President and CEO Kim Jong-chul of Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) held an inauguration ceremony on the 19th and began his three-year term. In his first remarks, Kim said, "I will take the lead in securing contracts to make up for past failures."
At the inauguration ceremony held at the KAI headquarters in Sacheon, South Gyeongsang, Kim said, "We will enhance the brand value of fixed-wing and rotary-wing aircraft, including the KF-21, as well as unmanned aerial vehicles, satellites, software, and avionics components, and we will work on global marketing activities," and stated accordingly. He added, "We will secure future growth engines such as software including an artificial intelligence (AI) pilot, manned-unmanned teaming systems, and unmanned aerial vehicles."
Kim urged all employees to maintain a sense of crisis. "The world is facing an unpredictable situation, with technological advances such as AX (artificial intelligence transformation) changing so rapidly that it is hard to keep up, and with wars in Ukraine and Iran," he said. "Progress in the aerospace industry is accelerating at a dazzling pace, and our competitors are moving even faster. If we do not change, we will inevitably fall behind," Kim said.
He added, "I ask all employees to work, for the time being, with a mindset equivalent to emergency management. Please handle tasks with speed, cut unnecessary expense, and present solutions that do not shift responsibility." He also said, "To survive brutal competition, a 'One Team KAI' is essential," and added, "From business planning onward, let's strengthen horizontal communication across all departments."
In his inaugural address, Kim presented four key management priorities for KAI's renewed leap forward: ▲ unceasing innovation and challenge ▲ business development and expansion of the future business portfolio ▲ creation of a win-win cooperation ecosystem ▲ One Team KAI.
After the ceremony, Kim inspected the production site for the mass-production KF-21 aircraft scheduled for rollout at the end of March. He then visited major production lines and offices, including the fixed-wing building, rotary-wing building, space center, and development center, to encourage employees and begin on-site management.