LG Energy's new CEO aims to focus on qualitative growth

LG Energy Solution Ltd., the world’s second-largest electric vehicle battery maker, is set to focus on qualitative growth by securing leading technology, structural cost competitiveness, customer loyalty and innovative business models, its new chief executive said on Friday.

“The past three years were the era of LG Energy 1.0, which has laid the foundation for quantitative growth and its business,” said CEO Kim Dong-Myung, who replaced Vice Chairman Kwon Young-soo.

“We need now to build up the era of LG Energy 2.0 for true qualitative growth with an overwhelming competitive advantage, which no one can overcome, based on the powerful ability to execute,” Kim said in his inauguration speech.

Kim, who joined the battery research center of LG Group, South Korea’s fourth-largest conglomerate, in 1998, has most recently been spearheading the company’s core businesses such as batteries for automobiles and mobile devices.

CUTTING-EDGE PRODUCTS WITH LEADING TECHNOLOGY

LG Energy needs to develop cutting-edge products using leading technology, improve cost structures, enhance customer loyalty and secure future technology and innovative business models for qualitative growth strategies, he stressed.

“Let’s maintain our leadership in next-generation batteries and actively discover new profit models through continuous development of future technologies such as lithium-sulfur and solid-state batteries, while expanding technology cooperation with external partners,” Kim said.

“We also need to set up a structure to maintain competitiveness in materials expenses even when faced with external risk, and secure fundamental competitiveness in manufacturing costs through the use of new technology and processes.”

Kim pledged to establish an achievement-oriented organizational culture while encouraging employees to pursue challenging goals.

“To achieve valuable results, we need to create a culture of self-motivation, in which all members set challenging goals and work on them persistently,” he said. “We need to become an organization that voluntarily seeks valuable work and achieves it, rather than passively responding to existing issues or doing assigned tasks.”

Write to Sungsu Bae at baebae@hankyung.com
 
Jongwoo Cheon edited this article.