Company presents three-pronged quality strategy for 2026

Korea Aerospace Industries held the "2026 KAI-Partner Company Quality Improvement Seminar" at its headquarters in Sacheon, South Gyeongsang Province, on Wednesday. [Korea Aerospace Industries]
Korea Aerospace Industries held the "2026 KAI-Partner Company Quality Improvement Seminar" at its headquarters in Sacheon, South Gyeongsang Province, on Wednesday. [Korea Aerospace Industries]

Korea Aerospace Industries held the "2026 KAI-Partner Company Quality Improvement Seminar" at its headquarters in Sacheon, South Gyeongsang Province, on Wednesday, the company announced Thursday.

The event brought together Kim Hyung-su, head of KAI's quality division, and representatives from 40 partner companies involved in next-generation domestic aircraft programs — including the KF-21 and the Light Armed Helicopter — as well as commercial airframe projects for Airbus and Boeing. The seminar covered KAI's key quality strategies, best-practice presentations on quality innovation and improvement by partner firms, and an awards ceremony.

KAI unveiled three quality strategies for 2026 aimed at creating sustainable growth opportunities grounded in customer-focused excellence.

On preventive quality, the company plans to review risks in production processes and strengthen quality gates at vulnerable stages. To develop specialized talent, KAI will designate dedicated engineers for each partner firm and expand support for quality training and certification, with the goal of significantly raising technical capabilities across the aerospace industry. The company will also pursue improvements to its quality inspection regime — tightening direct inspections at vulnerable processes to manage risk while expanding the autonomous authority of partner firms at stabilized ones.

The seminar also featured awards for the Quality Innovation Competition, best-practice presentations by six companies, the "Partner Company Best Quality Award" for firms that contributed to quality targets through accident prevention and improvement activities, and the "Outstanding Quality Partner" award recognizing companies that demonstrated excellent quality management and strong earnings performance.

"We will continue to work hand in hand with our partner companies to address quality issues on the ground and spare no effort in close cooperation to make the quality ecosystem across the aerospace industry even more robust," Kim said.


keg@heraldcorp.com