LG Electronics Subsidiary ZKW Achieves 1 Billion Euro Sales Last Year... "Expecting Record Sales Next Year"

[Asia Economy Reporter Suyeon Woo] LG Electronics' subsidiary ZKW announced on the 18th that it achieved sales of 1.03 billion euros (1.3892 trillion KRW) last year despite the difficult economic situation caused by COVID-19. ZKW expects to expand its business next year and set a record high in sales.

ZKW plans to establish new development offices in Olomouc, Czech Republic, and sales and development offices in Shanghai this May, expanding its global branches to a total of 12. The Czech branch will support the global engineering network and perform additional development tasks to increase the production capacity of the existing Austrian branch. After establishing the branch, 50 new jobs will be created, and more than 100 professionals will be employed by 2023.

Additionally, ZKW plans to implement a strategy that leverages the excellent workforce and automotive industry expertise in the Czech region. Olomouc is a city with a long tradition in automotive headlight development and production. Since it has the second oldest university in the Czech Republic and its own lighting department, it is expected to recruit specialized new employees and involve them in lighting system development. ZKW plans to hire skilled engineers in the automotive industry in the fields of lighting, design, electronics, and software.

A ZKW employee is inspecting a vehicle headlight product.
Photo by ZKW

The new sales and development office in Shanghai will support the existing branch located in Dalian. According to a ZKW official, this is a strategic decision to get closer to clients such as SGM and Volvo. A 200㎡ office will be established to support sales, development, and purchasing tasks. Starting from April this year, employees will be hired to expand the team to a total of 15 professionals by 2022.

Oliver Schwert, CEO of the ZKW Group, said, "We have secured enough orders for the next three years and expect to achieve record sales next year," adding, "We will work with our employees to address various challenges such as digitalization, fierce competition, and sustainability."

Despite the COVID-19 pandemic last year, ZKW formed a special task force (TF) team to adjust the supply chain and has been striving to maintain the supply chain within the group. At the end of last year, it secured 150 million euros (approximately 202.3 billion KRW) in funding from the European Investment Bank (EIB), and plans to expand the scope of corporate innovation activities based on this funding. It will also invest in sustainable manufacturing and eco-friendly development, such as energy efficiency systems at the Krusovice plant in Slovakia.

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