Hanwha Momentum, the battery equipment business unit of Hanwha Corporation, was actively hiring staff, including those from Samsung and LG, to bolster its battery equipment operation, TheElec has learned.
The business unit had recently hired Kwon Ki-suk, whose previous position was an executive advisor at LG Energy Solution, as vice president and taskforce leader of Europe, sources said.
Kwon joined LG Group in 2000 through LG CNS. He worked at LG Electronics’ Production engineering Research Institute (PRI), then worked at LG Energy Solution’s Europe division.
At Hanwha, he will work on customer support and finding new customers there.
Earlier this year, Hanwha Momentum also hired Seo Jong-hwi, who worked as vice president and head of the automated guide vehicle robot center at Samsung Electronics, as vice president.
The battery equipment business unit also hired Lim Hyung-seok, who was manager of the equipment technology development team at Samsung’s chip division, as taskforce leader of next-generation machine development.
For the past year, Hanwha had hired a total of five executives who previously worked at Samsung and LG, sources said.
It began the hiring spree with the appointment of Ok Kyeong Seak, who previously worked at Samsung Electronics, as president of its battery equipment business unit.
Hanwha Momentum is currently supplying equipment to South Korean batter cathode maker EcoPro BM. It mostly supplies kiln used in the mixing of precursors with lithium and cobalt.
It is also the main supplier of electrode equipment to Samsung SDI.
President Ok had told employees to focus on securing new customers like Northvolt, sources said.
The recent hires are a reflection of the business unit’s desire to achieve that goal, they added.
