Hyosung nurturing future growth engines
A car using carbon fibers by Hyosung is displayed at JEC Europe 2015, a global composites exhibition held in Paris, France, last March. Hyosung won an Innovation Award at the exhibition. / Courtesy of Hyosung Group
By Yoon Ja-young
For the country’s decades-old conglomerates, the main tasks during the past few years have been to seek out future growth engines for the coming decades.
Hyosung Group, which celebrates its 50th anniversary this year, is setting a long-term plan to become a centennial business through innovation and changes, taking a leap forward despite domestic and external challenges.
First of all, Hyosung plans to enhance profitability by providing high value-added goods and differentiated services that meet customer needs, based on thorough market research. It also aims at improving competitiveness to reach global market leadership in terms of quality, cost and services, by setting a global management system.
The company is the top player in the global spandex and tire cords market, leading the spandex market with its brand “creora” and taking a 45 percent market share of polyester tire cords. Now it plans to set the heavy electric equipment market as its new growth engine, based on its technology and knowhow in power transmission and distribution equipment. It also aims at nurturing future energy businesses such as high voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission systems, static synchronous compensators (STATCOM) and energy storage systems (ESS), developing itself into a total solutions provider in the global electric power market.
Hyosung’s cutting-edge carbon fiber weighs only a quarter of the weight of steel, but is 10 times stronger. It has a variety of uses, substituting for steel in leisure equipment such as trekking poles and golf clubs as well as compressed natural gas (CNG) vessels, car frames and materials for the aerospace industry.
The country has been relying on imports until 2012, but with Hyosung leading other local players to advance into the carbon fiber market, imports are being substituted by local products. It is a market with huge growth potential, marking over 12 percent annual growth on average. Hyosung is now focusing on enhancing productivity and differentiation of its carbon fiber products.
Hyosung’s heavy industry business marked a 152.2 billion won operating profit last year, after turning to surplus in 2014 following three years of deficit. Analysts cite success factors such as quality innovation and its active marketing in diverse overseas markets such as the United States, Saudi Arabia and Europe.
The company signed an MOU last year to set up electric power lines in Mongolia as well as winning a hydroelectric power plant deal in Bhutan. It is diversifying markets, designated as a supplier of STATCOM in India and Panama. The company plans to actively advance into overseas markets this year, setting India, Middle East and North Africa as its main targets.
“High value-adding new energy businesses such as STATCOM, HVDC, ESS and ultra-high-pressure electronic equipment will be Hyosung’s foundation for a leap forward,” said Cho Hyun-joon, president of the group. “We will develop into a global leading total solutions provider in electric energy by expanding businesses and building up expertise.”