A System Built on Respect and Consideration
When I joined, there was a vacancy in the day-shift manager position, so I had to take on the manager role as well.
I learned the ropes through communication with the night-shift manager.
However, day and night shifts often had different production categories,
and since core production hours differed significantly, communication wasn't always easy.
When I observed the atmosphere upon joining, there was a subtle hostility between day and night shifts.
Day shift mistakes would carry over to the night shift, forcing them to take responsibility,
and vice versa. A vicious cycle of blame-shifting was ongoing.
During afternoon hours when night workers were sleeping, there was no one to ask questions,
and for urgent matters, we'd call and disturb their sleep to resolve issues.
I wanted to solve all of these problems myself.
As the day-shift materials manager who bore full responsibility, I stayed after work
to directly communicate with the night-shift manager, confronting and analyzing the current problems.
To prevent blame-shifting, I created a daily work completion form
summarizing order quantities, unproduced amounts, and material quantities in an easy-to-read format.
I also created issue templates and priority templates
to organize and communicate the day's issues and problems that needed resolution.
The night-shift manager also actively utilized these forms and templates, contributing to system improvement.
This way, we no longer disturbed each other's sleep, and day/night operations could be smoothly automated.
On days when overtime meant day and night workers could meet face-to-face,
I'd initiate small talk first and work to maintain good relationships.
I believe that respect and consideration are prerequisites for being able to help each other and opening hearts.
Global Communication Experience
The senior manager saw my passion and hard work favorably,
and gave me the opportunity to attend Samsung Electronics headquarters' company-wide production meeting.
While I didn't play a major role in the meeting,
I was able to quickly understand how the work cycles between different companies operated,
and became a point of contact for Samsung headquarters employees, minimizing the gap between fieldwork and upper management directives.
I felt a strong sense of pride and accomplishment being able to collaborate directly with headquarters.
I also earned the opportunity for a first-ever intern 2-night, 3-day business trip. The executive director called me in and issued the travel orders.
It was an issue where our packaged finished products shipped to Kentucky contained incorrect materials.
An accessory code within the products was slightly different, resulting in about 8,000 finished products being incorrectly produced.
So one Samsung headquarters employee, myself, and another intern—three people in total—flew to Kentucky.
At the local warehouse, we set up a temporary packaging space and efficiently created a small conveyor line among the three of us.
The first day's goal was separating existing materials through unpackaging,
and the second day through the third day morning was dedicated to repackaging with the correct materials.
I roughly calculated the completion time in advance, checked the local warehouse operating hours,
and calculated the actual working time. I determined that working at maximum capacity, we could finish within 2 nights and 3 days.
Working about 12 hours per day, we could finally see the finish line, and we completed the repackaging and inspection perfectly.
The anxiety and worry that had weighed on me melted away, and I still can't forget the sunset through the airplane window on the way back.
Useful Part-Time Job Experience
There was one company-owned reach truck at the local warehouse.
A reach truck is a stand-up battery-powered forklift capable of moving palletized goods at heights of 4-5 levels in tight spaces—a remarkable invention.
There was one employee dedicated to operating the reach truck in our company.
Their role was primarily to retrieve and store discontinued materials and important items in our warehouse.
The day before a weekend special shift, I confirmed that the needed materials were in internal inventory on the system and went home,
but no one had anticipated that the forklift operator would be off that day.
So the materials that needed to go to the production line couldn't be retrieved, and the line staff and supervisors were anxiously pacing.
I had experience operating forklifts at a Cheongjungwon logistics warehouse.
I was experienced with both sit-down forklifts and stand-up reach trucks.
So I received safety manual instructions from the senior manager and operated it myself.
I was able to supply the materials and resolve the problem.
Additionally, our warehouse always had limited space for storing production materials.
The solution was to maximize efficiency within the given space.
Materials on each pallet needed to be stacked tightly and safely like Tetris,
and the order had to be considered for convenient use on the production line.
I also drew lines on the warehouse floor matching pallet sizes to maximize pallet storage capacity.
I had previous experience as a Samsung Electronics delivery assistant.
As a delivery assistant, you'd load refrigerators, TVs, washing machines, etc. in the reverse order of the delivery and installation schedule onto the truck each morning.
The truck of the driver I worked with was a modified Porter truck,
so maximizing space efficiency was essential.
The main driver was quite rough, and I learned through harsh scolding.
From loading large refrigerators alone to developing the sense of stacking like Tetris—none of it was easy.
I believe this experience was tremendously helpful in using material storage space at maximum efficiency.
On days when there were many pallets going to production lines and high incoming volumes,
the allocated warehouse area would fill up completely.
On those days, as pallets were moved to production lines, we'd utilize the freed space
by resetting the existing layout and setting up additional lines.
That's how we managed to supply the maximum physically possible amount of materials.
Heartfelt Responsibility and Leading for Everyone
Each team consisted of one manager and short-term contract workers.
The materials team had one supervisor—me—and short-term contract employees (staff).
They came in various forms—part-time, full-time, and more.
With nationalities from South America, Africa, Southeast Asia, Nepal, and elsewhere,
it was wonderful to learn about and experience each other's cultures.
Building strong relationships among staff, managing schedules and attendance—
everything was my responsibility and duty.
There were staff who suddenly couldn't come to work,
staff who openly complained, or who would suddenly disappear.
I thought deeply about how to unite them,
how to make them feel respected and experience a sense of accomplishment.
I began analyzing them, and among them were employees full of passion.
Each person had distinct strengths and weaknesses, and since the materials team had diverse tasks,
I could appropriately assign both specialized individual duties and common tasks to each staff member.
When I praised their strengths, encouraged them, and said "I'd like you to take charge of this,"
the passionate staff members' diligent behavior created an atmosphere where everyone worked hard.
No one was forced to do anything, and I continuously adjusted work directions based on staff feedback.
I encouraged them to feel pride and respected all tasks equally.
When work was performed correctly, I actively praised and spread positive energy.
When the day's work was completed without issues, we'd high-five each other and share the sense of accomplishment.
Every Friday, we held weekly meetings to share the week's issues, what went well, and areas for improvement.
When I'd buy drinks first to share, staff would say "It's my turn this time"—a virtuous cycle in action.
Our team was more proactive and passionate than any other. I'm confident we felt a deep sense of camaraderie.
(Charles, Sushimi Dhital, Annie, Misty, Omar, Dawit, Daniel, Euno, Sanket—I miss all of you so much.)
Finally
After I'd settled in, the senior manager delegated all material-related work to me.
I want to express my gratitude once again to the senior manager,
who helped me create so many work goals and experiences on my own.
Taking responsibility at a company carries enormous risk and can place great burden on both seniors and juniors. (Of course, for extremely large-scale matters, companies don't typically ask individuals to bear responsibility.)
But not running away, taking responsibility for what you can solve yourself, and the experience of solving problems together—
these exist forever in the history of my life. They give unforgettable feelings of accomplishment and emotion.
Rather than thinking "it's impossible," I tried various approaches with the mindset of "let's make it possible."
Of course, there were many difficult moments from hitting walls, and many times I wanted to give up.
But if you keep going until the end, something—even dust—appears, and new paths come into view.
That too is a result, an experience, and a trace of life.
Everyone lives and dies. I think the richest people are those who have the most of these experiences before they die.
And so I will continue to live with passion and proactivity, living through action.
