STX Chmn. Kang Captures Gold Medal

Trade Day honors STX Group founder for growing STX Offshore & Shipbuilding to 4th largest shipyard in the world

Chairman and CEO Kang Duk-soo of STX Offshore and Shipbuilding Co. and STX Group won the Industrial Merit Gold Tower medal from the government at the ceremony for the 2009 46th Trade Day held at COEX in southern Seoul on Nov. 30 in recognition of his leadership in the development of the shipyard.
The shipbuilding firm started out as Daedong Shipbuilding Co. in 1973 and became an affiliate of STX Group in 2001 to continue its rapid growth under Chairman Kang’s management motto of “Creativity and Challenge,” seeking continuous change and development by making investments to expand business territory and acquire new technologies. The shipyard became the fourth largest in the world in only six years through relentless offensive investment, writing a new history of the world shipbuilding industry on its way to becoming the top shipyard in the world.
This year, the shipbuilder took over the marine equipment manufacturing sector from its sister affiliate STX Heavy Industry in order to make itself an integrated global shipbuilder turning out a variety of ships including commercial vessels, special vessels and marine plant equipment.
The shipyard delivered new ships to their foreign owners this year valued at over $3 billion, up 53 percent from 2008 to record an average annual growth rate of 41 percent from 2003 to 2009. This was possible through continuous technology development, boosts in shipbuilding speed and the exploration of new markets, not only expanding the number of ships built, but also expanding the types of ships characterized by high function raising the per ton price of ships by an annual average of 15 percent and at the same time increasing the number of new ships built at the yard by 20 percent per year.
The company has become a global major in shipbuilding with the acquisition of Aker Yards in Norway early this year with 15 shipyards all over Europe and the operation of its shipyard in Dalian, China.
The company’s global shipbuilding network linking Korea, China and Europe is able to build all kinds of ships ― from small vessels and large container vessels to marine plant equipment and super-size cruisers ― with its own pool of shipbuilding technologies to make the shipyard extremely competitive in all areas of shipbuilding and a unique shipyard that can turn out all kinds of ships.
The company has been sending its executives to accompany Korea’s Chief Executive on his overseas tours including state visits to explore new markets as well as strengthen its position in the secured markets and build a global shipbuilding network.
One of the company’s executives was among the entourage of President Lee Myung-bak when he participated in the APEC meeting in November 2008. In March, the company joined an economic mission to Central and South America and visited a number of important countries in the region including Brazil and Peru and learned the status of oil exploration in those countries and their plans to issue orders for equipment. The company lost no chance to publicize its excellent technology levels and infrastructure to the extent that the company expects to obtain equipment orders from oil companies in those countries due to solid partnerships it has built with governments and private firms throughout the region.
In the meantime, STX Heavy Industry also won the $5 billion Export Tower Award for exports of its ship engines amounting to $5.160 billion, up 41 percent from the preceding year. The company began vessel engine production in 2004, but has expanded enough in the past five years to turn out ship engines of 4 million horsepower annually.
The company, in addition, produces large structures and blocks for vessels as it has been making headway in the areas of industrial plant equipment and power generation facilities, which are green growth and environmentally friendly industries.
For a stable supply of blocks, as required by the booming shipbuilding industry, the company set up the joint-venture STX Heavy Industry with STX Shipbuilding. The company also set up STX Heavy Equipment in November 2007 to produce plant equipment for its new growth sector.
The company has been able to expand its exports in the past three years from $116 million in 2006, $371 million in 2007 and $513 million in 2008. During the same years, exports of ship engines amounted to $490 million, or 89 percent of total exports in 2006, including vessel parts at $56 million, or 11 percent.
By country, China imported 65 percent of the company’s exports. Other countries included Liberia and Hong Kong. Ship owners in Europe accounted for 70 to 80 percent of the exports.
In order to provide differentiated and independent technologies, the company set up its technology research institute in October 2006 focusing on research in five areas; function, vibration, structure, material and control systems.
The company has been allowing customers, shipping associations and authorized inspection organizations to execute thorough quality inspections to prove that their products are perfect. The company has also obtained ISO 9001, an international quality certification system, ISO 14001 and OHSAS 18001, an environmentally safe and healthy management system, to make its quality inspection system more effective and systematic.
STX Heavy Industry won the certificate for a firm producing “a first rate global product” from the Ministry of Knowledge Economy in 2006 for its ship engines and various other certificates from around the world confirming the high quality of those ship engines at home and abroad.
STX Enpaco, an affiliate of STX Group, won the $200 million Export Tower at the Export Day ceremony. STX Enpaco, since its set up in June 2001, has built a competitive edge in the areas of parts for engines, ships and industrial material, among others. Its core parts for diesel engines and shipbuilding materials have been supplied to global shipbuilders and engine makers around the world, boosting the value of the offshore and marine industry.
Most of the company’s products have been shipped to overseas buyers directly and supplied to export firms exported indirectly to such countries as Germany, Japan and China including such core parts for ship engines as crankshafts, turbo chargers, cylinder liners and others.
In recent months, the company has been able to expand its overseas buyers to Navantia Shipyard in Spain, Huisman of the Netherlands, Kolomensky Zavod, the largest railroad related company in Russia, Siemens of Germany for its wind power section, JSW of Japan, Gyan of China and others.
The company has been able to diversify its products to include wind power plant parts, offshore plant parts, railroad car parts, and parts for power plants on land. The company introduced the supply chain quality management to its vendors to make sure that their products are able to meet all the conditions in the SCQM.
The company saved some 2.4 billion won through quality management reform and reform recommendations (1,533 cases) in the first half. Six Sigma (27 PJT) and other reform management activities are being undertaken continuously. Other management upgrade programs such as 3S and TPM have been showing visible results in the second half with from 73 to 78 percent of the targets achieved so far.
The Ministry of Knowledge Economy designated STX Enpaco’s products, such as its 4-ST Turbo Charger, 4-ST Crankshaft, and 2-ST Cylinder Liner, as world-class first-rate products. In December 2008, the ministry also designated the company’s Submersible Cargo Pump System as a next-generation world-class product. nw

President Lee Myung-bak pins the Industrial Merit Gold Tower medal on Chairman Kang Duk-soo of the STX Offshore and Shipbuilding Co., and also STX Group during a ceremony for the 46th Trade Day held Nov. 30 at COEX in southern Seoul.