Korea Southern Power Co. (KOSPO) President & CEO Lee Sang-ho received the grand prize in the public sector category of the 2012 Idea Management Awards from the Korea Suggestion System Association (KSSA) at the Seoul Grand Ambassador Hotel on Dec. 10. Stressing the need for the creation of outcomes through the suggesting of creative ideas, Lee has not spared efforts to conduct companywide idea proposals and improvement activities. 

In particular, senior officials, including team chiefs or higher officers, have been told to produce more than 10 best practices differentiating each team from others. Lee has been praised for holding a session to present best practices and letting each team leader and other higher officers share creative ideas for the effective execution of work. 

Lee has turned to the “Suggestion Tree,” a companywide system for encouraging company officials to suggest creative ideas. The system has turned out to have an effect of creating more than 100 billion won worth of tangible outcomes. By capitalizing on idea proposals for the overhaul of work processes, KOSPO has made remarkable achievements °™ 14 KOSPO teams grabbing six gold, five silver, and three bronze medals at the presidential awards of the 38th National Quality Management Award Convention. KOSPO was named the best public entity among the contestants.   

KOSPO has redoubled its efforts to submit patent applications to convert realized ideas into intellectual property rights. These efforts were owed to KOSPO’s winning the Creation Patent Grand Prize from Korea Electric Power Corp. and the grand prize at the 2012 Seoul International Invention Fair.   

Lee is recognized for his continued efforts to cut his company’s production costs. In particular, KOSPO has developed a technology that uses bituminous coal and other fuels and has employed new ways of purchasing new fuels, thus differentiating itself from other companies. In addition, KOSPO has reduced financial costs through low-interest loans and has cut down on production costs by securing efficiency of new plant construction investment projects. The company has secured the world’s top rated competitive edge by improving the efficiency of the plants in operation and expanding power plant maintenance. 

The president has also not spared efforts to create an environment for staff members to propose new ideas. His belief in this is that better working conditions make staff members feel happier and suggest innovative ideas, which can lead to sustainable growth.  

EXPLORATION OF FOREIGN MARKETS 

KOSPO is firing on all cylinders to expand its business environs abroad by securing a foothold in the Southeast Asian region. 

KOSPO and the Vietnamese Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) jointly organized a workshop on combined cycle power in Hanoi on July 3. The participants from the Korean side consisted of officials from KOSPO, recognized for acquiring the technologies for the operation and maintenance of combined cycle power plants, and Samsung Techwin, known for the production and maintenance of gas turbines, while Deputy Minister Tran Viet Thanh of the MOST and officials from the Vietnam National Oil and Gas Group (PVN) and PV Power were among those from the Vietnamese side.  

In New Delhi three days later, the Korean power company signed an MOU on the development of coal-fired power plants with Pratibha Group of India.

KOSPO is studying ways of making inroads into the business of enhancing the efficiency of power equipment in Vietnam based on the outcomes of a survey of power facilities the company and the MOST jointly conducted last month.

To this end, KOSPO is now in talks with PV Power, a subsidiary power company of PVN, with which the Korean power company signed an MOU during the workshop. 

The workshop served as an opportunity for KOSPO and Samsung Techwin to present to the Vietnamese side their expertise and experiences on the operation and maintenance of combined cycle power plants as well as technologies related to the production of hot path compartments for gas turbines and gas recycling. The Vietnamese side gave lectures on the trends of the Vietnamese power market, future power plant construction plans, and ways of promoting technology collaboration between Korea and Vietnam. 

Currently, Vietnam’s MOST is paying keen attention to advanced technology related to gas turbines for the purpose of enhancing management efficiency of combined cycle power plants and is seeking to take its cues from Korea, which relies on combined cycle power for 25 percent of its power facility capacity, as an example country for benchmarking.