For Dongkuk Steel, this is the initial year of its integration with Union Steel. The union upgrades the quality of their steel products, and at the same time, diversifies products through the maximization of synergy created from the merger.
The steel maker also will change its management culture to one that is result-oriented, and keep only those operation sectors that are highly profitable
, among the changes the steel maker will push this year.
In order to achieve the major targets for this year, the steel maker announced its key management policies. Those include responsible management, speedy management and management for the company’s future operation.
Responsible management means making the company profitable and making active responses to overcome various management problems, and speedy approval procedure by cutting unnecessary steps, along with a maximum effort to have the steel maker to be among the top steel makers in the world by strengthening its core steel making technology development.
The takeover of Union Steel has made Dongkuk Steel’s operational structure and financial conditions more flexible. Its total annual output capacity of steel products has risen to 10.1 million tons, with Union Steel having an annual capacity to produce 2.85 million tons of various steel products, including galvanized steel sheets, color steel sheets and surface treated steel sheets. The steel maker has been able to expand the marketing areas of its steel products to electronic home appliance makers due to the merger with Union Steel. In the construction area, the steel maker is now able to supply steel products for the interiors of apartments, in addition to the building materials such as steel rods and beams, among others.
Another advantage from the merger for the steel maker is the strengthened purchasing power, which can buy raw materials such as scrap iron more cheaply than before because of economies of scale.
Dongkuk Steel is looking forward to expanding its overseas operation this year with its project to build a blast furnace steel mill in Brazil’s Ceara State in a joint venture with Vale, the supplier of iron ores to POSCO. The Ceara Steel Plant is projected to go online in 2016 and have an annual crude steel output capacity of 3 million tons.
At a ceremony, Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff promised the federal government’s support to the projected steel plant until it is completed as planned, which is being built under the control of the Korean steel maker POSCO, the 5th largest in the world in terms of steel output, and will provide various technologies and construction know-how for the new steel plant.
Chairman Chang said in his speech that “we worked for the past 10 years to prepare for the construction of the projected steel plant in the Pecem Industrial Complex in Ceara State and as the project is being jointly undertaken by Vale, the world’s leading iron ores mining company and POSCO, the fifth largest steel maker in the world, it would undoubtedly be a great success when it is completed in 2015 and began turning out steel slabs.”
He went on: “Both Dongkuk and POSCO will work together to create a steel bridge that connects Korea and Brazil, falling back on their histories of creating a miracle in the development of the steel industry in Korea.
Chairman Chang Sae-joo flew to Ceara State where the plant is to be built and attended a ceremony on Aug. 11 to dedicate the multipurpose wharf for the projected steel plant named after the penname of his late father, Chang Sang-tae, the Cais Song-Won, and the conveyor belt from the wharf to the steel plant. Also there were local dignitaries led by President Rousseff, officials of Ceara State and executives of Dongkuk Steel and its partners in the project, including POSCO and Vale, the Brazilian mining company that will supply iron ore to the new steel plant.
