[CEONEWS=Reporter Kim Byeong-jo] President Ryu Jae-cheol, who has led LG Electronics’ world-class home appliance business as the Head of the HS (Home Appliance & Air Solution) Company, was appointed as the new CEO in the year-end executive reshuffle. CEO Ryu Jae-cheol has been entrusted with the critical task of spreading the "No. 1 DNA" of LG Home Appliances—which has consistently delivered differentiated customer value—throughout the entire company.
Ryu joined the Goldstar (now LG Electronics) Home Appliance Research Institute in 1989. Having spent roughly half of his career in appliance R&D, he is a "technical businessman" who has led the business based on a high level of technological understanding. Since 2021, he has served as the Head of the H&A Company, overseeing LG Electronics' core home appliance business, and solidified LG’s status as the undeniable global No. 1 in terms of single-brand revenue.
Even amidst recent challenges such as delayed recovery in consumer sentiment and intensifying competition, he has solidified the market position of key products. Simultaneously, he has laid the foundation for sustainable growth through consistent advanced R&D focusing on fundamental performance, which is the root of product competitiveness. He has also contributed to improving the business structure by strengthening B2B areas such as built-in appliances and component solutions, while providing differentiated customer value through the "UP Appliance" paradigm, which offers continuous function upgrades even after purchase.
▲ A Technical Leader Who Started at Goldstar Research Institute and Rose to CEO
CEO Ryu Jae-cheol is a technical businessman who started his career at the Goldstar Home Appliance Research Institute in 1989 and rose to the position of CEO. He spent about half of his tenure in appliance R&D, and subsequently used his deep understanding of technology to lead the business, contributing to enhancing the fundamental competitiveness of LG home appliances and providing differentiated customer experiences.
Since 2021, he has led the H&A Company, which serves as LG Electronics' core business and "cash cow," elevating LG home appliances to the global No. 1 position among single brands. Despite the global home appliance market being considered a "red ocean," under Ryu's three-year leadership, the business achieved an impressive Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 7% in revenue.
Performance in North America, the largest premium home appliance market, has also been outstanding. LG Electronics solidified its No. 1 position in the U.S. home appliance market with a cumulative market share of 21.8% as of the third quarter of this year. In Consumer Reports' "Most Reliable Appliance Brands," LG ranked highest among comprehensive appliance companies for six consecutive years. Additionally, in the "Consumer Satisfaction Assessment" by U.S. market research firm J.D. Power, LG ranked No. 1 in four categories: French Door Refrigerators, Side-by-Side Refrigerators, Dryers, and Microwaves.
▲ Spreading the "No. 1 Home Appliance DNA" Built on Strong Execution to Create Competitive Advantage
CEO Ryu’s management philosophy can be summarized as "Surfacing Problems" and "Strong Execution." This stems from his belief that constant self-reflection and thorough self-awareness are essential to creating fundamental business gaps from a macroscopic perspective.
Ryu believes that all solutions begin with properly recognizing the essence of the problem. The activity of "surfacing problems," which started in securing competitiveness in purchasing and manufacturing, is expanding across the entire value chain. This is being deployed to increase the speed of business development and secure structural competitiveness.
In fact, this year, the HS Company held a "Problem Surfacing Contest" for all domestic and international employees. The purpose was not top-down unilateral instruction, but to discover and innovate areas needing improvement from the perspective of working-level staff. The thousands of problems identified in this contest and their solutions are leading to the enhancement of LG Home Appliances' fundamental competitiveness.
Ryu is also well known for hosting the GIB event at the end of every year, summoning hundreds of leaders from the business division to order strong organizational execution and personally encourage them. GIB stands for "Go Into Battle," a leadership workshop that embodies the meaning of approaching business with the mindset of a general entering a war. It is an event where all leaders gather before starting the next year's business to expose issues raised during the year, reflect intensely, and resolve to achieve the next year's goals.
▲ A "First Mover" Leading the Competitive Landscape Based on Deep Understanding of Customers, Technology, and Markets
Based on a profound understanding of customers and technology, CEO Ryu has employed a "First Mover" strategy to lead paradigms and dominate the competitive landscape.
Representative examples include the "UP Appliance" paradigm, which provides continuous feature upgrades after purchase, and the home appliance subscription business, which offers differentiated value by combining appliances with services. Since its debut in Korea in 2022, UP Appliances have expanded to North America and Europe. Recently, the cumulative number of UP Appliance feature upgrades by global customers exceeded 20 million. UP Appliances are expected to become the foundation for developing platform business models in the home appliance sector. Subscription revenue exceeded 1 trillion KRW the year before last, and cumulative revenue for the third quarter of this year is approaching 2 trillion KRW.
Another successful response to changing business environments is the "Swing Production System," which flexibly operates production networks worldwide to minimize business impact in response to changes in U.S. trade policy in 2025. Despite the impact of U.S. tariffs, LG Electronics' home appliance business saw an increase in cumulative revenue and operating profit in the third quarter compared to the previous year.
Recently, to target emerging markets represented by the "Global South," new factories are being constructed in places like Sri City in Andhra Pradesh, India, and Paraná, Brazil. These factories will supply locally customized products in a timely manner and serve as production bases supplying products to neighboring regions such as South Asia and Latin America.
▲ Accelerating Innovation Across Products and Operations by Rapidly Leading AI Transformation
Judging that core competencies of the appliance business such as Quality, Cost, and Delivery (Development Speed) can be innovated through AI, CEO Ryu has been at the forefront of driving AX (AI Transformation).
He introduced inference-based AI powered by OpenAI’s enterprise-grade "ChatGPT Enterprise" to the home appliance R&D division for the first time in the company. By inputting various variables, results can be derived without actual experiments, significantly reducing R&D duration and development costs. This serves as a foundation for freely proposing bolder ideas, verifying them, and creating innovative products.
The HS Company's generative AI-based data analysis system, "CHATDA (CHAT based Data Analytics)," creates a database of global customer usage information collected through the ThinQ app and products, allowing users to find information by conversing with AI.
"CHATDA" is useful for developing customized products optimized for diverse lifestyles not only in premium markets like North America and Europe but also in diversifying business environments such as the Global South. For example, by deriving the fact that Brazilian customers wash clothes frequently but with small loads per wash, the UX sequence for the "Small Load Quick Course" on washing machines for Brazil was moved to the front. LG Electronics reports that data analysis time, which previously took 3 to 5 days, has been shortened to within 30 minutes using CHATDA.
▲ "Let's Change the Competitive Landscape with Speedy Execution"
On December 23, CEO Ryu Jae-cheol sent a New Year's video message to over 70,000 employees working around the world. Ryu emphasized, "Over the past few years, we have solidified our fundamental competitiveness and added new growth engines, proving that LG Electronics' strategy and execution power work in the market," adding, "LG Electronics' strength lies in creating gaps in competitiveness through thorough customer-centric preparation and execution speed."
He identified "speed" as the keyword for strengthening the competitiveness of core businesses. CEO Ryu ordered, "The key to winning in a fiercely competitive environment is speed. In terms of product leadership, we must strengthen core component competitiveness and rapidly commercialize 'Winning Tech' to change the market landscape and create a gap that competitors cannot easily follow." This means focusing on areas where the company can lead trends and win competitions from the perspectives of customer value, business potential, and technological competitiveness.
Attention is focused on what moves Ryu Jae-cheol, a technical businessman, will make in the home appliance industry, which has become even more intense with the integration of AI.
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