Growth accelerator pedal… Challenge for $10 million in exports this year > Press Release

Written: Wednesday, January 15, 2020

(Manufacturing Industry 2020 New Vision) Elpowertech

Growth accelerator pedal… Challenge for $10 million in exports this year

Elpowertech (CEO Choi Seong-kyu, pictured) was one of the most outstanding companies in the electric power industry last year. Not only did it successfully enter the US, one of the world’s largest power equipment markets, but it also completed the construction of the largest factory in the transformer industry. In particular, Elpowertech is considered one of the only companies that is showing signs of growth amid the industry’s slump due to a decrease in volume and oversupply for several years. “In 2019, we achieved a 15% increase in sales and a 30% increase in orders,” said Elpowertech CEO Choi Sung-kyu. “Based on this, we will focus all our efforts on expanding exports in 2020.” Elpowertech is aiming for exports of over $10 million this year. This is about 30% higher than last year. The company is confident that it has made a soft landing in the US market. Last year, the company won a bid for a large-capacity power inflow transformer ordered by the LA Power Authority. It is worth 2.1 million dollars (approximately 2.5 billion won) for a total of 45 power transformers, including 22 34.4kV 7.5MVA units and 23 34.4kV 500kVA units. The US is the world’s second-largest transformer market after China.

CEO Choi said, “We will actively strengthen our sales network targeting not only LA but also the power authority markets of the 50 states,” and added, “Domestic transformers are also competitive enough in advanced markets.” Last year, Elpowertech also completed construction of a new plant in which it invested 20 billion won. With a size of 16,000㎡ (approximately 5,000 pyeong) in the Hwaseong Bio Valley Industrial Complex in Gyeonggi Province, it is the largest plant in the transformer industry. The production capacity for power equipment such as transformers and switches has been expanded threefold. CEO Choi emphasized, “In the long term, Elpowertech will transform into a heavy electric equipment manufacturing company with sales of 100 billion won,” and “We secured all of this year’s work last year. I believe we will be able to achieve our goal in at least 3-4 years.” He is the chairman of the Transformer Business Association, a key organization in the transformer industry. As the head of the association, he is also evaluated as having achieved satisfactory results in the unit price bidding for KEPCO’s distribution transformers last year. CEO Choi emphasized, “The public enterprise’s cooperative company system is for securing jobs and fostering small and medium-sized enterprises,” and “Manufacturers should use the public enterprise supply market as a kind of ‘seed money’ and improve their competitiveness through technological development and other means to develop domestic and international markets.” In other words, the idea of making a profit and doing business in the KEPCO market itself is extremely complacent and a wrong judgment. He emphasized, “Only companies that create new added value by using the public enterprise supply market as a minimum foundation will be able to survive in the future,” and “Power equipment companies should not settle for the government-provided market, but should invest in technology and manpower and challenge themselves by looking toward a bigger stage. Elpowertech will also not stop challenging the global market.”

[This post was copied from the press release (Korea) by the top manager on 2022-08-25 11:21:28]