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| POSCO Chemical CEO Min Kyung-zoon, center, POSCO PLANTEC CEO Cho Cheong-woo, second from right, and other executives from POSCO affiliates join a button-pressing ceremony to mark the opening of POSCO Chemical's smart factory in Pohang, North Gyeonsang Province, Wednesday. Courtesy of POSCO Chemical |
By Yi Whan-woo
POSCO Chemical said Wednesday that it has opened a fully-automated plant to produce a special, high heat-resistant material used in the steel, petrochemical, nonferrous metal concrete, energy and other manufacturing sectors.
The 4,759-square-meter smart factory in Pohang, North Gyeonsang Province has been completed after a year of construction.
With an annual capacity of 21,700 tons, the plant will help increase POSCO Chemical's overall capacity for the material, which can withstand heat up to 1,000 degrees Celsius.
The company currently has an annual capacity of 114,000 tons.
The automated system is also expected to bring down manufacturing costs and therefore enhance the market competitiveness of POSCO Chemical's products.
The celebration was attended by POSCO Chemical CEO Min Kyung-zoon and Cho Cheong-woo CEO of POSCO PLANTEC, which built the factory. Both companies are subsidiaries of steelmaker POSCO.
"We have successfully combined up-to-date technology with our expertise, and it is built to last 50 years," a POSCO Chemical executive said of the factory's construction.
Calling the technology "world-class level," the executive expressed hope that the firm can help enhance the competence of its partner companies.
The plant is a part of POSCO Chemical's mid-term vision project to expand the annual capacity for high heat-resistant material to 120,700 tons by 2022.
In the third quarter, POSCO Chemical logged a net income of 40.9 billion won ($34.8 million), up 496.6 percent from a year earlier.
The year-on-year operating profit rose from 19.4 billion won to 31.5 billion won, on a 29.9 percent rise in sales to 505 billion won.
