Entering Medical Device Manufacturing
Expanding Robot Business and Vending Machine Operations
Doosan Heavy Industries to 'Doosan Enerbility'
[Asia Economy Reporter Oh Hyung-gil] Doosan Group, which successfully graduated early from creditor management, is pursuing endless transformation through swift investments. The group is preparing innovations following the painful restructuring involving the sale of affiliates such as Infracore. From eco-friendly energy businesses to semiconductors, robotics, and hydrogen sectors, Doosan has made a startup-like debut in its 126-year corporate history.
On the 29th, Doosan Co., Ltd. added medical device manufacturing and vending machine operation as new businesses to its articles of incorporation at the 59th regular shareholders' meeting held at Bundang Doosan Tower in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province. Following its entry into the semiconductor business, the company is emphasizing medical and robotics as new growth engines.
In December last year, Doosan invested $100 million in SiO2, a U.S.-based company engaged in the storage container business using advanced materials for pharmaceutical storage, marking its entry into the advanced materials business for pharmaceutical storage.
SiO2 is a pharmaceutical container company that manufactures and supplies storage containers used in mRNA vaccines for COVID-19 prevention by global pharmaceutical companies and has secured supply chains for over 100 mass-produced and clinical products. Doosan secured exclusive business rights for SiO2 products in the Asia-Oceania region and laid the groundwork for future domestic manufacturing.
The vending machine operation business is connected to collaborative robots. Doosan Robotics, which has led the domestic collaborative robot market, recently entered the food tech market by introducing modular robot cafes, cooking robots such as the fried food and noodle cooking robot Cookbot Chef, and ice cream robots.
Semiconductors are also a field where Doosan’s choice for business diversification is materializing. Earlier this month, Doosan acquired Tesna, the number one company in semiconductor testing, for 460 billion KRW, planning to nurture the semiconductor business as a core sector alongside energy (power generation) and industrial machinery.
Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction also announced at the shareholders' meeting that it will change its name to ‘Doosan Enerbility’ and actively foster growth businesses such as gas turbines, hydrogen, offshore wind power, and small modular reactors (SMR).
By 2026, the company plans to invest 300 billion KRW in the hydrogen turbine sector and 200 billion KRW in offshore wind power, aiming to increase the proportion of orders from growth businesses from single digits currently to over 60% by 2025. To this end, Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction is developing an 8MW offshore wind power generation system following the commercialization of a large gas turbine scheduled for this year and is participating as the lead institution in a national project to develop an 8MW floating offshore wind power system.
Doosan Group’s transformation stems from the blueprint envisioned by Chairman Park Jeong-won. Former group chairman Park Yong-man completely severed ties with the company by disposing of all Doosan shares held with his two sons, allowing Chairman Park Jeong-won to lead the crisis breakthrough.
On the 27th, the Doosan Tower building in Dongdaemun-gu, Seoul, is visible as the government decided to inject 1.6 trillion won into Doosan Heavy Industries, which is facing financial difficulties, through the Korea Development Bank and the Export-Import Bank of Korea. Photo by Kang Jin-hyung aymsdream@
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