Doosan Group Chairman Park Jeong-won

Doosan Group’s success in 2019 will hinge on how to overcome fallout from government policies related to weaning the country off nuclear power and how it can gain ground in new businesses.

The outlook of Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction, specializing in power plant construction and seawater desalination solutions, are bleak in 2019, with a plunge in winning orders expected because of the government’s energy paradigm shift.

The heavy industries business division of Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction saw new orders soar to 9.053 trillion won in 2016, but they almost halved to some 5 trillion won in 2018. The division posted 3.7 trillion won in the first nine months of 2018, accounting for 54 percent of its annual goal of 6.9 trillion won.

Doosan Group’s most urgent task is how to restore Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction’s business performances.

Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction nominated Senior Executive Vice President Jung Yeon-in, replacing President Kim Myung-woo in charge of management.

Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction officials with deputy general manager or higher have left for a two-month paid leave, and some officials have been transferred to subsidiaries as part of retrenchment efforts.

Six business groups have been integrated into three groups - plant EPC, power service and nuclear power. Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction plans to change its business portfolio to businesses focusing on gas turbines, new/renewable energies and services. Doosan Group’s scheme to nurture new businesses is expected to produce tangible results.

“Guts management,” based on digitalization Doosan Group Chairman Park Jeong-won has adopted since 2016 when he took office, will likely begin to pay off in the coming years. The fuel cell business division has begun to yield profits in earnest. The division is to mass-produce a fuel cell product for drones it developed on its own.

The new fuel cell product will be capable of flying two hours per charge – a major improvement from current technologies. The battery copper foil business is expected to begin to yield a profit in 2019.

Doosan Group is forecast to raise its global market share on the collaborative robot, one of the promising technologies in an era of the 4th Industrial Revolution.

Doosan Infracore has released the DoosanCONNECT, an upgraded version with user’s convenience and improved functions of the existing telematics services. The company has demonstrated a country-by-country remote control technology based on 5G telecom for the first time in the world.

Doosan Group has already secured as future growth engines future new industries combining the conventional industries such as power plant and construction machinery with ICT.

According to figures released by FnGuide, securities companies forecast that Doosan Corp., the holding company of Doosan Group, will post 19.95 trillion won in sales and 1.49 trillion won in operating profit in 2019, representing a 7.8 percent rise and a 5.9 percent increase over 2018, respectively.

Looking into each business, the fuel cell business division is predicted to chalk up 600 billion won in sales and 60 billion won in operating profit in 2019.