Last February, CEO Jung-Hyun Yim conducted an interview with MFG (Manufacturing), a South Korean production and manufacturing magazine.
MFG is a specialized industrial magazine published in South Korea that covers overall manufacturing fields such as machine tools, machining technology, automation, smart factories, and measurement and quality control, focusing on industry trends, technologies, and corporate case studies.
In this interview, CEO Jung-Hyun Yim discussed operational strategies for expanding overseas sales.
Please refer to the details below.
KORLOY accelerates its growth into a global brand through expanding overseas revenue share
KORLOY, a cutting tool specialist company celebrating its 60th anniversary this year (CEO Jung-Hyun Yim), has secured strong brand recognition in the domestic cutting tool market based on over half a century of accumulated technological expertise.
According to a survey conducted by this publication last February targeting domestic manufacturing professionals, 55% of respondents answered that they are “aware of the KORLOY brand.”
Based on this brand competitiveness, KORLOY is accelerating its transformation beyond a simple tool manufacturer into a “DX-driven global total tooling solution provider.”
Manufacturing has now entered the era of “branding”
In general, “brand” is often perceived as a concept belonging to consumer goods such as fashion or home appliances. However, even in manufacturing sectors such as cutting tools, brand recognition has become a key factor influencing corporate credibility and purchasing decisions. Customers in manufacturing sites are not simply purchasing the tool itself, but are also choosing the quality reliability, precision, process stability, and long-term technical partnership guaranteed by the brand.
The background behind KORLOY’s long-standing trust in the domestic market is clear. It is because the company has consistently maintained three core values: Precision, Reliability, and Technology.
KORLOY minimizes quality deviations by managing the entire process in-house, from carbide material design to production and inspection. This technology-based stability has been the key factor in establishing KORLOY as a “trusted brand” in domestic manufacturing sites.
In addition, its product planning and R&D system that quickly responds to market demands is also a major competitive advantage of KORLOY. The company provides total tooling solutions along with optimized inserts, turning, milling, end mills, and drills for various industries such as automotive, aerospace, defense, and mold & die, and has particularly contributed to improving productivity in the domestic manufacturing sector through tools designed for difficult-to-cut materials.
CEO Jung-Hyun Yim of KORLOY stated, “The reason KORLOY is trusted in domestic manufacturing sites is not simply due to product quality,” adding, “The essence of the KORLOY brand lies in its technical capability to solve customers’ problems to the very end.” This reflects KORLOY’s consistently emphasized strategy of providing field-oriented technical support.
65% of revenue from overseas markets … The global competitiveness of “K-tools” recognized worldwide
The influence of the KORLOY brand is now expanding beyond the domestic market into the global arena. Currently, KORLOY has established a sales network in 90 countries worldwide, with overseas sales accounting for 65% of its total revenue—a figure that continues to grow steadily each year.
This indicates that KORLOY has gone beyond being a simple export-oriented company and is being recognized as a premium brand in global manufacturing sites. By building local partnerships in key regions such as the United States, Europe, China, India, and Brazil, and providing technical services optimized for each region’s manufacturing environment, its “Glocalization” strategy is being evaluated as successful.
Recently, interest in the KORLOY brand has been increasing across major manufacturing countries, including Europe, Southeast Asia, and the United States. In particular, KORLOY’s technological capabilities are receiving positive evaluations in the aerospace and defense sectors, where the proportion of difficult-to-machine processes is high.
In addition, KORLOY is actively implementing “experience-based global marketing” by strengthening brand credibility through overseas buyer invitation programs, participation in global exhibitions, and local technical seminars. This strategy goes beyond simple product displays, allowing customers to directly experience KORLOY’s technology on-site, and is producing tangible results in expanding global partnerships.
CEO Jung-Hyun Yim stated, “KORLOY is a company that best understands the value created by technology,” adding, “The technology, precision, and trust embedded in our brand will continue to be recognized in the global market.”
KORLOY’s “Global Premium Brand” Marketing Strategy
Amid a market environment of slowing domestic sales growth this year, KORLOY has established a core marketing strategy focused on expanding revenue in overseas growth markets and in countries with strengthened QC competitiveness, building on the previously mentioned success of its Glocalization strategy. CEO Jung-Hyun Yim explained, “Securing growth opportunities in overseas markets to complement the limitations of the domestic market is the starting point of this year’s strategy.”
In particular, KORLOY is focusing not on simply increasing volume, but on strengthening product competitiveness and improving the quality of its revenue mix. The strategy is to enhance responsiveness centered on cost competitiveness for standard ISO products, while further elevating the quality competitiveness of KORLOY’s proprietary products to expand the proportion of high value-added proprietary offerings. Through this, KORLOY plans to gradually shift its revenue structure from being centered on standard products to a higher proportion of high value-added proprietary products.
Targeting growth industries is also a key pillar of this year’s marketing strategy. KORLOY is pursuing a strategy of focusing on industries with strong mid- to long-term growth potential, such as aerospace, defense, shipbuilding, and medical sectors. These industries require high levels of technology and offer stable demand, and KORLOY aims to strengthen its competitiveness by providing specialized products and technical support tailored to these sectors.
A representative product aligned with this growth industry strategy is the “Super grade (SNC805/SPC810).” SNC805/SPC810 is a premium turning grade specialized for machining heat-resistant alloys commonly used in the aerospace industry, delivering stable performance in processing difficult-to-cut materials such as Inconel, Waspaloy, Rene, Hastelloy, Haynes, and precipitation-hardened stainless steel. KORLOY has designated this product as one of its key offerings for this year and is expanding its application primarily in high value-added industries such as aerospace and defense.
In addition, KORLOY is promoting overall business growth by expanding endmill sales, while also securing future growth drivers through the expansion of new business development.
Strengthening organizational capabilities centered on overseas markets
To execute these strategies, KORLOY is focusing on strengthening its sales and technical support systems centered on overseas markets. The company plans to enhance application and industry-specific technical support capabilities to improve customer-tailored responsiveness, while further specifying growth strategies by key countries and operating them with an execution-focused approach. In addition, KORLOY is reinforcing its new business development organizational structure to accelerate the discovery and commercialization of new business opportunities.
Strengthening responsiveness to rising raw material prices and ensuring supply stability amid rapidly changing conditions is also identified as a key strategic task. To flexibly respond to changes in the global market environment, KORLOY is reorganizing its pricing and cost management systems, while simultaneously pursuing strategies to enhance product supply stability for customers and focusing on profitability-driven sales. Furthermore, the company is strengthening its Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) to address various risks such as exchange rates, raw material prices, and market volatility.
CEO Jung-Hyun Yim of KORLOY stated, “This year’s marketing strategy focuses not on short-term sales expansion, but on strengthening competitiveness in overseas markets and transitioning to a high value-added business structure,” adding, “We will build a mid- to long-term growth foundation by expanding the application of our key products, including super grades, centered on strategic industries such as aerospace and defense.”
