[Asia Economy Reporter Hwang Yoon-joo] Lotte Chemical announced on the 12th that it has implemented a proposal system to internalize the digital transformation (DT) culture and discover practical cases.
Lotte Chemical stated that for the successful establishment of a DT culture, three key elements are essential: voluntary and proactive practice by employees, strong will from management, and a supporting system. Under the policy that decision-making processes should harmonize the 'top-down' approach from management and the 'bottom-up' approach reflecting employees' opinions, the company is concretizing the digital transformation of enterprise-wide systems and work methods.
From July 20 to August 7, the company freely collected proposals from all employees on topics that could enhance corporate value through customer satisfaction, innovation in work methods, productivity and profitability improvement, and cost reduction. The collected proposals will be reviewed by DT officers in each headquarters and division in consultation with relevant teams to select final proposals for application in work processes.
CEO Kim Gyo-hyun said, "DT will ultimately become the most important core asset that strengthens the company's core business competitiveness and enhances value for shareholders and customers." He added, "Although we are going through a difficult period due to demand sluggishness caused by COVID-19 and volatility in crude oil prices, let us overcome the current situation by strengthening internal competitiveness without wavering."
Lotte Chemical proactively established its DT strategy in 2018 and has been developing selected execution tasks in order of priority since 2019.
In response to recent changes in work styles due to the COVID-19 era, the company has built a Remote Desktop System (RDS) that enables work in the same environment as the company and is conducting work using various video conferencing solutions (SKYPE, ZOOM, TEAMS, WEBEX) tailored to customer requests.
In factories, where business trips and face-to-face contact are difficult due to COVID-19, remote inspections and meetings with overseas supervisors are being conducted through smart glasses. The company is also doing its best to maximize factory efficiency by introducing predictive maintenance and Robotic Process Automation (RPA) systems.
Meanwhile, in the advanced materials business, where speed tailored to customer needs is key, Lotte Chemical has established a quality judgment system using AI (artificial intelligence) and a color matching system that predicts dye prescriptions through various product color data and images. The company is considering expanding these predictive systems to the basic materials business division and other chemical affiliates within the group.
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