Story of a Big Player from Gangnam

President Song continued, “The door assembly work that we do for A Electronics requires a zinc alloy ring as one of its parts. We need a lot of them, and we are getting those parts from a few vendor companies. I’m thinking of giving this work to GH Machines.”

“Hmm, really?”

“I believe President Jong-Suk Park bought a used die casting machine by now as I requested.”

“Is it okay to buy a used machine? Don’t we have to worry about it being easily broken?”

“Sir, the workers at the production site in GH Machines are composed of engineers who build machines for a living, including President Jong-Suk Park. If the machine is broken down, they will repair it and even improve it to make it better in no time.”

After President Song left the office, Gun-Ho was reading the economic newspaper. At that moment, the general affairs director came in, and he gave an envelope to Gun-Ho.

“What is it?”

“Gift cards? Why are you giving these to me?”

“Before Korean Thanksgiving Day, you told me to distribute gift cards to our executive officers—300,000 won worth gift cards for each person. And, this is for you, sir.”

“Oh, you didn’t have to include me.”

“You are one of this company’s executive officers, sir, as the co-president, and your name is clearly shown on our business registration. If we purchase things with the company’s funds, you should take your share, sir.”

“Haha, okay. I will give out these to my chauffeur and secretary then.”

“I will get back to my work now, sir.”

Gun-Ho called for Secretary Hee-Jeong Park.

“Yes, sir.”

“And, this is a gift card that you can use in Shinsegae Department Store. I want you to buy something nice for yourself with it.”

Gun-Ho gave one of the three gift cards, that the general affairs director just handed to him earlier, to Secretary Hee-Jeong Park. It was worth 100,000 won.

“Thank you, sir.”

Secretary Hee-Jeong Park took the gift card gladly with a broad smile.

Chan-Ho Eom was waiting for Gun-Ho at the front entrance.

“Let’s go to GH Machines,” Gun-Ho said to Chan-Ho once he got into the car.

Gun-Ho then pulled out the gift cards that he received from the general affairs director earlier. There were two 100,000 worth gift cards left after giving one to his secretary. Gun-Ho gave them to Chan-Ho.

“What are these, sir?”

“These are gift cards that you can use at Shinsegae Department Store. Get yourself clothes or something.”

“Thank… Thank you, sir.”

Chan-Ho Eom seemed to be feeling good and energetic after he received the gift from Gun-Ho. Chan-Ho vigorously pressed the accelerator pedal in excitement.

“Chan-Ho, let’s drive smoothly.”

“Oh, my apology, sir.”

Gun-Ho arrived at GH Machines located inside Baekseok Agricultural and Industrial Complex. The business sign was changed from Joyang Industry to GH Machines. It looked fresh and neat. Chan-Ho made a comment when he noticed the new business sign.

“Sir, I love our company’s logo.”

“You do? Do you know who made the logo?”

“GH Media’s team lead in the design team created it.”

“Oh, that woman in GH Media. The people at GH Media are good at things like that, right? Maybe I should ask them to make a logo for Tae-Young bro’s staffing company too, maybe in the not-so-distant future.”

“Haha, that would be good.”

Jong-Suk Park was not at the production site, but he was standing next to the officer manager’s desk watching the computer screen with which the officer manager was working.

“Huh? You are here, bro.”

“What are you doing?”

“I was watching to learn how B2B works.”

“Wait for me. I will come with you. We have new workers there, and they won’t recognize you yet. I will introduce them to you.”

Several workers at the production site were building the machine for Dyeon Korea.

“They are working under my direction and guidance for everything for now, since they all are new here.”

“I see.”

At that moment, Jong-Suk Park said loudly toward a man at the production site, “Hey, you need to tighten it one more time, and coat it with tapping oil!”

Gun-Ho said to Jong-Suk Park, “You should talk to your workers with more respect. Don’t you think?”

“It’s okay. He is younger than me.”

“That could well develop a grievance against you.”

“I don’t think it would because I’m very friendly with my workers. I’m not being disrespectful with them, but I just want them and also myself to feel comfortable around each other while working.”

There are 7 workers at the production site.

“I thought you wanted 8 production workers.”

“I did, and I hired 8 people at first, and I had to let one of them go. I had made sure that I hired only experienced workers, but once I started working with them, I realized that one of them was not good enough. Workers like him wouldn’t be of help around here, and also he could become trouble to us, eventually leading to an accident in the factory. I had to let him go quickly.”

“Hmm, is that so?”

“I selected two among 7 new workers, who had extensive work experience and competency at work, and gave them a team lead position. These 7 people are all good workers. Half of them are older than me. The work in this industry is tough, and maybe that’s why I don’t see many young talented workers who are looking for a job in this field.”

“Hmm, I see.”

While walking around the production site, Jong-Suk Park asked for one worker and told him, “Brother! You need to place a wood pedestal before you work on this. It’s too slippery without it.”

“Huh? Oh, okay.”

“And, I have someone here that I want you to meet. This is President Goo. He is the major shareholder of our company.”

“Hello. It’s nice meeting you, sir.”

The man took off his hat and gave a bow to Gun-Ho. His bald head revealed, which was shining. He looked like he was at least 50 years old.

Gun-Ho asked Jong-Suk Park, “What are the machines over there? Are they die casting machines?”

“Haha. Yeah. I bought two of them. They are Toshiba hot chamber machines made in Japan.”

“Are those the ones that President Song asked you to buy?”

“That’s right. When I worked in GH Mobile, I sometimes encountered defective parts that are used to assemble A Electronics’ doors. Those parts are provided by some vendor companies. And I raised the problem to President Song at that time. He now wants me to make those parts here for GH Mobile.”

“Really?”

“With those hot chamber die casting machines, there is no problem making zinc alloy parts or lead alloy parts which have a relatively low melting point.”

“How much did you pay for those machines?”

“For two of them, it was 78 million won. I have to make a full payment for them within two months.”

“You probably need a worker who can handle those machines, huh?”

“See the two workers over there? Those two workers have work experience handling die casting machines.”

“How much sales revenue do you think this new work will bring in?”

“I believe it will be at least 200 million won per month. That amount will well cover the wages of the workers here. Haha.”

“Who is the young man over there? He just entered the office, the one who is wearing a business suit.”

“I hired two more people for the office positions. One is handling the general affairs, and the other will handle the sales work. They are all experienced workers. I needed someone who will take care of Four Major Public Insurance for our employees, and who will make a trip to the government office if necessary. That guy graduated from Dankuk University on Cheonan campus. The one who will handle our sales activities majored in engineering in college, so he is knowledgeable enough to handle the sales in this technical field. He graduated from Korea University of Technology and Education which I’m taking classes from right now. They both are younger than me and enthusiastic.”

“Is that right?”

“Bro, I’m learning a lot of new stuff these days. I’m getting the documents that require my approval and signature, and those documents are from all sorts of different fields, including accounting, general affairs, and sales. I do learn a lot because I have to read them all to make sure that I understand what they are about before signing them.”