Daehan Steel Taps IBM for Business Transformation Initiative

February 22, 2010

IBM has signed an agreement with Daehan Steel Co., Ltd., one of Korea's leading steel makers, to embark on the second phase of the company's enterprise-wide business transformation project.

The business transformation project is part of Daehan Steel's enterprise-wide innovation strategy to support the future growth of the company as "a total steel solution provider" focused on the fast-growing rebar manufacturing business.

"We have selected IBM to be our strategic innovation partner because of its strong track record in helping many leading companies transform their business models and processes," said Chi-hun Oh, Vice President, Daehan Steel. "IBM has completed the first phase of our business innovation project with great success. We are confident that the second phase will benefit the long-term growth of Daehan Steel not only in Korea but also in the global marketplace."

During the six-month business model and process reengineering project, IBM will support the establishment of a contract management system, standard cost management, supply chain management (SCM), operation system, enterprise resource planning (ERP) system, pricing strategy planning and diagnosis of Information Technology operations.

Daehan will be able to improve the efficiency of the marketing, sales and pricing management and the entire supply chain functions end-to-end – from demand forecast to production, inventory control and logistics, as well as post-sale services. By improving the decision-making process and IT support service capabilities, Daehan Steel will be able to respond with agility to market demands in the Korean and global marketplace.

Seung-yong Cho, global partner, IBM Global Business Services, IBM Korea, said, "IBM has worldwide talent and expertise in helping businesses transform their business models and processes in order to find new growth opportunities. Daehan Steel's transformation initiative will enable their company to remain a leader in the steel industry in Korea."

Last year, Daehan Steel kicked off the enterprise-wide business innovation initiative to move to an operational model as a client-centric company through the enhancement of the processing business. IBM was selected as the business partner for both the first and second phase of the project.

In the first phase of the business innovation initiative, Daehan Steel engaged IBM Global Business Services to develop the corporate strategies, business portfolio transformation and enterprise-wise organizational change for and define the project scope of the business innovation initiative, as well as set up the corporate governance and compliance model. Furthermore, it processed transformation in business management, sales, marketing and supply chain management, which is part of its efforts to turn the company into a client-centric service corporation.

The agreement was signed in November 2009.