Birth of Hyundai Steel

Former INI Steel also has new CI in becoming an integrated steel maker

Hyundai Steel Co. held its founding ceremony on March 13 with the INI Steel Co. changing its name to Hyundai Steel and a new corporate identity to hoist its image as an integrated steel maker, the company announced. The ceremony took place at Grand Inter-Continental Hotel in Seoul with some 300 foreign and domestic dignitaries and company officials attending.
The electric-furnace steel maker first launched its operation in 1953 and became a leader in the industry producing a wide range of steel products including H-type steel sections and steel rods, the second largest electric furnace steel maker in the world. In 2004, the steel company took over Hanbo Steel, which went belly-up in 1998 and further diversified its steel products including hot-coil steel plates as part of its effort to become an integrated steel mill.
The company name change became necessary as the company reached a point where the construction of an integrated steel plant complex will be launched in the Dangjin area in South Chungchong Province this year, changing the image of the company. The new steel plant is scheduled to be completed in 2010 with the capacity to produce over 10 million tons of steel products including steel plates with the import substitute effect running up to more than 4 trillion won per year and creating 170,000 jobs, making a great contribution to the national economy.
The company thought that the former company name had the limit to its strategy to grow to be a leading steel company in the world. The name Hyundai was chosen because it will convey a simple and delightful message to the world for the new integrated steel mill. Also, late founder Chung Ju-yung of the Hyundai Group used the same name for a steel plant he planned to build in 1977 and contains the desire for the Hyundai Motor Group to launch a steel plant project for the past 30 years.
Hyundai Steel is promoting a plan to produce steel plates for automobiles better than those used on world famous brand name cars like BMW and Lexus of Toyota Motors from its projected steel plant in Dangjin.
At the ceremony, Hyundai Steel displayed its new corporate identity flag and the new company song. The new company flag showed the letter "H" as the symbol mark in blue, to express the company's challenging and reformative spirit and harmony.
The company said the letter "H"signified high spirit, harmony, and humanity. The stems on both sides of the letter represented the company's old and new businesses, enterprise and customer, while the bridge in the middle signified a balanced meeting and integration in the future growth of the company.
The blue color becomes brighter at the top of the flag to show that Hyundai Steel is a leading company in the industry backed up its high-tech and reliability to open a bright future environment with the blue print.
Hyundai Steel traces its history back to 1953 when the Daehan Heavy Industrial Corp. was launched before changing its name to Inchon Heavy Industrial Corp. in 1962, with the privatization of the company. From 1964, it was known as Inchon Steel. In 2000, the company took over Kangwon Industry and Sammi Special Steel to beef up its operation as a professional steel producer. In 2001, the company's name was changed to INI Steel when it became a member of the Hyundai Motor Group, doffing off the name that had been used for 37 years.
In 2004, the company took over the Hanbo Steel as part of its strategy to become an integrated steel maker, with its name changed to Hyundai Steel to show its strong challenge to become an integrated steel maker.
In 2005, the company recorded 5.5 trillion won in sales with operating profit running to 506.9 billion won, registering more than 10 percent in operating profit for three years in a row.
This year, the steel maker plans to record over 1 trillion won in normal profit and 5.2 trillion won in sales to become a global steel maker. nw

(Left photo)Dignitaries toast to celebrate the birth of Hyundai Steel Co. at a ceremony.
Vice Chairman Lee Yong-do waves the flag of Hyundai Steel with new corporate identity logo.