Story of a Big Player from Gangnam

It was Monday.

Gun-Ho went to work at GH Mobile in Jiksan Town along with Chan-Ho Eum. GH Mobile was currently building an additional production site; H-beam was being constructed when Gun-Ho arrived there that morning. A H-beam was standing upward without a wall yet.

When Gun-Ho was walking around the construction site, Director Jong-Suk Park, who was also the plant manager, came to Gun-Ho quickly.

Gun-Ho said, “It seems that the site has been cleared, and the excavation is completed as well. The H beam columns are being built up.”

“Yeah, the excavation was done while you were in China. Once the cement dried out, they took out the mold and placed the H-beam. All the noisy work was done during the weekend.”

“So, you had to come to work even during the weekend, huh? I’m sorry to hear that.”

“It was not just me. Dyeon Korea’s Director Yoon, and President Song came to work on Saturday and Sunday as well.”

“I see.”

“President Song said that we will place all of the additionally ordered machines in this new production site.”

“Are we leasing all the hydraulic press machines from Hyundai Capital?”

“President Song took care of that part, so I don’t know about it for sure. But, I heard that he’s going to lease machines.”

“With the new production site in this location, will we have enough power capacity?”

“Yeah, it should be okay for now. We don’t have to discuss with Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO) about it yet.”

“I see.”

“Bro, do you remember the old days when we worked together at a furniture factory in Pocheon City?”

“Remember what?”

“That furniture factory’s owner president once failed to pay the electricity bill, and people from KEPCO came to our factory.”

“Hmm, yeah I remember that. The bill was 4.6 million won, and when the factory owner didn’t pay the bill, they sent a bucket truck and linemen, and they actually cut off the electricity line.”

“We hadn’t received our salary for two months at that time.”

“Yeah. We were paid 1.8 million won per month, and he didn’t pay our 3.6 million won. I think that we went to the department of labor later on to get the substitute payment provided by the government, right?”

“Yeah, we eventually received that substitute payment, and that factory filed bankruptcy.”

“That was all the owner president’s fault. He was only interested in having fun with new female workers rather than running his business properly. Whenever we have a new female worker at the factory, he always chased after her butt. If he liked a woman’s butt that much, he could have just gone to a bar that provides that sort of service. Why did it have to be one of our workers?”

“He was just a nasty pervert who was old.”

Gun-Ho and Jong-Suk Park walked around the construction site slowly.

Jong-Suk said, “Bro, how is Jae-Sik bro doing in China? Is he doing well?”

“Yeah, he is doing fine. We had a press conference the other day, and tens of journalists gathered around Jae-Sik to take photos of him and to interview him. It looked like he became a public figure or something.”

Jong-Suk chuckled and said, “I guess he became a celebrity in China.”

“Once Jae-Sik settles there, why don’t you take a trip with your wife and visit Jae-Sik?”

“I’ve heard that there is a village where only some ethnic minorities were living.”

“Right. There are Miao people and also Zhuang people.”

“Bro, you know what? I’m a happy person because I have brothers. Gun-Ho bro watches my back in Korea, and if I go to Shanghai City, Min-Hyeok bro is there to buy me a drink. And, now, I have Jae-Sik bro in China’s west area— Guizhou Province— who will pick me up at the airport with his car and buy me a drink. I’m so lucky.”

“Hahaha. I’m happy that I have a little brother like you.”

Gun-Ho went up to his office and had a cup of tea. When he was sipping his hot tea, President Song entered his office.

“Sir, One of Chrysler’s executive officers, who we met at the motor show in Chicago, wants to visit our company.”

“Come to our company?”

“Yes. They are coming to Korea to visit their authorized distributor here, and they want to come to our factory as well. I think this could be an opportunity for us to increase their product order with us.”

“That sounds good. Please be ready for them. We will need to give them a good impression and have them have a good experience here.”

“Okay.”

“How are we doing with A Electronics?”

“We are doing very good. The volume of the product order on their research center’s newly developed products in Suwon City has increased to almost the same volume of product order that we are supplying to their factory in Dangjin City.”

“I guess we won’t have any problem with reaching 5 billion won of monthly sales revenue then.”

“I believe so. As long as we maintain good quality on our products without defects, we will be a steady vendor of A Electronics. The plant manager of their factory in Dangjin City told me multiple times that we have to make sure that we provide good products without any defects. If we produce defective products, our production lines will have to stop anyway.”

“Hmm, that’s true.”

“The mold that A Electronics gave to us is the one that had been used by their previous product supplier that had provided them with defective products.”

“So, we are using the same mold that their previous vendor used with which many defective products were produced. Are we able to maintain the good quality of the product with the mold?”

“Director Jong-Suk Park and our research center’s chief officer— Director Oh— analyzed the possible cause of their previous vendor’s defective products. According to them, their previous vendor seemed to have used raw materials that were mixed with some recycled materials, and also, it seemed that the temperature that they had set was way too high, when the products were coming out from an extruder.”

“Hmm really?”

“Director Jong-Suk Park and Director Oh conducted their own analysis separately, but they came up with the same results. Therefore, I think the two causes that I mentioned earlier must have led to the defects.”

“Hmm, so they used raw materials that contained some recycled materials…”

“That is a common practice in the industry even though they are not supposed to do so. It’s a result of their attempt to lower the product cost.”

“Hmm, still, they shouldn’t have used recycled materials at all. It’s not like they are manufacturing a frivolous product like a plastic water bowl. And, why would they set a high temperature in manufacturing a product?”

“They did it probably in order to speed up the production.”

“Speed?”

“With a high temperature, products are coming out of an extruding machine faster.”

“Hmm, are you saying that we will be able to produce 1,500 pieces of products instead of 1,000 pieces if we use high temperature?”

“That’s right.”

“That vendor company passed A Electronics’ research center’s product test, didn’t they?”

“Of course, they did. However, their product defect was revealed when the products were shipped to other countries crossing the Pacific Ocean or the Indian Ocean, as they were melted or corroded. That’s why they quickly looked for a new vendor company that would produce the same products for them, which is us. A Electronics already filed a large claim against that vendor company in Gumi City, and I heard that the vendor company is now under the court receivership because of that product claim, and they will eventually have to close their business.”

“Hmm. We will have to be careful too.”

“Fortunately, we have Director Oh and Director Jong-Suk Park. Our research center’s chief officer— Director Oh— is a very competent engineer who obtained his Ph.D. from the Technical University of Munich in Germany. And, our plant manager— Director Jong-Suk Park— is a talented engineer with extensive work experience that he gained at numerous production sites. Director Jong-Suk Park’s skills in handling metals were highly recognized by the world-renowned engineer— Mr. Sakata Ikuzo.”

“Hmm, really?”

Gun-Ho felt proud of Jong-Suk.

“Well, if you don’t have anything further, sir, I will get back to work now.”

President Song left Gun-Ho’s office.