Day 5

Friday was jam packed with multiple fantastic visits. We started off at Posco, the world’s second largest steel manufacturer. The size of their facilities was just mind boggling. There was also a sense of international influence in the way they present themselves to the visitors.

The second visit of the day, Kiswire, fit in perfectly with the first visit, as they use the steel to make wire that is used all over the world. We received a very warm welcome due in large part to Dr. Hong, a USU alum, and CEO of the company. Although less outside influence, they thrived on efficiency.

We finished off the day at Hyundai and saw several car models being built on the production line. When asked, the employees seemed to have never heard of the Toyota philosophies on building cars, which explained the lack of efficiency. Being such a highly valued company by the government, and largely subsidized, their focus may be on work environment rather than strictly efficiency. It may be more important to the government that they hire more people rather than trim the fat and make it work more quickly.

We learned a lot today and had the opportunity to apply a lot of the things we learned in Biology, marketing, MHR, and Operations Management.

-Craig