Hankook & Company Group holds affiliate innovation conference to sharpen mid- to long-term strategy

Hankook & Company Group announced Monday that it held an "affiliate innovation conference" at Technoplex in Pangyo, Gyeonggi Province, from Thursday to Friday to flesh out its mid- to long-term business strategy.

The two-day event brought together some 50 senior executives from six affiliates, including Chairman Cho Hyun-bum, Vice Chairman Lee Su-il of Hankook & Company Group, co-CEOs Kim Jun-hyun and Park Jong-ho of Hankook & Company, and co-CEOs Ahn Jong-sun and Lee Sang-hun of Hankook Tire & Technology. Each affiliate's chief executive presented first-half business results and mid- to long-term strategies.

Hankook & Company Group holds the affiliate innovation conference annually to sharpen execution of its mid- to long-term growth strategy. Following Hanon Systems' management strategy innovation conference in May, at which the company unveiled its 2030 mid- to long-term vision and growth strategy, Hankook Tire & Technology is scheduled to hold its own management strategy innovation conference in October.

Participants discussed strategies for navigating external uncertainties — including global tariff tensions and Middle East risks — as well as ways to strengthen competitiveness across business units. The group also explored how to secure mid- to long-term growth drivers through new business development and generate group-wide synergies by expanding collaboration among affiliates in business, technology and infrastructure.

Particularly prominent at this year's conference was AI transformation, or AX. As AI rapidly reshapes the broader paradigm and drives the spread of electrification-, automation- and data-driven manufacturing innovation, the group aligned on a common direction: accelerating the transformation of business practices and organizational culture on the foundation of digital transformation, or DX.

The six affiliates agreed to go beyond simply adopting AI and instead build operational frameworks that embed it into actual work and business processes, while continuously verifying return on investment to internalize an AI utilization model optimized for the group.

The group also noted that as physical AI begins to be applied in earnest on the factory floor, equipment competitiveness is evolving beyond basic automation toward AI-driven learning, judgment and autonomous operation. In response, the affiliates agreed to establish AI-based standard systems across their manufacturing and logistics sites to raise productivity and quality and lift overall manufacturing competitiveness to the next level.

Building on the conference, Hankook & Company Group plans to proactively respond to a rapidly changing market environment and create new growth opportunities by rallying its affiliates' capabilities around the unified "Hankook" brand strategy.

Meanwhile, Hankook & Company Group continues to pursue corporate social responsibility across a range of areas, including its participation for the fifth consecutive year as a sponsor of the "2026 815 Run" campaign — organized by Habitat for Humanity Korea and joined by singer Shawn — in support of housing welfare.