1. #Winning – competitiveness and sustainability

POSCO was recently named the world’s most competitive steelmaker for the eighth consecutive year by World Steel Dynamics (WSD). POSCO again took home the gold with the highest scores in five categories including innovative technology, cost reduction, skill level of labor, restructuring and investment environment.

POSCO is the world’s most competitive steelmaker.

Not only did POSCO come out on top for competitiveness, the company was ranked 35th among the “Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations in the World in 2017,” by Toronto-based magazine and research firm Corporate Knights. The list was announced in early 2017 at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. This is the third consecutive year POSCO made the list with outstanding scores in safety, environment and the salary levels of employees.

2. Joining the trillion club

POSCO entered the trillion club twice in 2017 as it recorded USD 1.283 billion (KRW 1.365 trillion) of operating profits in the first quarter, and USD 1.0581 billion (KRW 1.1257 trillion) in the third quarter based on its consolidated operating profit. Even in the midst of global oversupply and governments opting for protectionist policies, POSCO’s profits were unscathed. Much of the credit is owed to the company’s steel and non-steel affiliates overseas with strong sales performances. The consolidated debt-to-equity ratio was the lowest since 2010 and the non-consolidated debt-to-equity ratio was at its lowest ever.

POSCO recorded an operating profit over KRW 1 trillion in the first and third quarter of 2017.

To add, international credit rating agency S&P upgraded POSCO’s BBB-plus credit rating outlook to “stable” last February, and Moody’s also upgraded POSCO’s long-term corporate credit rating outlook to “positive” on October 26.

3. Everything’s bigger in…POSCO

Last June, after 102 days of repair, Pohang Blast Furnace No.3 became the world’s fifth-largest blast furnace. Its internal volume expanded from 4350㎥ to 5600㎥, allowing the super-sized blast furnace to put out 15,000 tons of molten metal daily. POSCO currently operates five super-sized blast furnaces, or blast furnaces sized 5500㎥ or larger.

Pohang Blast Furnace No. 3 under construction.

POSCO further upgraded Pohang Blast Furnace No.3 by adding in AI capabilities. It is now equipped with smart technology that can control the internal state of the blast furnace automatically, and smart sensors can now predict accidents before they happen, extending the lifespan of the furnace. Furthermore, POSCO plans to collect big data from the blast furnace and use it to develop fully smart blast furnaces in the future.

4. The smarter the better

Since his taking up the CEO position in 2014, POSCO CEO Ohjoon Kwon has repeatedly expressed his vision for securing future competitiveness through smart solutions. The company even started a smartization training course for employees and held the Smart POSCO Forum 2017 last July to share its insights and progress with clients and affiliates.

POSCO is gaining a competitive edge through smart solutions. (Source: Global Trade Magazine)

Moreover, POSCO also supported a smart talent training project customized for SMEs. The program included job training for AI and big data application technologies. Going forward, POSCO plans to build a “Smart Industry” to increase steel competitiveness and create new business opportunities with new, smart technologies.

SEE ALSO: How Factories Produce Steel- the Smart Way

5. Getting in on electric vehicles

The market for electric vehicles (EVs) is an exciting one with so many companies investing in new technologies. POSCO also hopes to extend its customized material and technology solutions to EV manufacturers. Last October, the company held the Global EV Materials Forum to showcase four of its core business areas: lightweight bodies, batteries, motors and charging infrastructure. More than 380 clients took part in the forum to learn about emerging trends and POSCO’s products and services including POSCO GIGA STEEL and commercially produced lithium batteries for EVs.

POSCO is a solutions provider for EV manufacturers. (Source: Bloomberg)

6. POSCO’s new marketing approach

For the first time ever, POSCO created and aired a TV commercial highlighting a specific product, instead of its corporate brand. This marks POSCO’s first B2C marketing effort and features the company’s innovative auto steel, POSCO GIGA STEEL. The commercial compares POSCO GIGA STEEL to aluminum, another widely-used lightweight material in a visual demonstration so that everyday drivers can better understand the benefits of a stronger yet lighter material.

7. Going for 10 million tons of automotive steel

On April 26, POSCO completed 7CGL, a new steel production facility in Gwangyang, Korea, designed exclusively for the production of POSCO GIGA STEEL. 7CGL has an annual capacity of 500,000 tons and is the world’s first plant capable of producing both 1.5 giga-level galva-annealed (GA) and galvanized (GI) steel sheets.

