President Sohn Excels in HDESI

Demonstrates excellent tactics and an aggressive, hands-on management style

Until recently, Hyundai Engineering & Steel Industries Co. (HDESI) President and CEO Sohn Kwang-young was called a "permanent public relations officer"because of his many years spent handling PR jobs with the Hyundai Business Group and Hyundai Engineering and Construction Co. (HDEC). However, he is gaining a strong reputation for administering his excellent management tactics as a CEO.
Sohn had been in the PR field for about 19 years for the Hyundai Business Group and HDEC. He rose up the corporate ladder to become an executive director in charge of public relations of HDEC before he was tapped as HDESI president & CEO in May 2006.
The aggressive management strategies he has employed since taking the helm at HDESI have paid off: double-digit sales growth with improved competition and efficiency. Sohn has earned a reputation as a good CEO.
"As you see, the fundamental thing is that any organization is like a living organism, so the role as its CEO is to help its members pull out all the stops to their full capacity,"he said.
"I go to worksites as frequently as possible in order to assist employees there with grievances and complaints ― a job I assumed as CEO. I believe that the CEO has to have the ability to manage a crisis and present a vision,"Sohn said.
HDESI has been credited with accumulating expertise and experience in steel structures, bridge steel and industrial plant sectors.
The company aims to rake in 210 billion won in sales during 2008, up from 196 billion won in 2007. "I'm striving to build a solid foundation, step-by-step, based on profit-taking rather than focusing on a growth-oriented expansion mode,"he said.
HDESI was spun from Hyundai Engineering & Construction in 2002. HDEC has a 99.4 percent stake in HDESI, which makes 40 percent of its revenues from the parent company and the remainder from non-Hyundai companies.
The company opened the Incheon Fabrication Facility within the Steel Fabrication and Machinery Division (SFMD) in 1979 for the support of steel construction projects with the goal of exploring worldwide markets. The company has three plants in Daesan, Incheon and Cheonan, all devoted to the fabrication of steel bridges and structures.
The company is oriented to the manufacturing of long-span steel bridges, cable-stayed bridges, cable suspension bridges and heavy structures such as heavy industry plants, petrochemical plants, mining plants, convention centers and stadiums for domestic and overseas projects.
As the foremost leading fabricator in Korea and through its outstanding performances, HDESI has achieved its most significant accomplishments by obtaining AISC/US certification from the American Institute of Steel Construction Inc., ISO 9001:2000 Certification from the Korea Foundation for Quality in structural steel/bridge fabrication and the 1st Class Steel Structure Fabricator Certification. The company concentrates its efforts on furthering the improvement of quality and technology so as to provide the highest value and most reliable, professional services to its clients.
As the demand for steel structures for the construction of high-rise buildings is on the rise, HDESI has supplied a number of steel structures for buildings to domestic and overseas clients such as the Inter-Continental Hotel, ASEM Convention Center and the headquarters of the now-defunct Commercial Bank.
The company has advanced into the Middle East and South Asia since 1982 with high-quality steel structures. The company has earned a reputation for its expertise and technology.
HDESI is fabricating structural steel required for the various types of bridges with advanced technology and experience accumulated through the construction of major bridges, including the 1st Hangang Bridge, the Expo Cable-Stayed Bridge and the Seogang Nielsen Arch Bridge.
The company handles various critical items with excellent product quality based on its work experience, fabrication facilities and excellent workmanship, and ultramodern technology in such areas as engineering & design, procurement & fabrication and field erection & supervision. It covers equipment for petrochemical and chemical plants, including heat exchanges, process vessels & reactors, storage tanks and DeSOx and ducting systems as well as equipment for industrial & environmental plants, including water gates, incineration plants, desulfurization and flue gas cleaning equipment, water treatment and fly ash treatment.
By capitalizing on the experience and technologies it has accumulated while executing domestic projects, HDESI has participated in various overseas projects. It has successfully completed not only such steel structure projects as the San Diego Convention Center and the San Diego Ballpark in California and the Puerto-Rico Convention Center, but also such steel bridge projects as the Triborough Bridge in New York. nw

HDESI President and CEO Sohn Kwang-young.

HDESI President Sohn poses with NewsWorld President Elizabeth M. Oh.

HDESI President and CEO Sohn Kwang-young poses with HDESI and Alaska Kiewit Building Group officials while making an inspection tour to the site of the C-17 Maintenance Complex in Alaska.