Hyundai ENG Strengthens Engineering Center "Comprehensive Management of Basic Design-EPC Orders"

[Asia Economy Reporter Yuri Kim] Hyundai Engineering has embarked on strengthening the capabilities of its Engineering Center, which was established in 2017. Beyond its existing role of supporting plant design, the company plans to actively engage in sales activities by participating from the basic design stage to ultimately securing design, procurement, and construction (EPC) contracts. Hyundai Engineering aims to transform into a world-leading EPC solution company through this paradigm shift.

On the 30th, Hyundai Engineering announced that it has established and will promote the 'Engineering Center 2025 Vision' based on these principles.

The company's Engineering Center was launched in 2017 as a specialized plant design organization by integrating design personnel from each business division to enhance plant design capabilities and secure design synergies across processes. Approximately 1,500 employees, about 25% of the total 5,938 employees, belong to the Engineering Center (as of the end of 2019).

Hyundai Engineering has set its vision for the plant design sector by 2025 as 'ALL Phases Engineering Total Solution Provider.' This means advancing total management capabilities that provide and manage solutions for successful project execution at every stage (process) of plant construction.

Hyundai Engineering stated, "To achieve this vision, we have set three strategic goals for the Engineering Center," and will actively pursue ▲ proactive basic design (FEED & Basic Engineering) ▲ strengthening detailed design (Detail Engineering) ▲ applying expert development programs.

The company plans to secure basic design capabilities that surpass those of global EPC companies. Currently, domestic plant EPC companies remain confined to bidding, contracting, and simple construction and commissioning structures. Hyundai Engineering emphasized, "We will shift the sales paradigm by participating from basic design, which establishes the fundamental plan before EPC bidding, including plant feasibility analysis, to eventually securing EPC contracts."

To this end, the company intends to enhance its basic design capabilities through strategic alliances and personnel exchanges with global leading plant companies such as KBR and TechnipFMC. The company added, "This year, we will participate in more than 10 basic design bids in Southeast Asia, Russia, and Europe, and strategically pursue sales so that projects won can be linked to future EPC contracts."

Detailed design will also be strengthened. By enhancing design quality, the company aims to implement designs optimized for construction, contributing to profitability improvements related to project volume, cost, and schedule. To achieve this, IT-based design automation will be realized. The plan is to implement artificial intelligence (AI) design based on big data by 2025. Starting this year, Hyundai Engineering will digitize all design drawings, input quantities, and prices from its past plant projects.

The company will also focus on strengthening the capabilities of business engineers. It stated, "We will apply expert development programs that enable professionals to understand the process from feasibility studies to product commercialization, anticipating customer needs in advance to lead to business proposals and contract sales," and "by introducing the concept of business engineers, we will emphasize engineering capabilities in securing contracts." Hyundai Engineering plans to operate and expand various training programs to support engineers' growth, including not only EPC but also the Fourth Industrial Revolution, dispatch and training at advanced companies, strategic coaching leadership, organizational management, and understanding of plant products.

Han Dae-hee, Executive Director of Hyundai Engineering's Engineering Center, said, "With the ongoing low oil price trend, the scale of plant orders remains stagnant, and we established this vision believing that strengthening technical competitiveness through technical sales is the only solution to survive in the global EPC market."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.