POSCO Completed 7CGL on April 26, 2017. (Source: Business Korea)

In addition, POSCO managed to reduce investment funds and secure cost competitiveness by designing and constructing 7CGL’s core facilities based on accumulated facility technologies and operating know-how. The 7CGL is POSCO’s 12th plant exclusively for automotive steel sheets, and POSCO aims to sell 10 million tons of automotive steel in 2018 globally.  

8. Setting new records with high manganese

POSCO became the first company in the world to commercialize the technology for producing high manganese using fusible ferroalloys. The technology took KRW 5.5 billion of research and development costs and four years to complete.

POSCO is the first company in the world to commercialize its high manganese production technology. (Source: Eramet)

The core part of POSCO’s high manganese production process is PosLM (POSCO Liquid Manganese), a special holding furnace that stores manganese ferroalloys in a fusible state. POSCO’s technology reduces the production time for high manganese steel by more than 50 percent as well as increases slab production efficiency. PosLM was jointly researched and developed by the Institute of Technology and POSCO M-tech.

9. Bringing home the lithium

On February 7, POSCO opened its PosLX (POSCO Lithium Extraction) plant with an annual capacity of 2,500 tons. The plant is the first plant in Korea capable of commercial lithium production. The technology took 7 years to perfect, but it was well worth it. The production process for high purity lithium now takes just 3 months, compared to the previous 12 to 18 months.

POSCO is making lithium extraction more efficient and sustainable. (Source: Mining)

In the past, Korean manufacturers imported the entire quantity of lithium they needed. With POSCO’s PosLX plant, partners now have access to a local supply of lithium. Moreover, POSCO plans to use lithium phosphate extracted from wasted secondary batteries as raw materials, in keeping with the company’s sustainability standards.

POSCO will continue building on a successful 2017 in the new year, by tackling new challenges and continuing to provide its partners with customized and optimal solutions in all business areas.

Cover photo courtesy of Hitech Building Solutions.

SMK has been held biennially since 2010 and is an exhibition that highlights steel and nonferrous metals. The event receives great attention globally for its focus on metal materials but also on other technological aspects, including tubing, piping, metallurgy technology, equipment, and the metal business.

By participating in SMK for four consecutive years, POSCO has experienced the accompanied growth of small business participants through close interaction. Through exhibiting the high technical skills it maintains as the leading domestic steel company, POSCO has also contributed to the growth of small businesses.

For this year, POSCO set up a booth at the convention with four different zones, all under the concept of attracting visitors. The booth introduced how WP products can be used in daily life through differentiated exhibitions.

Introducing POSCO’s world-class steel technology

Visitors could experience how WP products could be used in different industries through the divided zones: “Automotive”, which revealed how WP products could be applied to an automobile’s interior and exterior, “Living”, which showed customers how to get acquainted with WP products for daily home use along with “Infra” (infrastructure), which is meant to increase and encourage customer partnerships.

The last and most popular area was the “Hero” zone, which allowed visitors to experience a 360-degree view of the complete steel production process through VR. The footage showed everything from loading and unloading raw materials, to shipping the products.

Since the Automotive zone displayed cars made from POSCO steel sheets, it was possible for consumers to see the technology applied to both the interiors and exteriors of the cars. Models that were displayed included the POSCO Body Concept-Electric Vehicle (PBC-EV), Renault’s Chassis and SM6 BIW (Body in White), as well as examples from MG. All models were manufactured with high-strength body and chassis parts from POSCO.

The company brought car body parts to the exhibition, and incorporated them to show which areas of the automobiles used their special steel sheets. The exhibition also drew the highest attention because of an inclined display, which showed how the inner dynamics of the car would appear as if it were driving on a hill.

The Living zone had a setting modeled after a real home, introducing WP products for daily life usage. Visitors could see the premium home appliances and household products made from POSCO steel in each room of the house, including the living room, utility room, study room and kitchen.

Widely used POSCO WP products were displayed in each room: a washer and an air conditioner in the utility room, a refrigerator, sink, and cooking tools in the kitchen, a computer and a printer in the study room and a TV in the living room.

The Infra zone helped visitors have a better understanding of the principles behind making stronger and safer construction sites, LGN carriers and suspension bridges with POSCO’s structural steel products, such as PosCozy, PosMAC and UL700. Visitors could touch the products, including high manganese, high damping steel and cable bridges that prevent noise between floors. The exhibition also compared POSCO’s steel products to products made from average steel, to help visitors experience the true quality of the company’s premium steel.

Lastly, the Hero zone was highlighted as the most future-oriented space at SMK 2016. The VR component provided a realistic and exciting video tour of the production process at the steelworks – a 360-degree video and immersive sound experience made viewers feel as if they were actually standing in the center of the steelworks.

