A firm and solid company! That was our first impression of KD Power. 'KD Power' - a company that achieved significant growth in just a short period of time with their innovative management and leadership and is also recognized as the number one electric power IT company. To find out the secret to the success of KD Power, a creator of the new paradigm in the electric power IT world with their very own corporate culture, we paid them a visit in person.
"Creative Minds with Smart-ways, Scenarios, and Cyber Management"
The employees here are full of passion. It might be due to the corporate culture here, where creative minds and communication are emphasized. When asked specifically about their successful management techniques, the CEO Kim Eam-bae answered, "Smart-management is the key. As part of the horizontal management for meeting the fast-changing needs of customers, competent employees in the fields of sales, R&D, production, after-sales service put together their mutual values and minds to co-source. A strategic agreement, you might say."
And another unique management style of this company is the cyber management, cyberspace network e-Process, which enables them to achieve a hundred times more performance. "For synergy in management, information sharing between employees must be free at will and must be taken to action right away," says Kim Eam-bae. For this, KD Power opened the internal information and duty sharing system using a self-developed tool for e-Process in 1998. In the archives of e-Process, one can enter a desired keyword just like a common Internet search engine and find all related materials, enabling efficient work in various ways. He explains that this system, which highly contributes to the smooth internal communication above all, also evaluates each individual's task, making it the driving force for all employees to feel a tense but positive atmosphere and therefore work harder.
As 'Smart Nomad,' a concept that is not bound by time and space, is considered the latest management style, e-Process can be run on smartphones for real-time duty checks, which makes it more efficient. Even Governor Kim Mun-Su who once made a personal visit to the company was fascinated by the efficiency of e-Process, and it is currently being used in some departments of the Gyeonggi-do Office. And others who have heard of it frequently inquire about the program, and when necessary KD Power provides the program free of charge.
CEO Kim says, "Knowledge management is not about how much data you collect, but how well you use it. And resourcing each individual's network is also important." He adds, "The essence of leadership is setting an example. When the superior takes the initiative and sets an example, employees tend to follow. So we are putting trust management into practice by opening all work to the employees through e-Process." This is KD Power's last but not least management technique - "Scenario Management," all members sharing all information for one direction.
Success in Technical Estimation and Design Standardization
Based on this smart, cyber, and scenario management, KD Power, unlike other companies with head office-centered business and R&D, realized technology systematization and standardization to run nationwide centers and branches. It is safe to say that complete standardization for estimation and design has been achieved. As an example, if you need an estimation for adopting a solar system at a current location, all you need to do is simply enter the current location into KD Power's program. The program, which is linked to the Meteorological Administration's accumulated database, computes the daily insolation and instantly produces the estimation result. It is quite a major breakthrough compared to the three days it takes for experts to make an estimation.
The World's First 'Machine to Mobile Service'
KD Power's products are characterized in a word as 'M2M.' M2M, short for 'Machine to Mobile,' is a mobile service that examines and analyzes the present state with monitoring and managing smartphones, and is being provided in all products of KD Power. It is by all means the world's first combination of product and service with mixed value-centered structure.
"For solar light, it is important to maintain the initial generation at high heat, so to speak. If not managed after installation, the efficiency decreases and for this, maintenance is essential. We provide specialized maintenance service based on M2M, and this kind of electric power system supported by IT is expected to demonstrate a strong competitive edge in the world market," explained Kim. That IT convergence in the electric power field will be more stimulated is his idea.
KD Power's differentiation in other products is clearly obvious. The 'Smart IT Package Switchgear' which is highlighted by its great design is one-fourth the size of the previous product and can be moved and installed freely in relatively small sites with 25 percent reduction in construction costs. Management for this can also be carried out easily with the M2M service.
The 'Smart IT Eco-Friendly Generator' uses package-type sealed case to shut out the noise, and does not need a separate generator room, enabling installation cost reduction. KD Power's eco-friendly, low-noise, low-emissions generator was certified as a superior product from the government last April.
Likewise, smart supervision and control through M2M service is also made possible. Furthermore, it is convenient that the current state of the product can be monitored by identifying the QR code. They have signed a US$ 2 million generator contract with Japan's Suntory (a global food company) who is suffering from an electric power shortage due to the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant incident, and starting with this, KD Power seeks ways to advance into overseas markets and expects around KRW 20 billion worth of generator exports this year.
Recently KD Power has attracted attention in the industry by introducing a new concept solar generating system that can locate the sun with a single motor called the 'Dual axis robot tracker.' The core technology is Cylindrical camera structure with spiral groove! Certified as a NET (New Excellent Technology), this product reduced the number of motors, the key component, to just one which cut down the installation cost as much as 30 percent. The motor itself is a high-efficiency motor using a linear method with power consumption of just 8W, hence minimizing the operation cost.
'Examining with Electric Power IT Solution, a Chance of Success in Overseas Markets'
KD Power has set the sales goal for the year 2012 at KRW 700 billion. KRW 700 billion is the pledge they made with President Lee Myung-Bak during his visit to KD Power's Gimpo Office. "We create not the existing industrial machinery, but the IT-combined smart grid industry. Only by creating a new way of exploration can we obtain our competitive edge to catch up with the front-runner," says Kim Eam-bae.
Not only meeting the customers' needs but also planting brand new seeds and providing them by blending IT with electric power is CEO Kim's plan. Mentioning that technology based on creativity is something that nobody can overtake, Kim says this is the way KD Power was able to achieve growth in such a short period of time.
KD Power, with a vision to ultimately become the world's best in industrial IT by evolving the paradigm with their one and only product-technology-service integrated structure, exports their products - electric power IT solution led by value-centered M2M service - to Japan, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Philippines, Thailand, and Indonesia. The company also plans to cultivate not only the existing domestic market, but the overseas markets as the new growth engine, raising the export ratio to 30 percent of the total sales, to make a new leap forward in the next 10 years.
