OREANDA-NEWS. June 27, 2014. POSCO is introducing an evolved win-win growth program considering suppliers of suppliers by personal visit to their sites.

CEO Kwon as well as POSCO officers and employees visited the offices of Chosun Refractories in Pohang, and held an open discussion with 60 representatives of primary and secondary suppliers. In the discussion, POSCO gathered requests of suppliers regarding the win-win growth program, and sought ways to improve the program. This event reflects the company`s will to `personal visit` the sites of suppliers in order to hear their actual opinions and immediately establish improvement plans, breaking away from the format of previous `supplier invitational` discussion.

In this discussion, POSCO introduced 90 opinions collected through last discussions with suppliers in the Seoul, Pohang, and Gwangyang regions in May.

POSCO directly explained 60 items of these that were rooted in a lack of awareness of the exact facts or misunderstandings to solve some of the questions about the win-win growth system, and decided to improve 25 items on-site immediately. Lastly, 5 items that require government level policy changes such as deregulations on information security was decided to be reviewed over time to seek desirable alternatives.

POSCO decided to make not only officers but suitable experts in particular fields for suppliers` needs participate in activities of the `Officer Win-win Growth Support Group,` which offers management consulting or technical advice to small and medium companies, to offer customized support.

Also, the support range of test equipment owned by POSCO will be expanded from member companies of techno-partnership involved in technology support and joint development to excellent suppliers and companies taking part in the win-win growth project.

There are plans to minimize damage when faulty products are unintentionally supplied by suppliers, while quality certification levels will be further segmented into 10 levels from the previous 5 for differentiated management to increase supply competitiveness.

Along with this, direct orders for equipment to be used at production sites will be expanded to twice as the current amount, and direct order items will be expanded. Business opportunities for small and medium suppliers will be expanded as well as the purchase process will be simplified as investing companies and small and medium companies will be able to form consortiums and take orders in package form, going beyond ordering simple equipment from small and medium companies.

For small and medium companies faced with difficulty to find routes abroad, POSCO will provide overseas purchase information by utilizing its global network.

At the discussion, CEO Oh-joon Kwon said, ``We will approach suppliers first by listening with attention to even the smallest of voices to achieve solid win-win growth. Just like the idiom `gathering the wisdom and advice of many people can lead to great success,` we will think and communicate one another to achieve greater win-win growth.``

The VOCs of suppliers, which of were suggested at the discussion, will be explained in detail to each supplier, and in case improvements require time such as system establishment, the results will be shared at the Partner`s Day event held on November.

Meanwhile, POSCO received the highest `most excellent` level in the 2013 Win-win Growth Index Evaluation announced by the National Commission for Corporate Partnership on June 11th. The Win-win Growth Index is calculated based on the combination of the `Fair Trade and Win-win Growth Cooperation Evaluation` of Fair Trade Commission and the `Small and Medium Company Level of Perception` of the National Commission for Corporate Partnership.