Heo Yup, the new president  of Korea South-East Power Co. (KOSEP), gives his inaugural 

speech at his company as he takes the helm at KOSEP on Sept. 26. (photo: KOSEP)

   Heo Yup, former head of Korea Electric Power Corp. (KEPCO)’s construction division, took the helm at Korea South-East Power Co. (KOSEP) in the grand auditorium of the KEPCO headquarters in Samseong-dong, Seoul, on Sept. 26.

A graduate at Hanyang University, Huh was selected as the fifth president & CEO of KOSEP at an extraordinary shareholders’ meeting on Sept. 12. He had climbed up the company ladder to head the KEPCO construction division since beginning his career at KEPCO in 1978. He obtained a master’s degree in business administration from Dongkuk University.

Huh said in his inaugural speech on Sept. 26, “In order to rise to a super world-class company, innovation ought to be mandatory, not an option. We’ll strive to continuously secure our competitive edge and lead our organization and staff’s creative changes through innovation.”

The new KOSEP chief stressed the creation of a clean corporate ecosystem filled with a strong sense of responsibility. He presented the top three ethical and decision-making guidelines: humbling himself or herself, a working attitude to take responsibility, and a fair job performance.

Huh also proposed major tasks, including strengthening the competitiveness of its mainstay businesses, the securing of future growth engines, and the pursuit of creative management. 

He said, “KOSEP will continue to expand facility capacity by establishing optimal power supply portfolios and timely completion of construction projects, and we’ll devote ourselves to enhancing the stable supply of electricity by aggressively pushing projects to upgrade the outdated power facilities and maximize the capacity factor of facilities.”

“We’ll do our best to ensure the economical and stable purchase of fuels, which have a direct impact on unit cost competitiveness, and we have to create future growth engines by securing top-10 technologies while implementing new projects with financial soundness in mind,” he noted. 

KOSEP snatched the coveted Environ-ment Minister’s Award, the top honor in the overall environment category of the 2013 Environment Energy Grand Prix at an awards ceremony in Seoul on Sept. 12. 

The prizes of the 2013 Environment Energy Grand Prix, jointly hosted by the Environment Ministry, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, and the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning are given to organizations recognized for their contribution to not only reawakening the importance of environment management and eco-friendly industries, but also to enhancing the global competitive edge of Korean industries. 

KOSEP is noted for obtaining an “A” grade for the second straight year in the government’s evaluation of public entities. The power company has gained recognition for its exemplary environment management, operating world-class environmental systems, building carbon management infrastructure, and contributing to the promotion of resources recycling. 

KOSEP’s Management Innovation Pays Off

KOSEP has an intrapreneurship program in place as part of its efforts to innovate management with the goal of tapping staff members’ capacities.

KOSEP has become the first Korean power company to implement intrapreneurship in which each team, department, and site office are assigned goals and given autonomy in their budgets and personnel transfers. 

KOSEP has also become the first public enterprise to implement total productive maintenance (TPM), a method for improved machine availability through better utilization of maintenance and production resources. Thanks to improved machine availability by 76 TPM teams, KOSEP saw the equipment operation rate surge from 86.7 percent in 2008 to 93.7 percent in 2010 and the equipment utilization rate jump from 68.2 percent to 77.9 percent during the same period. The company’s severe self-salvaging efforts have led to its overcoming losses and becoming the power company that posted the biggest operating profits during the period between 2009 and late 2011. 

KOSEP is now focusing on creating new revenues by executing new projects at home and abroad. The company aims to chalk up 6 trillion won in sales through the implementation of new businesses such as resources exploration, overseas business expansion, and the development of new and renewable energy projects by 2020 that will account for 60 percent of its total sales. 

KOSEP has focused on exploring overseas markets to secure KOSEP’s future breadwinners and cope with current business conditions in which the domestic power market has been saturated and international prices of anthracite and other power-generating fuels have skyrocketed. KOSEP has been devoting itself to stabilizing its coal supply via overseas markets, creating new profit-making projects, and landing overseas plant construction orders and technology consulting service projects.