that was created with the goal of co-existence with the local communities by enhancing the competitiveness of small and medium-sized enterprises and creating social value and also aims to create symbiotic value through ESG activities. Together With POSCO operates POSCO’s programs under the three directions which are “Fair Together,” “Value Together” and “Care Together”.

Let’s take a closer look at the main programs among various shared growth activities and sustainable purchasing activities through the spread of ESG activities in the supply chain one by one.

I Open sourcing

The first shared growth program to be introduced is ‘Open sourcing’. Let’s suppose that there is a small and medium-sized enterprise that has just started. In the past, even if they tried to do business with POSCO, they could not easily access it without knowing anyone inside the company. POSCO has been struggling to solve this problem and finally created an e-Catalog.

▲ e-Catalog homepage.

e-Catalog, an online marketplace that encourages fair competition among small and medium-sized enterprises, is a platform where any company can freely register and promote its products. It was created with the purpose of establishing a transparent purchasing environment while optimizing product specifications by providing fair supply opportunities to material suppliers by preparing a platform to introduce their products, and also by discovering and introducing excellent new products and alternatives to the material use department.

The e-Catalog system was developed to allow material suppliers to promote their products without visiting POSCO Use Department in person, and to make it easier to source alternative goods at the Purchase Department.

l Fair and Timely Payment

In 2018, POSCO abolished the lowest bidder system for the first time among private enterprises and replaced it with those focused on fair trade, including the lower price limit bidding system and the TCO bidding system.

Also in 2019, POSCO first introduced the ‘subcontract win-win payment system’ to prevent unpaid or delayed payments between primary and secondary partner companies, which resulted in a total of 107.6 billion won in payments by the end of last year through this system.

Besides, it also operates a ‘preferential purchase system for socially friendly enterprises’ to expand bidding transactions and give incentives to the companies with disabilities, social enterprises, etc.

l Benefit Sharing

Benefit Sharing (BS), which has been implemented by POSCO for the first in Korea since 2004, is a program that jointly conducts improvement activities and shares the benefits with business partners. It is a representative activity that is faithful to the corporate citizenship management philosophy in terms of introducing the concept of creating symbiotic value beyond the simple cost reduction level.

Since the implementation of the system in 2004, 5,163 cumulative tasks have been carried out by the first half of 2021, and performance compensation worth 632.4 billion won was achieved.

Benefit Sharing is expected to play an important role in strengthening the capabilities of not only POSCO but also the entire industrial ecosystem. POSCO will expand BS to safety, environment, logistics, marketing, and new business areas, and will do its best to establish itself as a longevity program for shared growth by sharing the achievements to enhance the practical satisfaction and capabilities of participating companies.

l POSCO Productivity Innovation

POSCO Productivity Innovation Program is a program that delivers smart factory technologies successfully built by POSCO and QSS(Quick Six Sigma) which is POSCO’s unique manufacturing innovation technology, to small and medium-sized enterprises.

‘People’-oriented productivity innovation, which changes the company’s constitution by first improving the way of working and supports the long-lasting effects of innovation by building smart factories based on change, is the key point of the POSCO Productivity Innovation program. Through these programs, POSCO will continue to expand in the direction of not only improving its manufacturing process but also resolving the issues related to energy, environment, and safety.

POSCO is also supporting energy-saving consulting for desired companies in connection with smartification competency strengthening consulting. It is an activity that identifies the current status of energy use through heat and electricity diagnosis, discovers loss factors, and suggests ways to improve energy savings. Last year, 35 companies have participated, saving an average of 17 million won. This has the same effect as saving 1,590 tons of CO₂ when converted into carbon emissions.

l Shared Growth Support Group

Shared Growth Support Group is an employee-participatory shared growth activity that utilizes the capabilities, infrastructure, and know-how held by employees of each department of POSCO to support the growth of their partner companies.

It is a concept of encompassing the support activities that were previously classified as Innovation Growth Support Group, including the shared growth support group of Plant, Equipment and Materials Procurement Office that supports consulting in the ESG field, Facility solutions from the Facility Technology department to inspect and improve facilities of Small and medium-sized enterprises, Techno-partnership of the Technology Research Institute by supporting research manpower and experimental equipment, and also includes safety, energy, QSS innovation and more.

The Shared Growth Support Group supports small and medium-sized enterprises to identify problems from the ground up and to derive practical solutions based on them.

