I wish for the health and well-being of the LCC employees and the happiness of the new year. I am also grateful to all people in Korea and abroad who have led the LCC as a firm-grounded company and help us realize our vision as an exporting company by expending our products to the world. In particular, I wish for the happiness of the new year of Mr. Hina, the president of Pieras and his employees who have given us detailed feedback which was very useful to improve the quality of our products. Thanks to them, we succeeded turning our product into luxury gargle in Japan so that my employees are strongly proud of their effort and the products they make.

In 2018, there were many factors that the uncertainty of the global economy grew bigger. The trade war between United States and china was one of them. It also had a significant effect on Korean economy. I was afraid that Korean economy system would be in danger. The major leading industries in Korea, shipbuilding, automobile, construction and steel industry fell sharply. These phenomena contributed to the collapse of Korean economic fundamentals. The newly implemented policies such as minimum wage increase, a 52 hour workweek, and other regulations applied to companies create more hostile situation which gives a hard time to self-ownership. Domestic investment by foreign companies is decreasing so domestic companies try to relocate their factory abroad. Therefore, the number of job vacancy is getting lower and lower, which worsen unemployment in Korea. Eventually, a vicious cycle in which investment and consumption decline would be rooted in the Korean economy system.  

For the last year, we, LCC , tried our best in those belligerent conditions so I believed we have accomplished many achievements such as increasing sales and improving profitability. Last year, one of our top-selling products, Lip Care was exported in large quantities and Propolinse gargle products were diversified and succeeded to enter global market like United States and Europe as well as domestic market.  Besides, we exploited automatic Dispenser and expanded its sales field to United States last year. BDF·UL sales department was moved to Seoul to contribute ourselves more to satisfying our customers. Our overseas outsourcing of L/C subsidiary materials is also proceeding successfully and we have become able to preemptively respond to export volume by expanding three factories.

Inside of our company, LCC, we are actively promoting Clean Day event aiming at the state of the art hygiene and we are getting closer and closer to the goal. We have developed ERP·MES management system and turned our factories into smart factories. We have upgraded quality management and productivity by strictly following regulations. We also have taken advantages of our award system and made many offers. Most of all, we adopted new welfare policies. We have provided housing and tax deduction for our employees. We are keeping enhancing the working environment with    Refresh Day and those improvements above. The biggest achievement is the fact that more and more employees want to stay longer in LCC and they all have greater sense of responsibility.

Although Domestic and overseas economic situation is getting difficult, I listed up six new year resolutions to keep myself focused and realize the vision of the firm-grounded company

First, we will make more effort to make all of employees happy and by supporting their dreams. For the married employees, we provide housing which is the major factor to settle down. For the employees who are single, we provide comfortable and cozy dormitory. Like this, we, LCC, are willing to be a part of our employees’ life. We are designed for making various efforts to set and spread a reading culture among the employees. All employees are going to be provided with four complimentary books per year which are selected and read by themselves. By expanding and improving awards system, we are going to encourage the employees to make more proposal and to practice more frequent 5S so that they can promote their performance. Our employees will become more confident and proud of their capacity. I completely believe that all those effort would lead to LCC with good quality and strengthened price competitiveness in the global market. If the company offers young employees supportive working conditions where they can speak up, receive valuable feedback from their seniors and be rewarded for their effort and sincerity, the young employees with high potential would decide to be loyal to the company and never want to leave the company. To realize the vision for the firm-grounded and long-lasting company, it is necessary to fertilize the young generation. They are immature and amateurical for now but they will definitely be the huge asset for the company.

Second, for active on and off line Marketing of Propolinse products and sales growth, we are willing to accept requests and offers from  Pieras. On the purpose of the Health Club tasting event, we are going to supply five hundreds complimentary Dispensers. For enlarge sales of Dispenser Gargle to Casino and styling fields, we are willing to supply additional five-hundreds to one thousand complimentary products in case of be requested. Also, we are reviewing the request of complimentary shashe as a sample. To export our products to China, United States and Southeast Asia, we are promptly develop a variety of new products and packaging. To succeed in the domestic market, we are well focused on Olive Young, a national chain shop and home shopping project. We dispatch our practitioners to the buyers in Japan and fix a quality issues every time it is raised even if it is a minor error. By taking part in more exhibitions next year, we will obtain essential feedback on our products and catch up the new trends. We are planning to keep improving ourselves and spirits to become better.

Third, we are going to put a lot more effort into targeting US market for gargles and cosmetics. With Automatic Dispense which is geared towards Americans with Disabilities Act, we are planning to concentrate on the areas in which a variety of fast food chains are densely located in United States. With Gentry as the center, we are planning to dispatch our employees more frequently to United States to obtain information and activities which support sale and marketing. Also, we have come up with many plans to upgrade quality and price competitiveness. To help Thera Breath, one of our cooperative companies based in the United States, to expand its share in Asia markets including Korea, we are going to add spurs to our OEM production, which will support our plan to expand our export area all directions.

Fourth, To Expand the export volume of Lip Care products, we are going to increase the production lines of the products and establish additional facilities. With the expansion of the Lip Care plant, which is currently being completed with the goal of completion in upcoming March, it is going to becoming the largest factory in Asia. We are able to be well-prepared for twenty million to thirty million export potentials to the US and European markets. Based on Know-how of manufacturing, filling and packaging accumulated over twenty years, we are going to keep ourselves focused on productivity improvement and quality improvement. Also we are planning to take a full advantages of our know-how in pioneering niche markets such as coffee shops and bakeries in Korea by developing a variety of new products including ultraviolet protection products.

Fifth, we are planning to expand overseas outsourcing of subsidiary materials. If Samsung and LG did not produce their smartphones overseas in Vietnam, they would have been overwhelmed by Apple and could not become global leaders. If our L/C production and supply also insisted on domestic procurement of subsidiary materials, our exporting would not have been possible as a matter of course, not to mention the price competitiveness. Therefore, we are going to develop the Cap-Mechanic of the L/C on our current OMI company, actively promote Dispenser Cover production, plating and overseas outsourcing of other materials. As we have solved the quality issue of L/C with our persistent efforts, we are able to cope with overseas production in China, which is expanded and added, by sufficiently cooperating with a good retailers, appropriate dispatch and quality management.

Finally, we plan to try developing a variety of new products and renew packages with the aim of achieving sales of five billion KRW in Daiso malls by 2020. In spite of the downturn in the domestic economy, we assume that sales of low-cost Daiso goods will increase further. With over ten years of our persistent efforts, our ORIOX brand has become firmly established. Therefore, we need to develop diverse sales strategies and tactics to increase sales of our products at Daiso malls while maintaining the top selling position in the niche market with our best sellers such as sauna goods, cosmetics and dispense gargle.  

Employees! Thank you for your contribution and loyalty to LCC last year. In the new year, we will try to build a wider area with the quality and price competitiveness we have achieved in the global market and we will continue to make efforts to establish ORIOX brand more firmly in Korea, which will leads us to realize our final goals, long-lasting and firm-grounded LCC. 

CEO BAIK, SUNGCHUN