"Keep the Ball Rolling"

CEO Ham calls for pursuit of highest value for customers

KPS CEO Ham Yoon-sang urged his executives and staff members to confront change with a passion and achieve tangible results one by one this year in order to realize the goal of evolving into a world-class total-plant service company through the creation of the highest possible value for its customers.
In his 2008 New Year's message at a ceremony in the KPS head office on Jan. 2, Ham said, "We cannot rest on our laurels if we are to maintain our achievements to date and all staff members should confront change with heart and soul."He pledged to focus on four tasks: the realization of sustainable management, an expansion of the power maintenance business portfolio, an enhancement of maintenance technology competitiveness and the cultivation of globally-gifted manpower.
KPS, Korea's top company specializing in the maintenance of power generation facilities, is striving to prepare itself for tremendous changes, including the opening of the domestic maintenance market in the wake of the acceleration of global competition following the launch of the World Trade Organization regime and the spread of Free Trade Agreements.
Recognizing the effects of a rapidly changing global business environment, KPS has declared its mid- and long-term management strategy plan, dubbed "ACT KPS 2015."KPS has been making its utmost efforts to enhance its international competitiveness in the power maintenance industry. In this regard, KPS is working on the advancement of a document on maintenance processes for the purpose of the stable operation of nuclear equipment and systems through planned and established maintenance management systems, the establishment of comprehensive maintenance personnel operation management programs for efficient and flexible personnel management and an improvement of the screening and qualifying objective capability of maintenance personnel.
As the world's sole company specializing in maintenance, KPS is redoubling its efforts to ensure the optimum operation of facilities and systems,
the protection of workers within radiation management areas and maintenance reliability. It has been focusing on the improvement of advanced prediction and diagnosis technologies such as vibration analysis, oil analysis and thermometers, strengthening the prevention of human errors, nurturing natural disaster emergency crisis management capabilities and implementing a real-name maintenance system of specifying those involved in each maintenance job.
In foreign countries, manufacturers and power companies are responsible for such work as the establishment of maintenance plan blueprints, maintenance process documents and maintenance crew qualification and management. In Korea, KPS is seeking to take charge of all of those responsibilities. KPS has built up an advanced nuclear power operation infrastructure through the inauguration of Enterprise Resources Planning systems (ERPs) that integrate all of the company's data and processes into a unified system.
KPS is trying to break the mold by eradicating past inefficient practices and systems in order to proactively raise its value as a maintenance company rather than passively conforming to laws, regulations and systems.
Global concern over the use of atomic energy has been mounting in the wake of global moves to restrict greenhouse gas emissions in accordance with international pacts on climate change. For Korea, nuclear energy plays an essential role as a power source, accounting for 27 percent of the nation's total power generation capacity and a 30 percent share in total power production.
KPS is doing its utmost to mobilize advanced technologies and well organized maintenance systems so that the operation of the existing 20 nuclear units remains stable.
KPS was founded in 1974 as a subsidiary of the Korea Electric Power Corp. (KEPCO) in charge of maintenance services for power generation facilities, power transmission facilities and industrial plants with a combined 60 million kW nationwide.
KPS'major business functions are to perform the start-up operation, which is the final stage of power plant construction; conduct regular maintenance checks on equipment in operation; carry out periodic planned outage maintenance during which entire operations are suspended to disassemble and check facilities to preempt sudden stoppage; and forecast and diagnose problems in order to maintain optimal capability of equipment and components.
In the power transmission business, KPS carries out projects on the maintenance of power transmission lines, inspection, design, construction and safety checks of power facility structures and maintenance of super-voltage direct circuit underground cables.
KPS also performs such specialized technology services as the maintenance of gas turbines and the replacement of nuclear fuel.
KPS's success domestically is not the entire focus of the company, however. A renewed effort is being placed on expanding into foreign markets, given the brilliant achievements on the overseas front proving its technological prowess.
KPS signed MOUs on a 250MW-class thermal power plant in Orissa, India and a 1,000MW-class thermal power plant in Haryana, India in cooperation with India's Jindal Group as well as an MOU on a 250MW-class thermal power plant O&M project in Indonesia.
On Feb. 2, 2007, KPS officials discussed with senior leaders of the Fauji Foundation in Pakistan KPS's participation in power plant operation and maintenance and technological assistance prior to the upcoming engineering, procurement and construction contract for a 175MW-class Daharki combined cycle plant.
On Jan. 9, KPS and GMR Group of India inked an MOU on their joint participation in the "Ultra Mega Project"for the construction of thermal power plants in India. The Ultra Mega Project is a state-initiated mega-project to build thermal power plants with a combined capacity of 4,000MW. Under the MOU, KPS will be a given preferential consideration for O&M projects being implemented under the Ultra Mega Project.
GMR Group has already won the nod for the construction of a 1,000MW power plant from Orissa State under the Ultra Mega Project, and starting with a thermal power plant project in Jharkand State, GMR Group and KPS will join forces in seeking new orders.
This past March, CEO Ham signed an agreement with Macquarie Generation of Australia to conduct maintenance on the Bayswater thermal power plant, operated by the Australian company, for three years and one with Eraring Energy to provide maintenance services to Eraring thermal power plants for two years. KPS beat international competitors like Toshiba of Japan and Alstom of France in bidding for the contracts. The work has been dominated in the past by Japanese companies. KPS'win in the latest bidding races proves the competitiveness of its maintenance prowess.
This past April, KPS officials visited a Sudanese state-run power company and signed an MOU. KPS will participate in maintenance technology consulting and overhaul maintenance services for Kartum North thermal power plant in Sudan. The Korean company is expected to offer maintenance services for a Malawi hydroelectric power plant and Gary combined cycle power plant projects underway. Lately, a slew of senior officials from the Sudanese state-run power company visited the KPS head office to discuss ways of exploring the African maintenance market.
KPS has also landed a project to overhaul a pumped storage power plant in Bendela, Australia. The project was initially awarded to Toshiba late last year, but the Japanese firm was unable to proceed due to a lack of construction capacity. It is rare for KPS to win the nod in a re-bid, which serves as a good opportunity to publicize its construction capabilities outside of Korea.
KPS visited Mongolia's Fuel and Energy Department and inked an MOU on KPS's participation in Mongolian power plant maintenance projects, setting up a bridgehead for its entry into the Northeast Asian country.
The expertise and excellent maintenance technology that KPS'field staff have acquired over more than 30 years emerge as precious assets to maintain a competitive edge in the global maintenance market. KPS educates top-caliber maintenance manpower through in-house training programs and sens its employees to overseas and Korean institutions commissioned for education and training courses.
KPS has been issued 44 certificates, approved by the Labor Ministry, in turbine maintenance and 10 other categories. KPS staff owns 9,414 in-house qualifications and 7,979 nationally-certified qualifications, representing the highest qualification rate in Korea, at 4.7 certificates per staff member. nw

KPS President Ham Yoon-sang

Vibration analysis of power generation facilities