There are four key directions for support: △Establishing a Smart Factory △ Resolving ESG Issues △Enhancing energy and equipment efficiency △ Introducing New Technologies. A total of 14 companies will be eligible for the support this year, and consulting will be conducted on seven companies in the second half of the year.

l POSCO Youth Dream Job Matching

POSCO uses its excellent education and training infrastructure to provide education and training to young job seekers who want to work at partner companies and other small and medium-sized enterprises, and also to link them with job placement. A total of 126 young talents were employed by POSCO trading partner companies last year through the program which has the effect of securing excellent human resources while solving job problems in the local community.

▲ Job applicants (left) receiving Youth Dream job training and the graduates taking commemorative photos with CEO Jeong-Woo Choi after completing the training.

l Corporate Citizenship Friends

Corporate Citizenship Friends is a social contribution program launched in 2019 by employees of POSCO and POSCO’s partner companies to solve various social problems and take the lead in creating a warm community.

▲ Employees of POSCO and its partner companies at the Corporate Citizenship Friends Forest Creation event.

Last year, 4,000 hand sanitizers were delivered to public facilities, traditional markets, daycare centers, and welfare facilities in Pohang and Gwangyang to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in the local community. Through the good advance payment campaign, it has received great acclaim by revitalizing local businesses that have been depressed because of COVID-19. This year, considering social issues, POSCO plans to select ‘carbon neutrality’ and ‘resolving local community issues’ as the main themes and carry out activities.

▲ Corporate Citizenship Friends Volunteer Group (right) visiting Jungma Market in Gwangyang City to participate good advance payment campaign in 2020 and POSCO and its suppliers’ employees taking photos of advance payment campaign event at the Yeonil Market in Nam-gu, Pohang City, Gyeongsangbuk-do Province.

l POSCO ESG Purchase System

POSCO has newly established the POSCO ESG Purchase System to actively implement ESG management from the purchasing stage in line with the growing social demand for ESG management.

POSCO has established a vision of ‘becoming a leading global sustainable purchasing company’ and three action plans to achieve it.

①Selecting supplier from ESG perspective
For suppliers who wish to make new transactions, POSCO will give them entry qualifications after examining the basic ESG-related qualifications such as compliance with environmental and human rights regulations, and ethical management. For the existing suppliers, POSCO will strengthen the evaluation level of environmental certification or ESG-related activities to induce improvement and to limit supply if the evaluation is not satisfactory.

②Enhancing eco-friendly purchase
It plans to double the number of eco-friendly purchases to $2 billion by 2025 with the use of goods from a 3R perspective which is expanding recycling of waste resources(Recycle), reducing greenhouse gases and air pollution by purchasing energy-efficient and eco-friendly certificates(Reduce), and minimizing waste of resources by the reuse of materials(Reuse).

③Supporting suppliers’ ESG settlement activities
It operates a curriculum on ESG understanding and purchasing policy for small and medium-sized enterprises’ suppliers who still have a low understanding of ESG. It also added ESG compliance requirements to the ‘Supplier Code of Conduct’, which stipulates basic matters that suppliers should follow. In addition, the company is operating a ‘Shared Growth Support Group’ and an ‘Eco-friendly Consulting Support Group’ to provide support for suppliers to improve ESG-related issues, and will strengthen management to ensure suppliers comply with the *responsible mineral policy.

In addition, we plan to actively take the lead in implementing the management philosophy through POSCO’s ESG purchasing system in the future, such as holding the ‘Group company ESG purchasing council’ so that the group companies can practice ESG purchasing at the same level as POSCO.

l INNOVILT

INNOVILT, a combination of innovation, value, and built of building, is an integrated construction steel brand launched in November 2019 to promote steel premiumization in the earnest.

Among the steel building material customers’ products in which POSCO steel is 100% used, they are finally certified as INNOVILT products by comprehensively judging technology skills and marketability, and the company that manufactures INNOVILT certified products is called the INNOVILT Alliance. In other words, INNOVILT is a win-win platform that POSCO, along with steel construction companies, creates new values for the construction industry and grows together.

l GEM Matching Fund

It is the first global matching fund established between the mining and steel industries and GEM means ‘Go Extra Mile’, which embodies POSCO’s Corporate Citizenship philosophy, and also has the dictionary meaning of ‘jewel’.

