Lotte Group Chairman Shin Dong-bin inspects production readiness during his first visit to Lotte Biologics' Songdo Campus Factory 1 on July 3. [Lotte Holdings]
Lotte Group Chairman Shin Dong-bin inspects production readiness during his first visit to Lotte Biologics' Songdo Campus Factory 1 on July 3. [Lotte Holdings]

Lotte Group Chairman Shin Dong-bin has designated biotech as a key driver of the conglomerate's future growth and is stepping up hands-on oversight of the business.

According to Lotte Holdings, Shin visited Lotte Biologics' Songdo Campus Factory 1 on Thursday to personally review the order pipeline and commercial production preparations — his first visit to the facility. The factory completed its main construction roughly two years after breaking ground and recently received occupancy approval.

During the visit, Shin toured the facility's major production processes before receiving briefings on the status of orders from global clients and the company's forward strategy.

"Biotech is a core industry that will lead the group's next leap forward," Shin said, urging staff to "do their utmost to ensure all scheduled milestones after completion proceed without a hitch."

Senior executives from Lotte's biotech and construction divisions joined the inspection, including Lotte Biologics co-CEOs Park James and Shin Yu-yeol, and Lotte Engineering & Construction CEO Oh Il-geun. Shin Yu-yeol — the chairman's eldest son and head of the Future Growth Division — also attended, lending further weight to the group's flagship future business.

Lotte Biologics has finished installing production equipment and building key systems, and has entered the final preparation stage ahead of full-scale orders and commercial production.

The company plans to begin trial operations and production system validation at Songdo Factory 1 in the second half of this year. Lotte said it aims to complete Good Manufacturing Practice certification — the stage at which equipment and quality systems for pharmaceutical production are fully established — within the year, roughly six months ahead of its original schedule.


attom@heraldcorp.com