Jang crowned 'king of ideas'
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Jang Hyeon-seok, an employee at Samsung SDI’s quality control division, poses after receiving the top award for making the largest number of proposals to improve the manufacturing process during an award ceremony at the company headquarters in Giheung, Gyeonggi Province, Friday. / Courtesy of Samsung SDI
By Yoon Sung-won
Jang Hyeon-seok, 32, a worker at Samsung SDI’s quality control division, is lauded as a “king of ideas” after he came up with a series of innovations for the company.
Samsung SDI, a battery-making affiliate of Samsung Group, said Friday that it has granted a top award to Jang for suggesting the largest number of ideas that have contributed to renovating the company’s manufacturing process.
“I don’t like putting up with inconvenience at work,” Jang said. “If a problem comes up in the manufacturing process, the workload increases and employees have to work overtime. This makes the workers stressed out, which also is a loss for the company.”
Jang has put forward a total of 1,000 proposals since he entered the company in 2005. This year alone, he has made 110 suggestions. The value of his innovations brought to the company is estimated at over 1.7 billion won ($1.51 million), the company said.
When Samsung SDI employees suggest ideas, the company evaluates their creativity and effects. Then it categorizes the ideas from level 1 to 7.
The employees who suggested the ideas is awarded. The person who proposes the most garners the top prize and gets an opportunity to present the ideas at an award ceremony in November before top executives of the company.
One of Jang’s proposals this year was about the adjustment of a robot arm which is used to sort out defective battery products to speed up its work procedure. The company estimated that the adjustment has contributed to saving 890 million won.
Another suggestion was about modifying the camera alignment system, which is also used to pick out faulty battery products, enhancing accuracy.
Jang changed his job position from manufacturing to quality control. His work is to increase the operation rate and prevent faulty production. He said the new work fitted to his meticulous character.
“My role is to survey the entire manufacturing lines from a wider viewpoint. This helped me broaden both vision and capability in work,” Jang said.