The two companies contribute $100,000 annually in a 1:1 matching method to discover beneficiaries within the supplier’s nation and Korea, creating meaningful social values within the mining-steel industry value chain for two years at the intersection of the two countries. It is differentiated from simple donations, providing selective support for mine-linked scholarships, forest restoration projects in areas damaged by forest fires, and the use of education in cooperative companies and local communities where mines are located.

POSCO has expanded its support for both community environment and education projects by creating GEM matching funds with a total of seven raw material suppliers in Australia, the United States, and Brazil since it established its first fund (Opal) with Australian coal supplier Yancoal in 2019.

Representatively, POSCO is boosting symbiotic social values by contributing to carbon emission and fine dust reduction through forest restoration activities in areas damaged by forest fires in Gangwon-do and also by creating the classroom forests in elementary schools in downtown Seoul, while supporting Australian job training and mine employment. It plans to continue to create social and environmental values from the ESG perspective by expanding the GEM matching fund programs with global raw material suppliers.

So far, we have looked at the Together With POSCO brand and shared growth program. Lastly, let’s solve the remaining questions by listening to the stories of those in charge of taking the lead in promoting the brand and enhancing the shared growth program.

POSCO’s dream of creating social value with partner companies and co-prosperity with local communities will come true with the Five POSCO corporate citizenship Brands. Please look forward to the next episode of Challenge With POSCO brand.

I POSCO, we want to deliver a sincere message.

Recently, advertisements by Swedish carmaker Volvo have become a hot issue online. Volvo, famous for proving the robustness of the product through destructive safety tests, once again produced an advertisement titled ‘The Ultimate Safety Test’. The appearance of a polar region with a glacier in the intro raises the expectation that safety tests in dangerous situations will be carried out. However, with the scene of the glacier collapsing, the twist begins. Then the message says “Climate change is the ultimate safety test. That’s why we’re changing to all-electric”, clearly revealing Volvo’s future direction.

Volvo Cars is actually operating a carbon emission reduction action plan and is actively participating in a joint project to cope with climate change. “We are part of the problem of climate change, but we can also be part of the solution. We have a responsibility to act,” said Hanna Fager, Head of Corporate Functions at Volvo Cars. This is an example of the sincerity of the values and social responsibilities pursued by companies.

In addition, not long ago, a campaign video of a chair brand gained popularity on YouTube with more than 5.9 million cumulative views. The Fursys Group’s ‘Lean on’ campaign is a video showing the contents of social contribution activities that produce and send customized chairs to those in need, such as grandmothers of Hangeul University and street busking musicians. This campaign received enthusiastic responses and won the “2020 Consumers’ Choice Outstanding Ad” online category.

Philip Kotler, a professor emeritus at Northwestern University who is called the master of management, defines the phenomenon that the company’s brand itself has become an active act on social responsibility as ‘brand activism’. This is because the company that the public wants to work with is ‘a company that steadily delivers a genuine message through the brand’.

POSCO has also been steadily practicing since the declaration of its management philosophy as a “Corporate Citizenship” in 2018 and the announcement of its five major projects. If so, let’s take a closer look at what the Five POSCO Corporate Citizenship Brands are.

I The background of the birth of the Five POSCO Corporate Citizenship Brands

As the preamble of the Corporate Citizenship Charter states, ‘As a member of the social community, POSCO is seeking and practicing corporate-level roles to engage in addressing social issues and to create a better society’.

And after the declaration of management philosophy, in 2019, the six major projects were selected to make these activities easier for more people to understand and empathize with.

However, with the recent emphasis on ESG management, it has become more important to respond to climate change and communicate with stakeholders on the environment and safety. In addition, the scope of activities as corporate citizenship has been further expanded, such as promoting major projects suitable for the characteristics of POSCO as well as group companies and also generating results.

In this way, in March 2021, the Five POSCO Corporate Citizenship Brands were finally born.

I Intensive exploratory! the Five POSCO Corporate Citizenship Brands

In last December, as POSCO declared to achieve ‘2050 carbon neutrality’, Green With POSCO (a company you protect the environment with) was set as its signature brand, and Together With POSCO (a company you want to work with), Challenge With POSCO (a company you want to grow together with), Life With POSCO (a company you build a future together with), and Community With POSCO (a company you engage with for the local community) were designated as five major brands.

