posco AMERICA

- Urges increased operation rates, productivity... Promises support for new product development including high strength steel plates

Chairman Joon-yang Chung visited USS-POSCO Industries (UPI) and United Spiral Pipe (USP) in California on August 12th and encouraged employees.

Chairman Chung complimented the devoted efforts of employees at UPI, which celebrated its 25th anniversary on April 1st, contributing greatly to POSCO`s entrance into the U.S. market.

Chairman Chung had a brown bag lunch meeting with UPI executives, hearing about the current company status and requesting to find an improvement plan that can overcome the difficult management situation. He especially mentioned to complete the new investment for UPI`s Pickled-Oiled (PO) facility in the planned period, while promising to provide POSCO`s support in UPI`s new product development including Advanced High Strength Steel (AHSS) for automobiles.

Chairman Chung continued and visited the cold-rolled factory with executives and showed his great interest in the `Hazard Map,` a UPI safety activity tool. He said nothing should come before safety and safety means not only love for myself but also love for my family and colleagues. He also urged to improve quality based on safety.

Chairman Chung also visited USP`s American Petroleum Institute (API) steel pipe factory to check on the operation status. This factory was completed on November 2nd, 2009 as a joint venture between POSCO, U.S. Steel, and SeAH Steel. Chairman Chung held a meeting with dispatched members of the three companies and USP executives, encouraging their efforts for management improvement, and ordered to achieve normal operations soon through cost reduction and securing quality. He also emphasized that the three companies must proactively support USP`s contracting activities to help sales expansions of API steel pipes.

Sangwook Oh sangwook@posco.com
(Data=UPI)

Hazard Map
Hazard Map is a safety activity operated by UPI. A board for each facility is installed and operated with a detailed map highlighting areas that are affected or vulnerable of particular hazards including compression, fire, slipping, and gas explosions, allowing workers to prepare safety measures in advance to prevent safety accidents.

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Chairman Chung encouraged employees during his rounding of UPI (photo) and USP on August 12th in California, U.S. POSCO jointly established UPI with U.S. Steel in 1986 and USP in 2007 with U.S. Steel and SeAH Steel.