Korea South-East Power Co. President Huh Yeop receives the 

Korea National Quality Award Grand Prize (presidential award) 

at the 39th National Quality Management Convention at the KEPCO 

headquarters in Seoul on Nov. 28.

Korea South-East Power Co. (KOSEP) snatched the Korea National Quality Award Grand Prize at the 39th National Quality Management Convention at the KEPCO headquarters in Seoul on Nov. 28.

KOSEP, spun off from KEPCO in 2001, is committed to ensuring an economical and stable supply of quality electricity through six power generation complexes, including Samcheonpo Thermal Power Complex. KOSEP has been establishing itself as one of the nation’s top-rated power companies as the company was awarded an A grade for the second straight year in the government’s management evaluation of public entities. 

The power company’s staff members all adhere to the top three leadership tenets — creation, sharing, and communication — based on its CEO’s management tenets — creation of values, innovation & growth, communication & reliability, and a focus on strengthening their capacity.  

KOSEP is devoting itself to ramping up quality management and competitiveness as it is imbued with a sense of crisis that even public enterprises could fail if they lose competitiveness. 

KOSEP has an intrapreneurship program in place as part of its efforts to innovate management with the goal of tapping staff members’ capacities. The company is also implementing a two-track performance management system. It endeavors to ensure a balance between its mid- and long-term management strategies while beefing up communication between the headquarters and site operations and between individuals. 

KOSEP is putting into practice three main innovation activities on unit price, site, and process. The company is the first Korean power company to operate two “innovation academies.” Roughly 20 ideas gleaned from each KOSEP staff member yearly have been submitted to management and adopted for application. 

The company has also established an integrated competitiveness enhancement scheme designed to restructure five core management areas — business, finance, ownership, organization, and manpower.

KOSEP’s signature is that the company is attaching priority on human resources. It now operates a program to nurture experts specializing in its top 10 core technologies, considered essential for the operation of power plants. 

These efforts have paid off: it made a splash with its operating income and the rate of operating profit topping the list of thermal power companies for the fourth consecutive year during the period between 2009 and 2012. 

A KOSEP official said KOSEP saved 546.6 billion won compared to its competitors, by purchasing bituminous coal at the lowest levels, ranked first in facility utilization rate for the fourth consecutive year, and placed first for the 12th consecutive year in terms of unit power generation price.

KOSEP aims at raising sales to 12 trillion won, enhancing the portion of growth businesses in sales to 50 percent, securing the top 10 core technologies, and seeing its Trust Index surge to 95 points or more by 2020.  

‘Global Power Leader’

Newly inaugurated KOSEP President Huh Yeop, 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 all facilities.”