First, let’s take a look at Together With POSCO, ‘a company you want to work with’. POSCO shows its willingness to create a stronger supply chain and industrial ecosystem based on its experience of presenting a new paradigm for shared growth with business partners. The brand includes activities that pursue cooperation and win-win value with various stakeholders.

POSCO is carrying out a new level of shared growth activities to meet higher social expectations and flexibly cope with changes in the management environment. The major projects are Benefit Sharing (a system that shares the performance of POSCO and its partners), Open sourcing (suppliers can promote their products without visiting in person), and Steel Win-Win Fund (worth KRW 100 billion funds to overcome the COVID-19 crisis, providing liquidity to small and medium-sized enterprises). Especially, 897 company members signed up in the e-Catalog system which is an open sourcing business, 5,257 products were introduced, and 1,529 products were contracted for purchasing (July 2019 to present).

Next is Challenge With POSCO, ‘a company you want to grow together with’! It is a brand that shows its willingness to become a ‘company that wants to grow together with’ by discovering and nurturing promising venture companies. It aims to achieve change and innovation in society and industry as a driving force for POSCO Group’s innovation and sustainable growth.

POSCO has established startup incubation spaces and is providing places for startups, including ‘Seoul Change Up Ground’, a public–private partnership incubation center (Ministry of SMEs and Startups). It also incubated and accelerated 60 startups through venture platforms in 2020. It continues to build a virtuous circle venture platform by discovering promising venture companies twice a year and supporting the entire process of business from the idea stage to the business model establishment, investment, and follow-up management. POSCO utilizes POSCO Group’s business capabilities and resources in line with the Sustainable and low-carbon trends while working with partners with ideas to pursue “environment, sustainable city, production, and consumption.”

The signature brand, Green With POSCO, contains POSCO’s strong will to create ‘a company that protects the environment together’.

To achieve the target of ‘2050 Carbon Neutrality’, POSCO sets out a mid-to long-term target of 20% carbon reduction in 2030 and 50% in 2040. For now, it plans to optimize low carbon solutions that reduce carbon emissions that are already in use and apply low carbon technology step by step in the future. The first step is to improve energy efficiency and replace economically low carbon fuel materials, the second step is to upgrade scrap utilization and apply Carbon Capture Storage & Utilization (CCUS), and the third step is to develop existing FINEX-based hydrogen reduction and renewable energy-based low-carbon steel process.

POSCO not only develops technologies to realize Carbon Reduction but also carries out continuous communication and partnership activities with stakeholders. In addition, as a corporate citizen, it also actively participates in ‘My Little Challenge’, which can reduce carbon in his work and daily life.

Life with POSCO, ‘a company that makes the future together’, protects valuable values for employees such as safety, health, welfare, and education. POSCO strives to make Pohang and Gwangyang good cities to give birth to and raise children, and to provide various educational opportunities to develop the dreams of future generations.

‘1% Sharing Art School’, which helps to build dreams in culture and art, ‘Do Dream’, a program that supports teenagers in child welfare facilities to stand on their feet, and ‘Science Beyond Imagination’, an experience-based creativity lecture project that visits local schools in person are the major projects. Also, believing that ‘the future of young people is the future of a country’, POSCO aims to strengthen the employment capabilities of young people by operating ‘POSCO YOUTH DREAM’. It supports young people through academies to foster AI/Big Data-related talent and enter the industry, startup incubation schools for prospective startups, and Youth Sharing h, a job-linked program for small and medium-sized companies.

Community With POSCO, ‘a company you engage with for the local community’. POSCO perceived growing up with local communities as a corporate social responsibility from the beginning of its foundation. It plans to continue to present a model of coexistence and development around the hub area where POSCO Group’s business sites are located.

Currently, POSCO employees operate a total of 80 talent volunteer groups in Pohang, Gwangyang, and Seoul, participate in regional differentiated social contribution programs, practice sharing, and build trust with the local community by using work characteristics and specialties. It also operates free meal service centers in Pohang and Gwangyang and established a university student volunteer group ‘Beyond’ since 2007 to help regenerate farming and fishing villages and serve as a bridge between cities and villages.

In addition, it provides cultural contents of various genres that enhance the self-esteem of residents through classical music, musicals, and expert lectures such as POSCO Culture Concert, Kids Concert, and Year-End Concert. It also installed sculptures made with POSCO’s steel materials in Hwanho Park in Pohang and also installed sculptures that represent the local community in villages near Gwangyang Steel Works and strengthen solidarity with the local community.

