KPS Strives to Be Innovative
Sets out the so-called customer-oriented blue ocean strategy

Korea Plant Service & Engineering Co. Ltd. (KPS) was founded in 1974 as subsidiary of the Korea Electric Power Corp. (KEPCO) in charge of maintenance services for power and industrial plants across the nation.
True to its corporate mission of "creating the value of customers and contributing to society through excellent services,"KPS is now credited with having upgraded its maintenance technologies and services to global standards through the efficient maintenance and management of power generation facilities and industrial equipment with a combined 60 million kW. Thanks to its efforts, KPS, Korea's top-notch company specializing in the maintenance of power generation facilities, has turned to overseas markets for exporting maintenance technologies.
On top of Korea Social Responsibility and Management Grand Prize and the Regional Society Development Grand Prize in the Social Contribution Category, KPS had the honor of receiving numerous prizes last year. The company became the fist public corporation to receive the Excellent Quality Competition Prize for the seventh straight year, and it was also the recipient of such awards as Korea Customer Satisfaction Grand Prize, Customer Service Innovation Award and Grand Prix in CS Leadership Category.
Korea's maintenance technology for power generation facilities, including those for hydroelectric, thermal power and nuclear power, stands at 95 percent of that of advanced countries. The maintenance technology self-sufficiency rate is considered to be quite high, given the reality that the nation has a wide range of power components and equipment imported from several countries enough to be called the so-called power equipment exhibition.
Since the 1990s, domestic power generation facilities, whose maintenance is in KPS's charge, have been operated at about 95 percent in Capacity Factor, surpassing those in the United States, Japan and other advanced countries.
KPS engineers have been dispatched as supervisors to maintenance sites in not only the Philippines, India and other Asian countries but also advanced countries, including the United States and Australia, enhancing Korea's technology profile abroad.
What makes KPS competitive, then's Fist of all, KPS CEO-President Ham Yoon-sang cites excellent manpower. He said in an interview with a magazine, "KPS maintenance personnel are equipped with prominent capabilities to maintain a wide range of power components and equipment imported from several countries. The maintenance expertise and technologies KPS has acquired for the past 22 years are the company's precious assets."KPS operates 270 programs for training employees per annum, including in-house programs being offered not only at KPS Integrated Training Institute and Nuclear Power Training Institute but also those commissioned to outside training institutes and such foreign countries as Westinghouse, ABB and GE.
Currently, about 8,000 KPS employees undergo training programs annually, and KPS sets aside 6 billion won or 1.4 percent of its annual sales in the training budget.
KPS has been put more energy into ensuring top-quality in Korea. KPS has been awarded with the Excellent Corporation Certificate for the seventh year in a row during the period between 1999 and 2005 by the Korean Agency for Technology and Standards and Korea Standards Association.
KPS has strengthened its presence abroad. The company operates four overseas businesses - three in India and one in the Philippines. It was in 1998 that KPS established a bridgehead in India when it landed a project on the operation and maintenance of GMR diesel-powered power plants (50MWx4 units). The company is in charge of the plants for the ninth year. KPS won the Chanderiya Thermal Power Plant (77MWx2 units) O&M and the Vemagiri Thermal Power Plant orders from India in 2004 and 2005, respectively. KPS will take charge of the O&M of the Vemagiri Power Plant by Dec. 31, 2011.
The company succeeded in penetrating the Australian power market, a traditionally stronghold for Japanese companies, as it landed an international order on the preventive maintenance of turbine power generators in Bayswater, Australia in 1999. The following year, KPS made a successive feat - winning in an order on the preventive maintenance of turbine generators of a thermal power plant in Erasing, Australia.
KPS was commissioned on a project on inspecting the Reactor Vessel Head Penetration of Tomari Nuclear Power Units 1 & 2, being run by HEPCO of Japan.
With corporate management environment and management innovation in mind, KPS President Ham has also placed priority on management innovation. During last year, he presided over the so-called Dream, 30 Management Innovation Town Meeting, comprising of 30 employee representatives, to establish a master plan on management. The company unveiled the mid- and long-term innovation vision, dubbed "INNO-KPS,"calling for, among others, offering innovative, nice and necessary services to customers and make employees have an optimistic feeling.
During the year 2006, KPS President Ham says, his company will focus on such management policies as upgrading a competitive edge, realization of customer satisfaction, across-the-board spread of management innovation and invigoration of organizational constitution. nw

KPS President-CEO Ham Yoon-sang