Sindoricoh Going Global to Secure Competitive Edge
- CEO Chairman Woo designated as winner of the industrial merit order

Woo Suk-hyung, CEO-chairman of Sindoricoh, has become one of the recipients of the Order of Industrial Merit, Gold Tower which were awarded during the recent 2004 Trade Day ceremony, in recognition of his contribution of the domestic export industry. Sindoricoh Chairman Woo is a second-generation recipient to take the coveted honor following his late father's footsteps. The late Sindoricoh chairman Woo Sang-ki won the order in 1997. Behind Sindoricoh's rapid growth is Sindoricoh Chairman Woo who took over the helm of the company from his father in 1986.
Sindoricoh has not been complacent with the fact that the company basks in a more than 50 percent share of the domestic market. The company, which has put more energy into exploring overseas markets, now sees the percentage of exports in sales surpassing the 70 percent mark.
On top of the existing exports to Japan, Sindoricoh started the laser printer business with Lexmark International, a U.S. leading developer, manufacturer and supplier of printing solutions in 2001. Sindoricoh has since witnessed exports to the United States doubling during the period between 2001 and 2002. Sindoricoh's entry into the printer industry has helped the company shed off the previous corporate image of Sindoricoh specializing in copiers and facsimiles. In 2002, the company declared its new corporate identity as a leading digital and network company.
"DGwox," a digital copier, developed by Sindoricoh with its own technology in September last year, has made a strong showing in exports. Sindoricoh, which registered exports worth $230 million last year, is projected to top $390 million this year. Given the projection, Sindoricoh is expected to see exports growing at a whopping rate of 71.5 percent, about twice a projected average rate of 38.5 percent for the Korean export industry. Its focus on exports has raised the ratio of exports to domestic sales to 70 percent from 30 percent.
Sindoricoh exports mainstay products like digital copiers, laser printers and document classifiers, to about 40 countries, including Japan, the Americas and Europe.
CEO-Chairman Woo has stressed that the company could retain the leading position on the domestic front only when it gains recognition in terms of technology and quality in the world market with borderless, limitless competition. Sindoricoh, which has been already recognized as a company with technology prowess, has maintained a close partnership with world-class companies. Sindoricoh has a global mindset on quality management as the company has maintained business ties as the supplier of such key digital office equipment and laser printers for world-class partners, he added. Early this year, Sindoricoh landed an additional $300 milliosn export contract, while the company is assured a deal with Ricoh of Japan to export next-generation digital office equipment. Ricoh is engaged in global-scale activities like the development, production, marketing, after-sales service, and recycling of office equipment, including copiers and printers, information equipment, optical devices, and other electronic equipment, in five regions around the world.
Chairman Woo has attached priority on cultivating human resources as much as acquiring technology. The company has conducted overseas training for its staff members to the extent that more than 10 percent of its staff is always staying abroad. Long-standing employees are given the chance to make observation tours to foreign countries every year. Under the perspective "Investments in Recession for a Booming Season," the company has anted up its outlays into in-house training. Since its inception in 1960, Sindoricoh has nourished three spirits - love for the nation, work and human beings. The chairman has grafted culture into his management in which a factory is decorated like a garden to spur staff's creativity and an in-house gallery is opened. Sindoricoh Chairman Woo has emphasized that investments into culture mean advance investment for the future and the success of the corporation depends on how it gains the synergetic effects in value-added accruing from the cultural sector.
Sindoricoh has been engaged in outside and company wide eco-friendly activities after declaring the year 2003 the start of an environmental campaign, dubbed "Greenwave." For the cause, the company has doled out gift certificates as part of its efforts to recover waste toner cartridges under the Sindoricoh Return Program (SRP).
Sindoricoh has activated the "Innowave" system, an advanced management innovation program in a bid to conduct a company wide, extensive process innovation drive aimed at improving management efficiency and corporate transparency.
Recently, Sindoricoh has moved its production base to Qingtao, China. The company expects the Qingtao plant to serve as a platform to leap into a global powerhouse, company officials said. The 330,000 square-meter plant, put into operation as a global production base in October last year, is trying to upgrade the competitive edge of its products - laser printers and supplies, and auxiliary devices for copier-printer-facsimile convergence machines. nw