I The power of a respected 100-year company comes from POSCO Corporate Citizenship!

Now, I think we should discover and promote activities that many people can sympathize with by utilizing the Five POSCO Corporate Citizenship Brands. As soon as the value of the five major brands that we practice and realize in person becomes POSCO’s corporate culture, won’t the public exclaim, ‘As expected, POSCO Corporate Citizenship!’ POSCO will continue to strive to help more people to participate and empathize with the five major brand activities of corporate citizenship. Concluding the story of the birth of the five major brands, we look forward to your continued interest and encouragement in “An easy-to-understand the Five POSCO Corporate Citizenship Brands’ story” that will be serialized in the future.

As “e-commerce” through online and mobile has become a trend due to Covid-19, warehouses are naturally increasing rapidly. In particular, the number of warehouses is increasing in the populous metropolitan area. I visited them myself because I heard that there are special warehouses.

As I left the Yangji IC in Yongin-si, Gyeonggi-do, saw a large building with purple and blue colors in the distance. From a distance, it looked no different from the other warehouses, but when I saw it up close, I could see the uniqueness of this warehouse.

My my oh my! The building, which I thought had only two colors from afar, was emitting a variety of colors, such as yellow, green, blue, and purple like a chameleon depending on the viewing angle and sunlight.

Yongin/ Yangji Distribution Center with ‘Chameleon Diamond Panel’ of M Steel LLC selected by the 3rd INNOVILT Brand Committee in 2020. M Steel’s chameleon diamond panel has a distinct feature that shows off many colors and is made of POSCO’s ternary alloy coated steel, PosMAC, with high corrosion resistance. The two distribution centers’ ordering company is Wonjin Logistics and the constructor is Seyoung Construction.

I wonder why a construction company Seyoung Construction adopted the ‘Chameleon Diamond Panel’ as its building material, and what the client, Wonjin Logistics thinks it’s good from the user’s point of view.

l Why ‘Chameleon Diamond Panel’?

Constructors who dig the ground, lay the foundation, and build the building should consider various aspects, including specialized design, quality, construct-ability, workers’ safety, and more.

The constructor Seyoung Construction, a construction company specialized in building warehouses, not only considered the cost and construction period as top priorities for all material choices, but also considered maintenance as an essential factor, choosing materials cautiously.

Yongin/Yangji Distribution Center located in Yongin-si was ordered in turn-key base contract, whereas the contractor is responsible for both designing and building. It is a large distribution center that has cold-storage facilities, making 50 billion won scaled orders, unlike in the past when orders were about 10 billion won.

As demand for warehouses has increased recently, it has emerged as an asset that even considers leasing and operation in the long run, and the industry is also changing to the structure of preoccupying the location and use of warehouses in advance by institutions or large trust companies. As the value of assets is standing out, more and more people are trying to supplement their functions by using good materials rather than constructing only based on cost alone and have special characteristics of buildings for investors.

▲Director Jong-Mun Lim of Seyoung Construction

Jong-Mun Lim, director of Seyoung Construction explained, “If you look at other distribution centers around, there are a few buildings that have already begun to look faded and rusted 5 to 6 years after construction. The chameleon diamond panel is said to be resistant to corrosion by coloring the PosMAC, and guarantees 20 years of durability and even discoloration. That’s the reason why I chose it as an exterior building material.

It has become a definite differentiation by applying chameleon diamond panels to the exterior, improving durability with no wave phenomenon, and giving a solid appearance with various color changes.

However, like two sides of the same coin, there are some bad things behind good things, the time for architectural review. Cities with a population of more than 1 million shall follow the colors set considering the aesthetics of the city under the Landscape Act.

Director Lim said, ”Since industrial districts in large cities usually prefer achromatic colors, it would have been okay if it were a general material but the reviewers and civil servants were embarrassed because it was metal color that was not well handled by them,” Lim said. “It could have been easier if a player with high recognition or high public confidence had moved, but we visited several times and kept explaining about the material to get an approval of using this material ” he explained the difficulty of the material approval process.

So far, more than 200 buildings have been applied with M Steel’s chameleon diamond panels, including warehouses, hotels, and coffee shops.

