Recognized for leadership in quality management

Data-driven decision-making system strengthened

Failure costs cut 70% against sales compared to 2022

HD Hyundai Electric President Kim Young-ki (right) receives the Global Quality Management Award at the 2026 Korean Society for Quality Management Spring Academic Conference, held at the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry on May 29. [HD Hyundai Electric]
HD Hyundai Electric President Kim Young-ki (right) receives the Global Quality Management Award at the 2026 Korean Society for Quality Management Spring Academic Conference, held at the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry on May 29. [HD Hyundai Electric]

HD Hyundai Electric announced Sunday that President Kim Young-ki received the Global Quality Management Award at the 2026 Korean Society for Quality Management Spring Academic Conference, held May 29.

The Global Quality Management Award goes to business leaders who have made significant contributions to South Korea's industrial development and quality management, and who have demonstrated a track record of corporate social responsibility. The Korean Society for Quality Management has conferred the award every year since 1998.

Kim has made quality the top priority in managing the company, driving company-wide quality innovation as a core competitive advantage in the global power infrastructure industry. As a result, HD Hyundai Electric has secured a string of orders, particularly in the United States, where large-scale AI investment is driving surging demand.

Kim has also pushed to strengthen data-driven decision-making and advance the digital transformation of quality management. HD Hyundai Electric upgraded its quality data platform, enabling real-time management of various data streams. It also introduced augmented reality-based quality inspections that compare engineering drawings against actual assembly conditions in real time, boosting inspection efficiency.

Through these efforts, HD Hyundai Electric cut its failure costs as a proportion of sales by roughly 70 percent last year compared with 2022. Over the same period, sales and operating profit rose 93.8 percent and 648.3 percent, respectively.

"This award is the result of company-wide quality innovation pursued under the principle that quality is never a subject for compromise," Kim said in his acceptance remarks. "We will continue to uphold that uncompromising principle to maintain customer trust."


yeongdai@heraldcorp.com