STX Group’s New 2020 Vision

STX Group to focus on shipbuilding, machinery and shipping under Vision 2020 Plan

STX Group has been focusing on three major areas of its operations to move up the ladder of progress to become a global business concern in the near future. Chairman Kang Duk-soo said the group’s total annual sales would be 110 trillion won ($100 billion) in 2020 under its new vision, which all of its affiliates will pursue in the next decade.
Chairman Kang announced the new vision on May 1, STX Group’s 9th anniversary, and on the occasion the chairman ordered heads of its affiliate companies to set up a detailed strategy to achieve their goals by 2020 including those on securing stable growth and competitiveness.
This year is critical for the group for the consolidation of its growth over the past decade of operation and to map its future operations, especially in its search for new future growth engines. The group launched a committee for mapping out its future growth strategies under the Vision 2020.
The group signed MOUs worth $7 billion in the area of plant construction in the Middle East and Central and South America so far this year, which accounts for 21 percent of its annual target of 33 trillion won in project orders both at home and overseas this year.
STX Heavy recently signed an MOU with the Iraqi government to build a petrochemical complex near Basra in southern Iraq for $3.2 billion, in addition to another giant industrial project to build a steel production plant and a thermal power plant for $3 billion. Chairman Kang visited Bagdad by himself to meet with Iraqi Prime Minister Maliki to secure the projects in January.
The group is considered to have secured a base for a share of the $10 billion in projects to rebuild war-torn Iraq by securing those projects early in the year, and for plant construction projects to be undertaken by Middle Eastern countries as a whole.
To help the group enter the plant construction markets in Central and South America it signed a joint development agreement (JDA) with the Inde Group of Mexico in February to build a LNG terminal with the annual capacity to store 3.8 million tons of LNG per year at Lizaro Cardenis Harbor.
The group decided to pursue plant construction projects around the world after learning that the construction sector is the least likely sector to be swayed by economic conditions. It also strengthened its EPC section, taking it on as its new growth area along with infrastructure construction.
Chairman Kang said, “We have been able to see many American or Japanese firms and firms from other advanced countries already engaged in projects in foreign countries we thought were very isolated from the rest of the world when we actually travelled to those countries. What we need is a challenging spirit to go abroad for projects where not many firms are doing business.”
In line with such strategies under the group’s mid-to-long term vision, STX affiliates are making advances into overseas markets in such major areas as plants, construction, new and recycled energy and green growth businesses as their core futuristic growth areas vital to their survival with the aim to achieve 6 trillion won in annual sales in 2015.
STX Solar, an affiliate in charge of solar energy projects, completed a plant in Gumi, South Gyeongsang Province in November last year, equipped with stable productivity after a month of testing its high-tech facilities and technologies to produce solar power equipment. The plant is running 24 hours per day turning out solar batteries and is ready to expand its production capacity if demand expands.
The company also has been in the process of R&D activities to search for new technologies to produce thin film and single crystal solar batteries for 300kw power generation capacity to achieve annual sales of 500 billion won from battery sales.
STX is not far behind in its wind power business as it secured a base to push ahead by acquiring a stake in STX Wind Power, a joint venture firm, with technologies for both wind power generation on the sea and land and also signed an MOU on joint development of wind power technologies, which will pave the way for the group to become a leading global wind power company.
The group is prepared to engage in all sectors of wind power generation from parts, equipment, installation and management of the business, STX officials noted. They said the existing paradigm for low cost and effective energy has reached its limit due to environmental regulations and increased demand for clean energy.
The group has also been undertaking natural resources and energy exploration projects over far-reaching regions divided into seven areas including the Far East, Southeast Asia, Europe, Central and South America, the Middle East and Africa.
STX plans to push its projects focused on such key areas as the Middle East, Africa, East Timor, Indonesia, South East Asia and Central and South America, particularly in such countries as Mexico and Brazil, for the exploration of oil, gas and minerals, among others, along with gasification plant construction. nw

STX Group Chairman Kang Duk-soo.