POSCO `What shall We Do with the Remaining Manpower?`

The business renovation program, which was developed by POSCO with 200 billion won, is being welcomed at Nippon Steel in Japan.

Nevertheless, within the POSCO, they are concerned about the remaining manpower once the system is fully introduced.

On August 10, POSCO said, `POSPIA`, business renovation system, was launched in July, processing all the businesses in centralized computer system.

A senior officer in POSCO said, ``If the system operates successfully, the value of our company will be enhanced by 4.7 trillion won. But the manpower adjustment will become the biggest concern instead.``

Once the processing time is shortened and the transparency is guaranteed by the system operation, many of the involved personnel will not be needed.

Currently, there are 19,200 employees (as of June 1), in which 17,500 are involved in production lines.

Many POSCO employees agree on the necessity of the productivity improvements but are keen to the treatment of the remaining manpower, worrying about the relevant lay-offs.

An POSCO official said, ``There will be no lay-offs due to the new system introduction.``

Recently, Yoo Sang-Boo, CEO of POSCO, said to reporters, ``I’m considering relocating the remaining personnel, rather than forcefully laying off them.``

Regarding a relocation plan of the remaining manpower, a POSCO official said, ``This can be an idea to relocate technicians to R&D area, and management officials to potential future business.``

For potential future businesses, POSCO have been considering the works related to information communication, energy, bioengineering and environment.

Early this year, POSCO announced that they would enhance the company value of 15 trillion won to 33 trillion won by 2005 by producing high added value products in steel business and raising potential future businesses outside the steel business.

Meanwhile, according to Nihon Keizai Newspaper on August 7, Nippon Steel agreed with POSCO to introduce the information system that can handle broad areas, including production and sales, from POSCO.

daviskim@donga.com