Besides the featured products in the Hero zone, visitors could also enjoy the kinetic art performance that took place every 30 minutes in the center of the exhibition space. This performance utilized POSCO’s stainless steel in the form of wires, showcasing a fluid steel movement show with a background of beautiful music.

POSCO displayed yet another substantial and high-quality exhibition at SMK 2016, and we are already looking forward to seeing what the company has in store for the next time around.

POSCO to Use VR Content to Promote Its Steel Products and Exceptional Manufacturing Process

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Visiting Every Corner of Downtown on a Wheelchair 

Mr. You is a new employee of POSCO-Humans WithPlus. Although he has been working for POSCO for only 3 months, he is already very famous and is often interviewed by various mediums, including a TV station and a daily newspaper. Mr. You’s popularity is largely due to his volunteering work ‘Drawing Travel Map for the Disabled’ at the Miral Welfare Foundation. Let’s look into what his voluntary work is all about!

Since last year, volunteers from the Miral Welfare Foundation have been directly visiting Seoul’s key subway stations and attractions in an attempt to analyze accessibility of these places in the shoes and eyes of the disabled. Mr. You’s role within this project is to wheel around the city in a wheelchair and take a note of amenities and necessary information for the disabled. Then the collected information (e.g. subway station exits with an elevator, toilet designed for the disabled, commuting distance between the stations, etc.) is marked on the map to provide useful information to the disabled at a glance.

Out in the Street on Behalf of the Disabled

Mr. You is participating in the project once in every one or two months. It might not be easy for him to move around every corner of Seoul on a wheelchair. Despite the difficult condition, the motivation that drives him on the street, is his wish to complete a map that includes every little elements of inconvenience that only the disabled could experience.

When he is on the road for the map project, he scans the geographic features while strictly maintaining his view as the disabled. Therefore, he is able to include even the small details that non-disabled were easy to miss before. For instance, he found out with his own perspectives that an old sewer drain – shaped in a square figure – can dislocate the front wheels of a wheelchair.

Finding hope at the end of despair

Because of his benign mind, Mr. You appears to be a young man who has always been very bright and positive. However, he also had suffered from a severe depression after his sudden accident that caused the lower body paralysis. The fact that he needs to live the rest of his life on a wheelchair led him to a serious frustration. However, as he started to play wheelchair fencing, he became a different person. His passion grew further as he won several medals from the National Sports Games and finally revived his confidence to finish his undergraduate degree.

His Life at POSCO

Since last May, he has been in charge of POSCO Help account as an enthusiastic new member of the IT service group. In fact, he had applied for a number of companies upon his college graduation, but the job market was certainly not lenient for him because of his severe disability. In the midst of the job search, he happened to visit POSCO Humans booth in Seoul Job Fair for the disabled. After he completed the process of application and interviews, he was proudly accepted as a member of POSCO.

His Warm Heart Goes On 

The biggest support that lifted him to the society again was his peers at his wheel chair fencing center. “I was inspired by the peers who play wheelchair fencing because everyone was happily married and actively participating in their career despite their disabilities”, said Mr. You. As numerous people inspirited him, he expressed his desire to share the same love and support for others now.

“Although I have to try a little harder than most of the people but I believe that nothing is impossible. I will continue to work harder on my wheelchair so that I can be more helpful to others!”

Despite having a handicapped body himself, Mr. You has been leading by example to create a map for those who are more in need of help. If you support Mr. You’s warm-heartedness and selfless contributions, why don’t we give a big round of applause?

Shape Memory Alloys(SMAs): Now a Part of Our Daily Life

SMAs which were originally developed for military applications, are now used in various contexts. One typical example of a non-military application of it is the shape memory bra wire.

Once your glasses frames are made of SMAs, you won’t need to worry about breaking them either! While old bra wires were frequently damaged in the washer, shape memory bra wires prevent this problem as they have more than 10 times the elasticity of old wires and can return to their original shapes even after being bent, when in contact with the surface of the skin.

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How were SMAs first discovered?

SMAs were first discovered at the US Naval Ordnance Laboratory in 1964 while researchers were attempting to develop a new material capable of immediate repair, to use in the building of submarines. In the process of developing this material, researchers coincidentally noticed a shape memory effect from a nickel-titanium alloy. This alloy became known as ‘nitinol’, named after nickel and titanium. Currently, nitinol is widely applied in objects we use in our daily life, such as cars, glasses frames and teeth straightening wires.

