LG Philips LCD celebrates 10th anniversary as leader

GUMI, North Gyeongsang ― LG Philips LCD Co. is the world’s largest maker of liquid crystal displays, and like many successful companies, it had humble beginnings. On Aug. 18, the company celebrated the 10th anniversary of the first shipments from its production plant in the Gumi Industrial Complex in North Gyeongsang province, which began operation in January 1995. At the time, LG Philips LCD did not even exist ― it was an LCD production wing under LG Electronics Inc. ― and Japan’s Sharp, Hitachi and Toshiba were the dominant players in the industry. Thus, when the first line of 9.5-inch LCD panels was loaded at the Gumi factory, it did not generate much buzz among foreign buyers, who considered the Korean firm technologically challenged. A decade later, LG Philips employs 13,000 workers, has six production plants and a module assembly facility, and produced more than 52 million panels, posting 8.2 trillion won ($8 billion) in sales last year. In this year’s first half, the company had the largest market share in the world for LCD panels of over 10 inches at 22 percent, thanks to success in television displays and computer monitors. For its remarkable and quick rise, the company is crediting its workers’ efforts to top Japan by going right to the source. They attended LCD technological seminars in Japan, and some even went through garbage bins for discarded documents at Japanese LCD makers in an attempt to obtain critical information. “We had to pick up Japanese because we wanted to learn technologies from Japan,” said Yoo Joong-ho, head of the company’s sixth plant in Gumi. “After a while, we even got to understand regional dialect, slang and proverbs.” The hard work paid off, and LG Philips, which already boasts six top-notch production factories, including the world’s first fourth- and fifth-generation LCD manufacturing sites, is not about to rest on its laurels. It plans to add a new complex of over 330 hectares (815 acres) of land in Paju, Gyeonggi province, next year. “We were ranked first in the first half,” said Lee Bang-soo, a senior executive at the company, “but with increasing oil prices and the fluctuating dollar-won rate, we can’t afford to sit back and relax the rest of the year.” by Lee Chul-jae