A three-legged race is a popular event in athletic meets of schools and companies. A knack for this game is for two to become one. The relationship between big and small companies is similar to a three-legged race. Unless two sides cooperate, they will fail. But if two sides band together in harmony, they can realize win-win growth. One good example is the partnership between Samsung Electronics and Dongwoo Fine Chem. The two companies have enjoyed mutual growth while cooperating in the LCD and semiconductor sector for about 20 years.
Dongwoo Fine-Chem has become the global leader in the polarizing film and color filter sectors on the foundation of its strong cooperation with Samsung Electronics. The highlight of the win-win partnership between Samsung Electronics and Dongwoo Fine-Chem was a joint project in 2007. At that time, the two companies carried out a color filter productivity project in order to address a short supply of color filters. They formed a joint force team consisting of four engineers from Samsung Electronics and six engineers from Dongwoo Fine-Chem.
Finally, the team found out a solution - elevating productivity by applying Samsung Electronics' know-how to Dongwoo Fine-Chem. As a result, the team was able to elevate productivity by more than 15% by reducing production time and elevating yields without additional large investment.
Moreover, the two companies have maintained a close relationship by holding an athletic meet for win-win growth for seven years since 2004. In April, Dongwoo Fine-Chem hosted the athletic meet to promote an amicable relationship between the two. "It is a practical win-win partnership activity for employees of both companies to hit if off through the athletic meet," said Moon Hee-chul, vice-chairman of Dongwoo Fine-Chem. "It is difficult for them to do so without trusting each other. I hope this case is spread to other companies." Moon emphasized that a win-win partnership can become stronger on the base of the strong trust between two organizations.
Bigger-than-ever trouble is facing the world LCD market due to a drop in demand and a drop in LCD panel prices amid the worldwide economic slump. Under such tough circumstances, cooperation with customers is urgently needed. "We are striving to overcome this difficulty by pushing for enhancing productivity internally and rationalizing production costs, endeavoring to cut down on total costs for LCD panels and developing high-value-added, high-specification materials such as those for 3D TVs and supplying them at reasonable prices," Moon continued.
Dongwoo Fine-Chem has various basic technologies of Sumitomo Chemical, a world-leading maker, and the capability to develop advanced technologies. The company is geared toward becoming a material-specialized company which offers new value to customers, happy workplaces to employees, and good dividends to shareholders by harnessing our experiences in this business such as R&D capabilities, technological service for customers and joint development.
"At present, our company is preparing to take off anew to become the best partner in the environmental and energy materials sector beyond the semiconductor and TFT-LCD materials sector in the future," Moon said. "At the same time, we are pushing for the development and stabilization of new business, technological differentiation and the reinforcement of our global network."
The digital industry represented by semiconductors and displays is taking the initiative in the 21st century. "A company which can develop advanced materials that can be applied to nano-scale processing will be able to become a real winner in the digital era," Moon explained.
Sumimoto Chemical Co., the parent company of Dongwoo Fine-Chem, has secured the strongest technological power and world-class patents in the OLED sector which is expected to lead the display industry in the future after PDPs and TFT-LCDs.
With the aim of promoting OLEDs as a next-generation growth engine, the company is moving ahead with advanced investment and building a close partnership system with customers. In the LED materials sector, Dongwoo Fine-Chem is in the middle of building a plant to mass-produce sapphire wafers and putting spurs to developing and commercializing related parts and materials such as fluorescent substances, molding compounds, organic metals and MCCLs.
"In addition, we will make big investment in developing energy-related functional materials such as solar energy materials, nano materials, fuel cells and secondary batteries in an effort to foster them as next-generation growth engines," Moon added.
This year, Dongwoo Fine-Chem celebrates its 20th anniversary. "Looking back, Dongwoo Fine-Chem's advancement into the IT and electronic material industry, in particular, the LCD material industry was a momentum for the company's takeoff," Moon recalled.
"We have the best production technology for color filters and our color filters boast the best quality in the world. Our company has the biggest market share in the world color filter market on the strength of the world's biggest integrated production line," Moon continued. "Furthermore, our polarizing film is produced from five production lines. The main item is a 1,960mm-wide film for big-screen TVs. We accomplished the highest efficiency and productivity in the world."
When producing semiconductors and TFT-LCDs, it is of great importance to produce chemicals to develop materials for fine processes, minimize harmful metallic elements, particles, and pollutants and manage product qualities thoroughly.
"Our company localized basic materials such as high-purity process chemicals, etchants, color resists and photo resists for the first time in Korea," Moon said. "Dongwoo Fine-Chem has been contributing to the growth of the semiconductor industry by steadily supplying products while meeting customer needs. This is attributable to the R&D capability, efficiency and speedy management, key strengths of Dongwoo Fine-Chem.
Dongwoo Fine-Chem has 2,600 employees working in Seoul, Iksan, and Pyeongtaek. The company has successfully positioned itself as a main part of the global network of its parent company, Sumitomo Chemical, by growing into a total solution player with 2.3 trillion won in annual sales in the LCD sector. In 2010, the company posted the best-ever sales since its foundation in spite of serious security crises such as the sinking of the Cheonan Warship and the artillery attack on Yeonpyeong Island.
"We are implementing three major plans for 2011," Moon said. "First, we are persevering in our efforts to develop new business such as touch screen panels and sapphire for LEDs through SSLM, a joint venture with Samsung. Second, we are striving to expand our market share through technological differentiation such as innovative product development and eco-friendly technological development. Last but not least, we are building a global network along with Sumitomo Chemical in order to supply our products to overseas markets such as China and Europe in line with the expanding LCD industry."