Gil-Soo Han, CEO of M Steel said, “Right now, our wish is to apply chameleon diamond panels to large warehouses in the northern port of Incheon, which are about to be built. It is particularly suitable for coastal characteristics (humidity, salinity, wind pressure, etc.).” “We plan to continue to apply chameleon diamond panels to the exterior of various buildings to make them new landmarks in each region,” he added.

l Build a distinctive identity with a differentiated appearance

Wonjin Logistics, the ordering company, had a thirst for a warehouse filled with their own distinction and identity while doing the logistics business and the moment they saw M Steel’s chameleon diamond panel, they thought, “This is it!”

Wonjin Logistics, a client who wanted a different characteristic from the existing standardized distribution center, used diamond chameleon panels instead of regular panels as exterior finishing materials and gave the distribution center an identity.

Wonjin Logistics said, “M Steel’s chameleon diamond panel’s color changing depending on light and angle of view was very eye-catching and we decided it after hearing that it was an INOVILT’s product that was officially proved to be excellent in POSCO’s raw materials.” “Thanks to its special appearance, it was born as a building where everyone looked back on, and we like it very much because it has an identity that reminds people of “Wonjin Logistics” when they think of that building even when they go down the street,” he said.

The result is complete satisfaction. Both distribution centers, which already have both large retailers, are successful in terms of operation and function, but they can also expect an increase in asset value as well.

Wonjin Logistics plans to additionally utilize the ‘Chameleon Diamond Panel’ as remodeling material for existing warehouses in order to have an identity of ‘Wonjin Logistics Warehouse’.

This M Steel episode is the result of INNOVILT Alliance’s efforts to pursue premium, the owner’s need to find identity, and the constructor’s need to make the drawing real.

‘Nae-Don-Nae-San’ reviews on INNOVILT will continue next time~~~

▲ On March 17, POSCO held a launching ceremony for the “Shared Growth Support Group” at Sinil Intec, Pohang. The Support Group will provide customized support for SMEs with POSCO’s professional capabilities. (From left) Ju-Tae Lee, POSCO Head of Purchasing and Investment Division, and Gyu-Sung Noh, CEO of Sinil Intec.

POSCO (CEO Jeong-Woo Choi) decided to apply its expertise and provide customized support for SMEs.

On March 17, POSCO held a launching ceremony for the “Shared Growth Support Group” at Sinil Intec, Pohang. POSCO and representatives of seven SMEs, including Dong Joo Industrial, Daiyang Metal Co., Ltd, Sinil Intec, Simpac Industries, IEN Hanchang, Intel Steel, and JU Korea Co., Ltd, were present at the event.

POSCO set on operating the Shared Growth Support Group taking into account two factors: 1) SMEs have difficulties securing new workforce or developing technologies, and 2) they each have different needs to strengthen competitiveness, thus requiring customized support.

At the event, Ju-Tae Lee, POSCO Head of Purchasing Investment Division, said, “We look forward to resolving the difficulties faced by SMEs and to seeing them take the next step forward.” He added, “POSCO will devise optimal plans based on cooperation with SMEs so that the provided consulting would be highly effective.”

With the launch of the Shared Growth Support Group, POSCO expects to fabricate a cycle of cost reduction and quality & productivity improvement in SMEs, which will eventually improve the competitiveness of the overall supply chain.

The support areas that POSCO Shared Growth Support Group offers is divided into the following four: 1) Building a Smart Factory, 2) Resolving ESG issues, 3) Improving the efficiency of equipment and energy, and 4) Introducing new technologies of the future. The Support Group is composed of qualified professionals with an average work experience of 25 years or more in relevant fields. They will look into the problems of the target SMEs fundamentally, find out the causes and ways for improvement together with SMEs, and eventually come up with a solution.

As for detailed support plans, POSCO will support establishing a smart work base and conducting related training with IT technologies, like AI and Big Data. In case of ESG issues, which has recently been emerging as a major issue of the industry, POSCO will analyze fundamental cause and derive improvement measures since it is difficult for SMEs to resolve these issues on their own. Furthermore, POSCO will utilize its specialized facility diagnostic equipment and discover signs of equipment failure and energy waste elements to provide an optimal working environment. POSCO technology will also be applied to SME sites for technology innovation and operational improvement.

In January, POSCO selected 14 companies after receiving recommendations from 28 companies wishing to participate in the consulting from relevant departments in charge of purchasing and sales, the Korea Federation of SMEs, and local governments. POSCO plans to conduct consulting for 7 companies in the first half of 2021.