Toray Saehan Gains Reputation for Quality Management
- Striving to develop it into a global leader with a competitive edge

True to its corporate motto of "Contributing to the Community through Creative Management," Toray Saehan Inc., a large-scale and private- sector investment from Japan, has put construction of world-class business administration and quality management infrastructure on a pedestal.
All staff members' active participation in the cause has been thrust into the public limelight once again. Toray Saehan won the coveted Korea Quality Grand Award during the 30th National Quality Management Convention, organized by the Korea Standards Association on Nov. 19.
On the occasion of Toray Saehan's being awarded with the quality award, Lee Young-kwan, president of Toray Saehan Inc., said his company will redouble efforts to reinforce quality management in a bid to ensure mutual prosperity through trusted relationship with clients and a world-class competitive edge in the global chemical materials industry.
Since its establishment of Toray Saehan as a joint venture between Japan's Toray Inc. and Korea Saehan Inc. in 1999, the company has attached management priority on building up a quality control infrastructure, based on a consensus that it is aimed at raising the competitiveness of its core business areas -polyester base film, IT materials, resins and chemical fiber products - and expanding to new growth sectors.
All staff members of Toray Saehan have proactively joined forces in the companywide drive in a continuous manner. Helped by management's eagerness and leadership, Toray Saehan has created a corporate culture focusing on on-the-spot quality control with the participation of all staff members and execution-based leadership. The company has taken pains to ensure an open and transparent management through consensus by disclosing its business performances and holding strategic meetings along with labor union, while trying to cultivate an organizational culture of harmony and trust. Starting with a defect-free campaign under the corporate backdrop, Toray Saehan has developed a comprehensive quality management drive. Introduction of integrated facility management and technology governing quality improvement making the most of group meetings and recommending improvement proposals, has brought about a sharp drop in the defect rate, and adoption of value engineering has contributed to improved functions of products and a reduction in unit costs.
Toray Saehan has witnessed innovative productivity though comprehensive productivity renovation activities and improved facility productivity and quality service for clients by introducing comprehensive facility management and quality improvement techniques. The company has also made strenuous efforts to ensure satisfaction for employees, clients and its subcontractors as it had put into practice such systems and "CT," "Suggestion Circle" and "Green Leader" under the action plan of the new management program.
As a chemical materials company in the process industry, Toray Saehan has systematized all responsibilities, organization and management ranging from landing orders, design, purchase, production, quality control and services. All process is covered under the computer integrated manufacturing framework, while processing management, analysis and trouble tracking systems are in place in accordance with diverse statistical concepts like Multivariate Analysis.
The company operates integrated business administration systems centering with ERP system, while diverse educational programs are being conducted in a bid help employees improve their standards in search for achieving duty goals. Toray Saehan has implemented what it calls a "3-Free Workplace" policy, accident-free, pollution-free and defect-free.
Thanks to these efforts, Toray Saehan has become the first company in the chemical fiber industry to be awarded with ISP-9001, ISO-14001, OHSAS-18001 certificates. Toray Saehan is also the industry-first recipient of a environment-friendly certificate from the Ministry of Environment.
The company has made strenuous efforts to ensure environmental protection and energy conservation by taking into account such factors when it install facilities and import processing systems and using pollution-free liquefied natural gas. As a result, the percentage of energy costs to sales has declined from 9.2 percent in 1999 to 6.1 percent in 2004, the level of developed countries. On the technology development front, Toray Saehan is collaborating with the global powerhouse, Toray on the development of products, while benefiting from synergetic effects brought about by Toray's global marketing activities. Toray Saehan conducts human resources cultivation programs aimed at raising competency of staff members, mainly responsible for quality control activities, while trying to strengthen internal empowerment by establishing the guideline for role models of leadership and leadership capabilities.
Take into business performances during the period between 2000, the first year since its establishment, and 2003. Toray Saehan saw sales rising 25 percent, gross margin climbing by 33 percent and ordinary profits soaring by 831 percent. During that period, Toray Saehan witnessed labor productivity rising 9 percent, the breakdown rate dropping by 44 percent, products with a high value soaring by 113 percent, intellectual property patents climbing by 850 percent and cost reduction amounts standing at more than 10 billion won and no industrial accident reported.
Under the motto "Existence of Toray Saehan Depends on Clients," the company has built up a customer satisfaction system under which customer satisfaction surveys are conducted on tope of sharing information with clients. As a result, the customer satisfaction index has increased from 62.3 percent in 1994 to 72.5 percent in 2002 to 73.6 percent in 2004, while the company's products like film, non-woven fabrics and raw fabrics have a competitive edge compared to their rivals'.
Toray Saehan is striving to secure a world-class competitiveness by upgrading the quality of manpower, work process and products, while trying to make a profit-taking stance in the mid- and long-term perspective by building up a knowledge-based infrastructure. All staff members continue to push innovative activities to leap into a global chemical material leader by developing its own suitable management renovation models and ensuring customer satisfaction and pushing for the staff's active participation in the Six-Sigma management program. nw