Key Drivers in the Post-Corona Era: 'So-Bu-Jang' Companies Stood Out

2021 National Productivity Awards
'Gold Tower' Big Minhwan, Chairman of Silkroad S&T
'Silver Tower' Nam Seokwoo, Vice President of Samsung Electronics
18 Meritorious Persons and 22 Companies Honored
Increase of Materials, Parts, and Equipment Companies from 26% to 42%

Park Min-hwan, Chairman of Silkroad S&T (center), is taking a commemorative photo after receiving the Gold Tower Order of Industrial Service Merit from Ju Young-jun, Director General of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, at the 45th National Productivity Awards held on the 2nd at COEX, Samseong-dong, Seoul.

"Core Driving Force in the Post-COVID Era: Digital Productivity Innovation" is the slogan for this year's National Productivity Conference, hosted by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and organized by the Korea Productivity Center. The event aims to encourage industry professionals to seize the post-COVID period as an opportunity for a new leap forward. Notably, this year’s event was especially meaningful as it recognized numerous contributors and companies that have strengthened South Korea’s industrial competitiveness, including an increased number of awards to companies in the materials, parts, and equipment sectors.

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (Minister Moon Seung-wook) and the Korea Productivity Center (Chairman Ahn Wan-gi) held the 45th National Productivity Conference on the 2nd at COEX in Samseong-dong, Seoul. Since its inception in 1975, the National Productivity Conference has been the most prestigious event in the productivity field in Korea, highlighting the importance of productivity innovation as a core factor in enhancing national competitiveness, and recognizing leading companies and contributors in productivity.

This year’s event was held with fewer than 100 attendees in accordance with the phased recovery guidelines from COVID-19. About 90 people attended, including Joo Young-joon, Director General of Industrial Policy at the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy; Ahn Wan-gi, Chairman of the Korea Productivity Center; Jeong Gap-young, former president of Yonsei University; award-winning companies; and industry executives. For those unable to attend, the event was simultaneously broadcast live on YouTube.

At the conference, 18 distinguished contributors and 22 companies were honored, including Park Min-hwan, Chairman of Silkroad S&T, who received the Gold Tower Industrial Medal, and Nam Seok-woo, Vice Chairman of Samsung Electronics, who was awarded the Silver Tower Industrial Medal. Chairman Park, who received the Gold Tower Industrial Medal, has worked in the construction materials industry for 47 years. He was the first in Korea to develop and successfully mass-produce the next-generation material "3rd Generation Admixture," which improves concrete strength. At that time, only a few countries, including Japan, possessed the technology to manufacture 3rd Generation Admixtures. Chairman Park made a decisive contribution by localizing the core raw materials of admixtures, completely replacing imports. Furthermore, through establishing overseas subsidiaries and organizing systematic related teams, he contributed to productivity improvement and job creation in the materials industry by exporting to over 70 countries worldwide. It is also notable that since its founding in 1983, the company has maintained exemplary labor-management relations based on trust and coexistence, without forced layoffs or labor disputes.

Vice Chairman Nam, who received the Silver Tower Industrial Medal, has been engaged in semiconductor process development for 33 years. He contributed to national economic development and productivity improvement by strengthening the semiconductor industry's competitiveness through core process development and next-generation product development. He is particularly recognized for leading the pioneering development of semiconductor core technologies such as DRAM high-k dielectric film formation technology, securing technological competitiveness. His representative achievement includes the industry-first commercialization of a 3D vertical stacking structure of cells using "V-NAND etching technology," which uniformly etches pyramid-shaped 3D cells vertically from top to bottom. Based on this, he led the memory industry as the only one to mass-produce 6th generation V-NAND and achieve a 20% productivity improvement.

Notably, the proportion of awards given to companies in the materials, parts, and equipment sectors significantly increased compared to last year. Last year, such companies accounted for 26% of awardees, but this year the figure rose to 42%. Nearly half of the companies awarded at the National Productivity Conference are from the materials, parts, and equipment sectors. The Korea Productivity Center explained that this trend reflects improved self-reliance in core technologies and fundamental strengthening of industrial competitiveness following Japan’s export restrictions.

Representative examples of achievements by materials, parts, and equipment companies include Hanamaterials, which localized silicon materials to enhance South Korea’s competitiveness in the materials industry and improve productivity, and GFI, which developed the country’s first microcapsule fire extinguisher containing fire suppressant agents. Other notable awardees include Lotech Engineering, which succeeded in localizing wireless communication components; Daewon Gijeon, which enhanced national defense industry competitiveness through R&D and production of military supplies; and AI Platform, which develops artificial intelligence digital therapeutics.

Joo Young-joon, Director General of Industrial Policy, stated, "With rapid environmental changes both domestically and internationally, such as digital transformation and carbon neutrality, interest in ‘productivity’ is higher than ever. The government will continue to strongly support efforts to enhance the productivity and innovation capabilities of our companies."

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