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High Strength Steel Wire: the 1cm Long Wire that can Lift Up an Entire Tank 

How heavy do you think a military tank is? A tank weighs around 60 tons. 60 tons equals weighs the same as 10 African elephants and 1,000 adults put together. At this point, can you believe the fact that a 1cm thick wire could lift up a tank? Well you should, because a 1cm thick high strength steel wire made out of amorphous alloys constructed by a mixture of steel and chrome, can definitely lift up a tank!

In addition, as this wire is effective against corrosion, it can also be used for chemical fuel tanks. Amorphous alloys which are the raw material of these wires, have been frequently used to create audio and video heads as they are effective against abrasion and have strong magnetic properties. Since heads made of amorphous alloys are protected from corrosion and abrasion, they stay in good condition for as long as we wish to listen and watch!

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What are ‘high strength steel wires’ and ‘amorphous alloys’?

‘Amorphous alloys’ – yes, the vocabulary isn’t easy, but this is exactly why we’re going to explain these words to you! An amorphous alloy can be obtained by quickly cooling a molten alloy. Amorphous metals have much more strength than metals with crystalline structures, and possess impressive durability of abrasion and magnetic properties.

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Metal Fiber: Created by Nano Technology and Thinner than Hair!

Would it be possible to create a piece of clothing with metal? For those of you who don’t think so, we present to you the ‘metal fiber’, which fulfills the most important qualities needed in clothes such as durability, absorptivity and wearability. The modern day metal fiber was created in the 1960s during the development of a new material for spacesuits. Metal fiber is not yet appropriate as everyday clothing material as it is heavy compared to normal fiber and has high thermal conductivity. However, due to its heat-resisting property, it is still used to produce military uniforms and gas masks. In 2001, Japan presented a maternity dress made out of metal fiber, which blocked out radioactivity.

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Let’s Learn More About Metal Fiber

Metal fibers are fibers made by the special machining of metals such as silver, steel and aluminum. They can be categorized into micro metal fiber and ultrafine metal fiber, depending on their diameter. Metal fibers are even thinner than human hair, which has the average thickness of 100㎛ (100 micrometre).

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Shadow Masks: Increase the Definition of Large-Screen Color TV

Most of us were probably stuck at home or work during the recent Brazil World Cup! Thanks to our high-definition TVs, we were able to feel as if we were actually at the stadium watching the matches in real life. What type of ‘steel’ is used in these large-screen color TVs that simply seem to get better and better?

First of all, we need to know that what we see on the TV screen is the projection of an image created by the red, green and blue beams penetrating the shadow mask. The shadow mask is a metal plate punched with tiny holes, which lies behind the front glass of the screen. Three electron guns at the back of the screen sweep across the mask, while the beams only reach the screen if they pass through the holes on the plate. If the shadow mask fails to perform its task, we cannot expect vibrant colors due to color spreading. In addition, the thermal expansion of a shadow mask could cause colors to appear incorrectly as the positions of the holes would change due to the expansion.

The larger the TV screen, the more important the role of a shadow mask. The reason we can see clear images despite the large sizes of TV screens is because steel used to make shadow masks have been continuously developed. Like this, steel has always been evolving to change our lives in different and unexpected ways.

These various uses of steel has long gone beyond our imagination and its influence over industries is still growing. Currently, we live in a world molded by the evolution of steel. POSCO can’t wait to see how steel will evolve in the future!

POSCO delivers its corporate vision and entity in a realistic form in print advertisement which has a rational characteristic with high information delivery functionality, while emotional images of win-win relationships and communication are the focus of TV advertisements.

With the main catch phrase of “POSCO is with anyone,” the POSCO ‘entity’ series advertisement promotes ‘POSCO’ as a company that provides basic products in our everyday lives through the steel, material, and energy businesses, with a layout arranging selections of moments when POSCO products and technology are used within various lifestyles of all generations to generate empathy.

Vice President Eun-yeon Hwang commented, “We tried to show that POSCO is in our everyday lives: in a TV made with POSCO’s steel technology, a wheelchair made of a light magnesium material, a magnesium fry pan which is light and harmless to the body, a flexible tablet PC made of grapheme, and LED lights in the study.  I hope that the advertisement which tells the success story of POSCO as a comprehensive material company can generate empathy from many people.”

Meanwhile, POSCO, which has been recognized as a reliable company serving a pivotal role in the nation’s economic development since establishment, started advertisement communication activities to generate an intimate corporate image starting in the year 2000.

 The ‘Without Steel’ campaign was the start of public advertisement communication themed with the usability of steel in everyday life, which was followed by continuous advertising campaigns focusing on win-win relationships and communication as main themes to heighten the images of corporate reliability and friendliness.