EWP Honored for
Technology Innovations

Credited with having made management innovations and tech localization

Korea East-West Power (EWP) has been awarded with the 2006 Korea Technology Innovation Management Grand Prize in the public company category in recognition of management innovations and localization of technologies.
Organizers of the 2006 Korea Technology Innovation Management Awards said EWP was presented with the award in recognition of its continuous efforts to purse technology innovations in a bid to create a sustainable growth model during an award-presenting ceremony held on January 12. Open Management Research Inc. and Korea Economic Daily organized the 2006 Korea Technology Innovation Management Awards, and 100 enterprises and 10 public companies participated in this year's competition.
EWP has put into practice the Six Sigma management innovation system to overhaul work procedures. Field quality control activities, linked with its management strategies, have led to an management improvement worth 43 billion won.
The company has established a mid- and long-term technology innovation plan, dubbed the 2004 through 2013 EWP Technical Road Map, designed to localize core technologies possessed by foreign power companies. EWP plans to earmark some 300 billion won in R&D outlays by 2013 with the goal of developing the company into a global top seven technology powerhouse.
To this end, EWP has designed six core technology areas, including new energy, power equipment improvement, power generation control, environmental management and construction. The company is working on 34 technology development subjects and 137 innovation tasks. Thanks to its continuous technology innovation efforts, EWP has secured technological competitiveness by successfully localizing core equipment and technologies. The company has played a part in contributing to boosting Korea? competitive edge and saving foreign currency payments by localizing design, production and operation technologies of major control equipment, supplied by foreign companies, and the control system at the central control room of each power plant.
These efforts have paid off: EWP ranked in 2.1 trillion won in sales, an increase of 180 billion won from 1.9 trillion won in 2003 with a rise of 100 billion won in operating income.
An EWP official commented, "Today's achievements were thanks to management's full support for R&D investments and employees'concerted efforts."The company has set its sights on strategically developing six core area technologies and realizing a vision of making it a "Great Company."EWP was spun off from Korea Electric Power Corp. in 2001 as a part of the Korean government's electric power restructuring plan. At that time, EWP was the only power company to be in the red. However, a 2,000 staff has joined forces and transformed itself into a strong company through management innovations. The Dangjin thermal Power Plant serves as the company's central power provider. EWP are also currently operating six other power plants: Ulsan thermal power plant, Honam thermal power plant, Donghae thermal power plant, Ilsan combined-cycle plant and Sancheong pumped storage power plant. Three more Dangjin power units, each capable of producing 500,00 kW of electricity are under construction.
The power generation capacity currently operating is 8,000,000kW, which is equivalent to 13 percent of the total electric power capacity of Korea. EWP and all of our employees strive to provide the nation with low-priced and high quality power.
The electric power industry in Korea has undergone through fast and profound changes. The industry has recently been converted from a government controlled monopolistic system, which was maintained for the past 40 years, to a competitive market-based system.
EWP will make every effort to provide our customers with high-quality electricity based on a market competitive system. The company is committed to improving and upgrading its operations to ensure that EWP will become the national leader both in terms of efficiency and customer satisfaction, company officials said. nw

EWP CEO Lee Yong-oh

Woo Jong-chun, head of the technology division at Korea East-West Power, is awarded with the 2005 Korea Technology Innovation Management Grand Prize in the public company category.