Samhwa Paints
Huh Sung was inaugurated as new Chief Operating Officer of Samhwa Paints Industrial in March.
As the new COO, Huh swears to expand into the global market as a strong business engine, going beyond being Korea’s number one paint company. At the inauguration speech last March, the new COO stressed the importance of becoming a practical leader that can utilize the competence and experience that the company has built from overseas experience under the company’s goal of “Globalization and R&D reinforcement.”
As a concrete vision for Samhwa, he presented the idea of “Making Samhwa paint a part of the Korean wave.” The intention is to become a global company with products that have globally-recognized quality.
The slogan “Drop by Drop” was chosen to represent the company’s efforts in achieving the goal. The slogan is interpreted to mean that the company is going to “forge ahead with unceasing innovation by satisfying the consumers after containing every drop of their thoughts and needs.”
The newly-sworn-in COO also quoted a Chinese idiom that can be spelled out as “forging ahead against the waves with big winds at the back,” saying that the idiom really hits home since it reminds him of a company that pushes forward into a successful future.
He also called for the unrelenting efforts of all of the company’s staff in making the company the world’s best paint company.
Huh Sung previously worked for AkzoNobel as a global purchasing executive until February this year, and took the COO position with Samhwa. He has a PhD in economics from Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada.
The paint company secured its number one position in the construction paint market, and its sales in industrial paint are rapidly growing on the back of the company’s superior technology. The company has a bright future in the 3 trillion won (US$ 2.9 billion) local market thanks to stabilized raw material prices, business area expansion, and the changing needs of end users.
The company successfully expanded its business when it developed electronics-suitable plastic paint. The paint looks like textured metal when it is painted on plastics, so it has started to be used in IT and electronics. The company posted last year’s operating profits at 43.5 billion won (US$42 million), 92.5 percent year-on-year, on the back of its fastgrowing branch in Vietnam. The company is making two new factories as well, one in Gongju City to be completed in the second quarter, and another in Ansan City, scheduled to produce both liquid and powdered paints.
“Dream Painting” - the Company’s Social Work in Cambodia
Between March 29 and April 3 in Cambodia, the paint giant offered “Dream Painting” social work as part of its overseas community service in cooperation with the Salvation Army Hanarum Family and comedian Ahn Sang-tae. During the period in Phnom Pehn, the company fixed up and painted houses in the slums, and offered renovation services as well as classes on “colors” when visiting a 35-year-old countryside kindergarten. Also, Samhwa Paint’s Facebook friends delivered aid funds and 1,000 jump ropes to the Salvation Army Hanarum.
A company associate said, “We will continue our social work to give hope to people in need by offering paint and other social services.”