1,560 Ideas Submitted by Half of Employees
Grand Prize Winner Receives 20 Million Won
EcoPro is accelerating its 'innovation management' initiatives to build a management system that enables continuous growth, even amid the ongoing global management crisis.
In particular, the company has identified three key areas of innovation?technological innovation, process innovation, and organizational culture innovation?as essential to seizing opportunities that may arise after the crisis.
On the 1st, Dongchae Lee, the founder, attended the third quarter quarterly meeting held at the EcoPro headquarters in Ochang, Chungbuk. Photo by EcoPro
Dongchae Lee, the founder of EcoPro, emphasized during the third quarter meeting held at the Ochang headquarters in Chungbuk on July 1 (KST), "The challenges ahead can only be overcome if all 3,600 employees join forces to find solutions."
He called on employees to pursue a diversified portfolio with cost competitiveness and to broaden the customer base through innovation. He stressed that, although companies may experience production downturns or business difficulties, they must remain vibrant and dynamic under any circumstances.
He also highlighted that batteries are a core infrastructure for future industries such as AI, autonomous driving, and robotics. He emphasized the need to meet a wide range of customer needs by expanding product lines beyond high-nickel products to include mid-nickel, manganese-rich (LMR), and all-solid-state batteries, which offer better cost-effectiveness.
In particular, he stated that a corporate culture where young employees can say 'NO' is essential for a sustainable company. He said, "For a 30-year-old employee to work at EcoPro for 30 years, they must be able to speak out boldly against what is wrong," expressing strong support for change led by younger staff.
Founder Dong Chae Lee is taking a commemorative photo with Baekgwang Seo, the person in charge at Ecopro Innovation, who won the grand prize in the Innovation Idea Contest. Photo by Ecopro
Reflecting this commitment to innovation, EcoPro held an awards ceremony on the same day to recognize innovative ideas proposed by younger employees.
The 'Innovation Idea Contest,' held from April to May for all employees of the group, received a total of 1,560 submissions. From these, ideas that would contribute to productivity improvement, process efficiency, and cost reduction were carefully selected, resulting in one grand prize and three gold prizes being awarded.
Additionally, the company introduced the EP (Ecopro Professional) system to recognize office staff who have delivered outstanding results based on innovative thinking.
The EP designation is awarded to employees who have achieved innovative outcomes in areas such as research and development, intellectual property management, production, processes, construction, and plant management.
The first EPs in the EcoPro Group are Byungil Cho, head of the patent team at Ecopro BM (director), and Minsu Kim, head of the equipment technology team at Ecopro EM (director). Byungil Cho was recognized for his expertise in patent strategy development and issue response, while Minsu Kim was acknowledged for his ability to solve on-site problems.
Employees selected as EPs receive executive-level salaries and compensation, and play significant roles in identifying and improving key issues in their respective fields, as well as training successors.
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