Korean firm makes the world’s coin blanks
Workers at the Poongsan factory in South Chungcheong province. One of the world’s top makers of copper products, the company supplies 60 nations, including the United States, with coin blanks. Provided by the company
The office space of Poongsan Corp. doesn’t befit a company of its size and status. Chairman Ryu Jin and his 200 employees rent out two floors of a building to run the world leader in manufacturing copper coin blanks.
Poongsan’s management doesn’t lack capital ― they’re simply following the wishes of the late founder, Ryu Chan-u, who founded the company in 1968. Mr. Ryu would say, “If we have money to build a new office, we might as well spend it on new machines.” Ryu Jin, his second son, operates the same way.
On that foundation, Poongsan became one of the world’s top makers of copper products, turning out 300,000 tons annually and jostling with Italy’s KM Europa Metal and Finland’s Outokumpu on the international stage.
Poongsan also supplies some 60 nations, including the United States and European Union members, with coin blanks, which were turned into coins used by 3 billon people worldwide. Poongsan’s competitiveness comes from its one-stop production process ― the firm centralizes all the necessary steps to make coin blanks in a single factory.
The senior Mr. Ryu was known for his patriotism. A descendant of Ryu Seong-ryong, an instrumental figure in the Joseon Dynasty’s battle against Japan in 1592, Ryu Chan-u’s business philosophy was never to do anything to harm or embarrass the nation. That philosophy was hardly more apparent than in 1968, when he jumped into the trading business in Japan’s copper industry, with no experience.
He founded Poongsan in the belief that, for the nation’s industry to thrive, the material sector must flourish. By 1969, Poongsan was operating a factory in Incheon, producing brass and nickel by blending copper with zinc. Fledgling local electronics companies could count on home-made materials, which helped them cut costs and grow competitive.
In the 1970s, Poongsan began supplying Korea Minting and Security Printing Corp. with coin blanks, and in 1973, its new factory in North Gyeongsang province began producing military ammunition.
The company also started exporting coin blanks, its signature item. The Taiwanese government was the first to buy them in 1973, followed by Thailand, Singapore, Australia, Egypt, Israel and the Republic of South Africa.
Poongsan then expanded its export network to the United States, Japan, Sweden and the European Union. The company says that if one lined up all the coin blanks produced by Poongsan, it would circle the globe 40 times.
Its factory in South Chungcheong province propelled Poongsan to global leadership in copper, churning out 110,000 tons a year. In addition to coin blanks, copper alloy sheets and pipes are also shipped out. In 2005, Poongsan’s exports amounted to $700 million.
In 1989, to facilitate Poongsan’s U.S. marketing, the company established an affiliate in Iowa. Mr. Ryu then forged a relationship with the American presidential family.
When then U.S. President George Bush was visiting Korea in 1992, chief executives at five Korean companies that invested in the United States were invited to a dinner with him. Mr. Ryu was among them, and he asked Mr. Bush if the president could attend the tape-cutting ceremony for Poongsan’s new U.S. factory. The president said he would try.
On the day of the ceremony, the president had a schedule conflict, so First Lady Barbara Bush attended instead. Since then, the Ryus and the Bushes have exchanged Christmas cards, and have met whenever one family visits the other’s country.
In November 2005, Mr. Bush took a tour of the hometown of Ryu Seong-ryong, the Joseon dynasty figure, in Andong, North Gyeongsang province.
With its new management, Poongsan has been trying to move past its conservative corporate culture. Ryu Jin, who assumed the chairmanship after his father’s passing in 1999, has frequented regional factories to familiarize himself with all facets of the company.
He hosts birthdays for employees and holds periodical “hamburger meetings” with them. He also hands out tickets to concerts and shows.
Thus Mr. Ryu is acting on the words spoken at his inauguration ― that he’s not a chairman, but an employee who represents everyone else.
By Rah Hyun-cheol JoongAng Ilbo [jeeho@joongang.co.kr]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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