Huh Chang-soo, Former Chairman of the Federation of Korean Industries, Visits Outstanding Advisory Company Speedrack
Speedrack Amazon-Dedicated Production Line Completion Ceremony
First Performance Review of FKI Advisory Committee Since Inauguration
[Gimpo=Asia Economy Reporter Kim Heungsun] "Having managed businesses for over 40 years, I realized the importance of learning from experienced individuals. I believe that if the management advisory committee of the Federation of Korean Industries (FKI) transfers the know-how accumulated in the field to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), it will greatly help their growth."
On the 24th, Huh Chang-soo, chairman of FKI, visited a small business that succeeded in entering the US Amazon marketplace with the help of the FKI management advisory group and shared his thoughts. Chairman Huh visited Speedrack, a prefabricated angle shelf manufacturer in Gimpo, Gyeonggi Province, toured the production line, and attended the inauguration ceremony of the Amazon-dedicated production line. This was the first time since his inauguration that Chairman Huh checked the advisory results of the FKI management advisory group on site.
At the event, Chairman Huh said, "Creating a second and third Speedrack is the core strategy for the co-growth of large and small-medium enterprises," and urged, "Please continue to strengthen the advisory committee and support active activities." In response, Min Hyogi, CEO of Speedrack, said, "Within two weeks of entering Amazon, we ranked 74th in the shelf category," and added, "We will become a strong small business that expands exports and employment by creating a dedicated production line for Amazon exports."
Huh Chang-soo, former chairman of the Federation of Korean Industries (right), visited Speedrack, a prefabricated angle shelf manufacturer located in Gimpo-si, Gyeonggi-do, on the 24th, and shook hands with Min Byung-oh, chairman of Speedrack. Photo by Federation of Korean Industries
Founded in 1979, Speedrack was a small business with sales of around 6 billion KRW until 2014. At a crossroads of growth, CEO Min sought help from the FKI management advisory group in early 2015. Six advisory members judged that growth required not only the personal ability of the manager but also a systematic management system. Accordingly, they established R&D and marketing teams and improved personnel systems such as a responsibility management system for department heads and team leaders and a performance-based pay system. They also timely purchased land and invested in facilities to expand production capacity. Furthermore, they shared concerns about necessary matters over time, such as improving logistics and packaging quality and analyzing customer requirements, to sustain growth.
Since then, Speedrack's sales exceeded 10 billion KRW in 2016 and surged to 36 billion KRW last year. This year, the sales target is set at 50 billion KRW. Since June last year, with the help of the FKI management advisory group, they challenged entry into the US Amazon marketplace with overseas sales team employees, achieved the goal, and announced their leap to a global brand along with the inauguration of the export-dedicated production line. They plan to expand into North America, Europe, and Japan in the future.
The FKI SME Cooperation Center launched the FKI management advisory group in 2004, consisting of 40 former CEOs and executives from major groups. Leveraging the capabilities of talents with successful experiences in large corporations as a strength, they provided 22,265 consultations to 10,861 companies until last year. The center plans to increase the proportion of close joint consultations, currently about 30% based on the number of companies, to over 50% to spread Speedrack's success model to other companies.
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