Kim Soo-kyung, executive vice president and COO of Engine & Machinery Division, measures his career with HHI in decades, each one representing a step in the process of learning the heavy and shipbuilding industries inside and out. His first ten years at HHI proved a solid foundation that would serve Kim well in the future. Among the first group of recruits in 1972, Kim went straight to work in the company¡¯s Shipbuilding Division, eventually covering the bases from production management and production planning to material procurement. Soon thereafter, when HHI built its very first VLCC, Kim was involved in the vessel¡¯s construction from the initial production planning stage.

Kim spent much of the second decade broadening his already fundamental knowledge of shipbuilding. From 1982, Kim moved on to the material procurement sector. His next assignment was to give him a global perspective of the business. Working at HHI¡¯s London office, Kim was responsible for the company¡¯s procurement of materials from European sources.

Following his overseas posting, he was dispatched to the newly established Construction Equipment Division, where he served in various capacities before his promotion to director.

It was at this point, as he started his third decade with HHI, that then-Director Kim began to blaze a trail for others to follow. Having spent most of his years in material procurement and management, he brought the same expertise and insights gained from shipbuilding and construction equipment over to the Engine & Machinery Division.

Throughout his 30-year career at HHI, Kim has worked in divisions where he had to start from scratch. He remembers in the early years having to categorize and number all the various materials for shipbuilding, because at that time no Korean firm had ever built VLCCs. That experience enabled him later in devising and introducing a material requirement plan for the Construction Equipment Division.

Kim takes special pride in the contribution he made as the head of HHI¡¯s material procurement operations. ¡°Material procurement accounts for 60% of production costs,¡± he says. ¡°So, I believed that lowering procurement costs has a profound effect on our profitability.¡± He has utilized his know-how and acumen to achieve effective procurement management, thereby improving profitability and reducing budgets.

Now in the Engine & Machinery Division, Kim still has many goals and hopes. Since marine diesel engines account for 80% of the division's output, the current brisk performance in the shipbuilding industry is having a directly favorable impact on the division¡¯s fortunes. But Kim is not satisfied with today¡¯s success. He believes the future focus needs to be on independently developed engines, such as HHI¡¯s HiMSEN engine. Kim says the brand image of this engine needs to be enhanced-and the price and quality competitivenessfurther honed as it hits the global market.

Since the start of the Engine & Machinery Division back in the early 1980s, growth has been depended on large marine diesel engines. But Kim points out that the next twenty years will have to be spent developing new, value-added businesses like gas turbines.

Kim¡¯s decade-by-decade approach toward the company and his own career provides a valuable long-term perspective that will continue to serve HHI well into the future. Asked about his management philosophy, Kim replied that along with a gradual and steady process, he places great value on creating a work environment that promotes a cooperative decision-making process.