Intro

The company I worked for was a primary partner of Samsung Electronics USA's mobile production division.

The main processes involved inspecting, assembling, and packaging mobile phones, wireless earbuds, and other products on the production line.

To accomplish these core processes, there were teams for ordering and production, materials and logistics management, inspection and packaging, testing, and more.

I was assigned to materials and logistics management, and I joined as a Supervisor.

My role encompassed the overall management of materials—smoothly supplying products to production lines, ordering scarce materials, managing inventory, and handling returns.

This was my first real job, not a part-time position.

I was grateful for the opportunity to work in a big country like the United States, and I wanted to learn as much as possible.

I desperately wanted to grow over that one year, and I had a strong desire to be recognized for my experience and efforts afterward.

As a result, I joined as a Supervisor and fulfilled every role of a Manager.

I earned opportunities like the first-ever intern business trip and attending Samsung Electronics headquarters meetings.

I also created our own processes for the materials team that improved production efficiency and minimized material loss.

I was overflowing with passion, diligent, and on fire—and I want to share and review the many things I learned and felt through this experience.

Inventory Management System Improvement

I was a day-shift worker on production lines that ran 24 hours a day, 5 days a week.

I'll never forget the piles of accessories and mobile-related inventory that greeted me when I first arrived.

All the products were mixed together, and whenever line workers needed additional inventory,

they had to rummage through what looked like a junk pile to find the product with the right code.

This was a problem the materials team needed to solve—a legacy issue that had been neglected for a long time.

To tackle this, I leaned heavily on the senior manager who handled overall on-site management and staffing.

I asked an enormous number of questions, and for the detailed ones, the answer was often: "There's no answer—figure it out yourself."

That's when I grew tremendously. At first, I felt lost, scared, and even angry. Telling a newcomer to create their own methods?

But I later realized: problem-solving skills forged through personal trial and error become lifelong assets.

First, I needed to learn the code numbers of countless materials.

I organized every visible code into spreadsheets, checked quantities, and separated items by type.

On weekdays, with day and night production lines running, there was no time to organize materials.

So for about a month, I came in every Saturday and Sunday to study the materials list and packaging list,

and organized inventory up to the daily targets I'd set.

(I'll never forget those times alone in that vast warehouse, organizing inventory while listening to music.)

However, with such an enormous amount of inventory, doing it alone was physically impossible given the limited time.

But calling staff in on weekends to help was absolutely out of the question, especially in America.

So I redistributed weekday work hours to create time for inventory organization.

Together with the staff, we established rules and proceeded with the cleanup.

Day after day—less on busy days, more on slower ones—and through steady effort, we managed to organize all inventory in about two months.

Returnable inventory was sent back through the logistics company.

For problematic inventory, I reported to upper management to have it removed from the materials records.

Remaining inventory was depleted following a priority consumption manual, and additional inventory could be accurately managed going forward.

Unknown on-site inventory and items that only existed in the system disappeared,

and the approximately 60,000 materials that existed when I joined were reduced to zero.

Resolving Production Line Loss

With inventory management significantly improved,

an issue arose where the quantities prepared by the materials team didn't match, causing temporary production halts.

While not critical since we could quickly supply additional materials, I wanted to eliminate the delays at their root.

I believe all big problems stem from accumulated small causes. So I began improving the system.

First, there was an issue where production team members would come directly to the materials area and take additional inventory. I put a complete stop to this.

No materials could be taken without permission, and I created a manual where staff would personally deliver the materials.

This ensured that system inventory and physical inventory always matched.

As soon as the production schedule was confirmed, I perfectly set up the required materials by line and time slot.

I created a template for staff to double-check the quantities on prepared pallets,

and materials could only be moved to the production line after confirmation.

To prevent unclear losses during transport, prepared materials were wrapped in plastic wrap,

and production line codes were written on the wrap for intuitive communication with line supervisors.

When individual line supervisors requested additional inventory, I required confirmation signatures

to increase accountability for additional requests.

By simplifying unnecessary steps in material transport and systematizing material preparation,

inventory shortage issues disappeared by 99%, and materials entering the production line were more thoroughly inspected and managed,

bringing additional order mismatches close to 0%.

Receiving System Improvement

The material flow process worked as follows:

When container trucks arrived, the logistics company would verify the materials,

then move them to our warehouse zone. The logistics company would then process the receiving.

Many problems occurred here.

Because materials were accepted without inspection, we sometimes received incorrect quantities or materials meant for other companies,

which escalated into serious inter-company liability issues.

To resolve this, I visited the logistics company's office and held a meeting with their manager.

The logistics manager expressed low trust due to the numerous flaws in our materials management system.

So for both our sakes, we agreed to conduct mandatory physical inspections on all received products,

and agreed that receiving would not be processed without a signature on the verification form.

Without processing, materials would go into a Pending state,

and through mutual cross-tracing of these materials, we could quickly identify the root cause.

Implementing this manual required effort from both sides.

As inventory gradually decreased and operations became more systematic, both sides were satisfied.

When incorrect materials were received, we could trace them together and propose the right course of action.

The logistics manager and I developed a high level of trust and always maintained a good relationship.

On my last day as an intern, he came to find me, shook my hand, and said it was an honor to have worked with me.

I still can't forget that moment.

However, since humans are ultimately doing the preparation, mistakes can still happen.

So when I had the opportunity to attend a meeting at Samsung headquarters, I learned about their SAP system,

and asked whether it could be integrated to fully automate material management with the logistics company.

One month before the end of my contract, tablets were deployed, enabling fully automated material management.