With the borders open, GMA visited Southeast Asia to reconnect with our customers and distributors, identifying new opportunities for product growth throughout the region.

GMA visits key shipbuilding businesses in South Korea

During GMA’s visit to Asia, the APAC team travelled to South Korea to reaffirm ties with long time distributor Mr. Kim and company JD Hawke, gaining

valuable insight into the region’s surging shipbuilding industry.

In 2020, South Korean shipbuilders won orders for 187 vessels, accounting for 43 percent of the global shipbuilding contracts. In 2023, the region’s orderbook has surged to over $7 billion amid a global demand for high end ships. GMA’s engineered range, in particular PremiumBlast™ and the ability to meet demand of supply was of interest to JD Hawke Director Mr. Kim, with the GMA product noted as the garnet of choice among key shipbuilding businesses in South Korea.

“Visiting some major shipbuilding yards in South Korea was a very valuable experience for us at GMA. We left with a better understanding of the requirements of these customers regarding their abrasive needs as well as general industry drivers,” said APAC Sales Manager, Chris Manger.

“A key take-out for me was the alignment of the key benefits of GMA abrasives with the challenges facing the South Korean shipbuilding industry. Skilled labor shortages in the shipbuilding industry and the need to maintain the highest quality of work while improving profitability positions GMA as a strong solution in its product offering – high productivity, improved surface quality and reduced consumption.

“I’m looking forward to working closely with our local partner, JD Hawke, and the global industry leaders in shipbuilding to tackle some of these issues.”

General Manager International Sales and Marketing, Flynn Cowan recognized the importance of the visit, and meeting Mr. Kim, who has been a distributor of GMA Garnet in South Korea for more than a decade.

“It was a great opportunity to tour with Mr. Kim through some major shipbuilding companies in the region to further understand their requirements,” he said.

“With the borders now open, we look forward to continuing to further expand our partnerships with Mr. Kim and JD Hawke and look at the opportunity of introducing more of GMA’s engineered blends into South Korea in the future.”

GMA APAC is planning a return trip to Southeast Asia before the end of the year, including Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, re-engaging key distributors in the region and identifying new and emerging opportunities for GMA to continue to grow the product worldwide.

With GMA’s new Business Development Manager Kenneth Khoo based in Malaysia, and Yasuo Igarashi joining the GMA Garnet APAC Sales Team as

Business Development Manager (BDM) –North East Asia (NEA), the growing APAC team will play a big role in achieving this outcome in the near future.