Kumho Petrochemical Co. (KKPC) Business Group aims to become a global chemical leader with 20 trillion won in sales and 20 global premier product portfolios by 2020.
Called “Vision 2020,” this is the plan Kumho Petrochemical Business Group hopes to realize. The vision calls for the group to more than double the number of global premier product portfolios certified by the government from the current nine to 20, and quadruple sales, which stood at 4.7 trillion won in 2014. KKPC Group now produces nine certified global premier products, including Form Latex. Foam Latex is a high-solid non-carboxylated styrene-butadiene co-polymerized latex. It has outstanding foam stability and is used as a binder for foam rubber, foam backing and fabrics on its own. It can also be used as various reinforcing agents in impact resistance.
The vision indicates KKPC Chairman Park Chan-koo’s stern resolution to resuscitate the group after picking up the pieces and tiding over a crisis with a united mindset. In Chairman Park’s New Year message, he vowed to take a 2nd leap forward.
The KKPC, founded in 1970, boasts of a history that exceeds 40 years, during which it had to overcome many adversities, such as two oil crises, the Asian financial crisis of the 90s, and the global financial crisis of the 2000s. Nothing has been easy, but the business normalization period from 2009 to 2012 under the supervision of 13 creditor banks, resulting from the biggest ever appraisal loss KKPC incurred through equity method, was especially difficult, KKPC Chairman Park said. However, he said those years have led to the growth that Kumho Petrochemical experiences today, putting it on a path to become a stronger business enterprise.
The KKPC is stepping on the gas to explore foreign markets in order to help the company cope with global competition, which gets fiercer every year. The company plans to strengthen its overseas presence by coming up with such functional products as automotive materials and asphalt modifiers, based on the expertise and competitive edge of synthetic rubbers products the company has accumulated for the past 40 years. Kumho HBR is a High-cis Polybutadiene Rubber (BR) manufactured through solution polymerizationof 1, 3-butadiene with nickel catalyst. Along with SBR, it is one of the widely used synthetic rubber products because it shows high wear resistance, elasticity and aging resistance to water.
Kumho P&B Chemicals and Kumho Polychem, the chemical subsidiaries of Kumho Petrochemical Business Group, are attaching a focus on the EU and North America. In particular, Kumbho P&B Chemicals, which is expanding the capacity of its ethylene propylene diene monomer (M-class) (EPDM) rubber to 60,000 tons, is strengthening marketing activities. Kumbho P&B Chemicals, the nation’s first phenol and acetone producer, continues to invest in R&D activities to get a jump-start in value-added markets. Kumbho P&B Chemicals has established research teams to study solution styrene butadiene rubber (SSBR) and carbon nanotubes (CNT) to proactively cope with global tire makers’ demand for future materials.
Kumho Mitsui Chemicals is developing a technology to process methylene diphenyl diisocyanate (MDI) along with Kumho Petrochemical.
KKPC Business Group has set aside R&D outlays that are double last year’s. The group is also devoting itself to exploring new energy industries to maintain stable growth, a move designed not only to invest for future profits, but also to cut down on unit prices.
The group is now expanding the capacity of a combined cycle power plant in the Yeosu Industrial Complex from the current 115MW per hour to 300MW.
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