SEOUL/New Delhi, July 12, 2024 – LG Electronics (LG) reinforced its strategic vision for 2030 in a global press tour conducted this week in Seoul, South Korea. This vision marks a significant transformation from a global leader in home appliances and consumer electronics to a Smart Life Solution company. LG’s ambitious plan, dubbed ‘Triple 7,’ targets a 7% cumulative average growth rate, 7% operating profit, and a sevenfold increase in enterprise value.
During the five-day media tour, media personnel were introduced to the ‘home of the future,’ brought to life by LG through a series of hands-on experiences. The tour included a visit to the LG Innovation Gallery at LG Science Park in Magok, highlighting key future technologies created by LG and its affiliates. Additionally, the tour featured a visit to LG Smart Park in Changwon, showcasing the company’s impressive systems and production capabilities. LG also held informative presentations covering key topics, such as the company’s B2B expansion in mobility and heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) as well as other growth sectors; its strategic goal to apply ‘Affectionate Intelligence’ to its new and upcoming smart life solutions; and its ongoing efforts in brand reinvention and continuous customer experience innovation.
From the Home to the Road: Enhancing Customer Experiences in Various Spaces
LG’s groundbreaking ThinQ UP home appliances can adapt to customers’ changing lifestyles thanks to their unique upgradability without having to make any additional purchases. ThinQ UP technology enables customers to choose and install additional features or functions, providing a more tailored user experience. LG will continuously develop easy-to-install software updates and hardware add-ons, delivering specialized options and new conveniences based on the usage patterns and suggestions of ThinQ UP appliance owners. 1
The Vehicle Component Solutions (VS) Company introduced LG’s software-defined vehicle strategy. The VS Company, which has experienced continuous growth since its successful turnaround in 2022, has reimagined the car as an extension of one’s living space. It is dedicated to delivering immersive in-cabin experiences that redefine the expectations of future automotive design.
Valentin Janiaut, software solutions leader at LG VS Company, noted that cars are fast evolving from a means of transportation to an extension of people’s personal space. LG aims to realize a ‘living space on wheels,’ leveraging its deep understanding of customers to provide a seamless and differentiated in-vehicle experience.
LG is driving the transition to software-defined vehicles with its advanced suite of software, LG AlphaWare. Consisting of five sophisticated core solutions, LG AlphaWare empowers mobility providers to deliver home-like comfort and connectivity to drivers and passengers: PlayWare for in-vehicle entertainment, MetaWare for an engaging and intuitive driving experience, VisionWare for AI-driven driver and passenger monitoring, BaseWare for comprehensive vehicle operating system support, and OpsWare for enhancing software development and cybersecurity.
Advancing B2B Ventures with Smart Factory Expertise
LG Smart Park boasts a digitally enabled, end-to-end three-dimensional logistics system, an advanced analytics system based on edge computing and machine learning, and state-of-the-art facilities that demonstrate LG’s expertise in smart factory planning and construction.
LG is actively expanding its smart factory business, which encompasses production automation systems, AI-driven production planning and operations, and the Digital Twin solution. Earlier this year, the company established the Smart Factory Business Division within its Production Engineering Research Institute and has initiated the commercialization of its smart factory construction technology and operational solutions. LG is committed to partnering with customers throughout the manufacturing journey by providing optimal solutions across all stages – from planning and design to construction and operation.
Leveraging Customized Solutions to Secure HVAC Market Leadership
Another B2B area where LG is actively expanding is the HVAC sector. The company is focusing significant resources on the global market including Asia, which is expected to experience high growth due to an increase in commercial construction and the implementation of high-efficiency energy policies in many countries throughout the region.
LG is targeting Asia and other key HVAC markets with customized, AI-powered solutions – from residential and commercial air conditioners to chillers – that provide differentiated value. The demand for LG’s high-efficiency heating and cooling systems with heat pumps continues to rise. Embracing eco-responsible design and technologies, LG’s heat pump solutions offer reduced carbon emissions compared to conventional systems using fossil fuels and align with the global trend towards electrification.
The competitiveness of LG HVAC products stems from the company’s proprietary core component technology, or ‘Core Tech.’ LG develops and produces essential HVAC components, including compressors and motors, and continuously invests in R&D to advance heat exchanger, inverter, and heat pump technologies.
The media tour provided an opportunity for LG to showcase how it is proactively reinforcing its global human resources infrastructure. With 62 locations worldwide, the LG HVAC Academy provides comprehensive training on the installation and maintenance of LG’s residential and commercial HVAC systems and is expected to train approximately 37,000 technicians this year alone.
Furthermore, LG aims to establish a comprehensive local operation system in key markets such as the U.S. and India. Under this model, R&D, production, sales, and other critical business activities can all be conducted at the local level, enhancing LG’s ability to provide customers in each market with locally tailored solutions and customer service.
A Deep Understanding of Customers for More ‘Affectionate Intelligence’
LG’s ‘Affectionate Intelligence,’ is a concept based on the belief that AI should be capable of caring for and empathizing with customers. LG views AI as a catalyst for future growth and customer experience innovation. The company’s deep understanding of customers, built on decades of experience in consumer electronics and insights gained from 700 billion hours of usage across 700 million LG devices, is driving innovations that bring greater convenience and comfort to people’s lives.
“It’s essential that AI delivers real value to our customers through human-centered innovations, and that’s what Affectionate Intelligence is all about,” said Han Eun-Jung, vice president of LG’s AI Lab. “LG is utilizing its vast repository of insights and hundreds of millions of devices as an AI acceleration platform, which will help us deliver the most customer-centric AI yet.”
With hundreds of millions of its devices, systems, and solutions currently in use across diverse environments – from homes to vehicles to commercial spaces – LG boasts a unique competitiveness in the rapidly evolving field of AI development.
LG’s AI TV, for instance, is powered by the Alpha AI processor, which offers enhanced personalization and added convenience through interactive features. The latest LG AI TVs can recognize the user’s voice based on each unique webOS profile, understanding each user’s viewing preferences, habits, and desires to provide increasingly personalized recommendations.
Connecting with Younger Consumers to Reinvent the Brand
LG highlighted its numerous efforts to connect with younger consumers. At GROUND220, an experiential space created by LG under the theme of ‘My Routinary Life,’ the company is engaging younger audiences by bringing them together to learn how its products can enhance their daily routines.
LG also spotlighted its ‘Optimism Your Feed’ global campaign, which aims to introduce more optimism on social media. A brave optimist at heart, the company collaborated with popular online influencers to create original content for the ‘Optimism Your Feed’ playlist. When interacted with, the playlist pulls uplifting posts into people’s feeds, helping them to feel more positive and encouraging them to be a part of making social media – and the world – a better place.
In 2022, LG launched Life.zip in South Korea, an offline pop-up store designed to expand LG’s Life.zip online community, where consumers share their unique ‘home experiences.’ Life.zip now boasts over 180,000 members, more than 70 percent of whom are in their twenties and thirties. The six floors of the recently opened pop-up offer various activities that can be easily done at home, inviting consumers to try out new experiences. While there, they can also see firsthand how LG’s innovative products seamlessly blend with diverse styles of décor and meet the unique demands of each customer’s lifestyle.