Subscribe
E-Paper
By Kim Jae-heun
 |
| SeAH Holdings Corp. CEO Lee Tae-sung |
It has been two years since Lee Tae-sung took over as CEO of SeAH Holdings Corp. to lead the company in the global market by strengthening its product portfolio and securing a new growth engine in the special steel business.
Lee was appointed as CEO at a regular general meeting of shareholders in March 2018. He started his career at SeAH Steel Corp.'s branch in Japan in 2006 and soon became the head of strategic planning at the holding company in 2009. In 2014, he was promoted as chief operating officer and head of strategic planning for SeAH Besteel Corp. that supervises the company's strategic planning, human resources, procurement and overseas sales.
The CEO took a systematic management course to prepare himself to lead SeAH Group. Lee wants to prove his competency by strengthening responsible management in the highly competitive special steel market.
Since he took over the office, Lee has established overseas branches in America, Germany, Thailand and India to increase global sales and has beefed up the marketing group's worldwide capacity.
"Our salespersons have to understand the local market well to hear the voices of our customers," said Lee, who emphasized communication with local communities.
As a result, SeAH Group's core company SeAH Besteel Corp.'s overseas sales increased from 16.7 percent in 2016 to 23 percent last year and SeAH Changwon Integrated Special Steel Corp. obtained certification as a vendor of full-bore stainless pipes from global chemical and petroleum firm Aramco. It became the country's first vendor to start global sales.
Lee is also striving to secure a new growth engine in special steel business in his long-term plan. In March, he acquired aluminum maker Arconic Korea to add one more product category to the company's business portfolio along with carbon alloy steel and stainless steel products.
Also, last September, SeAH Besteel Corp. built a cooperative system with Orano TN to provide 17 storage spaces for spent nuclear fuel in North America where the market entry barrier is high.
He is paving the way for SeAH Besteel Corp. to enter the parts market for nuclear energy and establish a foundation for the company's continued growth in the special steel business.
