South Korea’s Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) Group plans to invest USD 1.8 billion in research and development (R&D) programs by 2021 through its newly established independent shipbuilding company – Hyundai Heavy Industries.
Under the plan, the new HHI will invest in developing eco-friendly and smart ships, enhancing offshore engineering capability, and establishing smart shipyards.
For quality enhancement of its products and services, HHI will set up lessons-learned database by accumulating engineering failure cases.
In the longer-term, HHI Group plans to spend 6-7% as a percentage of annual sales in R&D.
HHI Group has split up its businesses into four different companies: HHI; Hyundai Electric & Energy Systems; Hyundai Construction Equipment; and Hyundai Robotics.
The four companies will appoint chief technology officers in charge of driving product development, drafting technology strategy, and nurturing human resources, and expand numbers of researchers to 10,000 from current 4,000.
At a tree planting ceremony at HHI’s Ulsan shipyard to commemorate HHI Group’s rebirth, vice chairman & CEO of HHI Kwon Oh-gap, said: “As today marks new chapter in our history, the three newly established companies will make utmost efforts to rank the global top 5 in their respective fields by making quality and technology top priorities.”