This Is How I Became a Chaebol - Chapter 541
Only Ranovel
541: If what you lack is money
“Managing Director Kim Chun-seok, please take good care of this construction following the Central Industrial Complex..”
“Of course, this is what Daesae Construction will do. Moreover, since this is important shipyard construction for the entire group, we will work even harder.”
It would be true to say that there is no construction work that we have not done since the beginning of the Vietnam War. It’s something you just have to trust and leave to it.
“Thank you for always being so kind to me. By the way, is there any problem with the supply of materials? “I am worried that international asset prices are continuing to rise due to the Iran-Iraq war.”
War specialization is a double-edged sword.
Defense industry exports are booming, and imports are correspondingly high.
In this case, if you cannot procure materials at a low price, you will be left behind and left behind.
“We have secured 300,000 tons each of rebar and concrete. There is enough material to complete the first phase, so don’t worry. No, the major unemployment company said there was no need to worry.”
“Are you that confident in mainstream unemployment?”
“Yes, especially for iron ore, they expanded their supply source from Australia to Nigeria and Brazil, so they assured that there would be no problem at all.”
In fact, it is still before China starts to show its strength.
All three countries are anxious because they cannot sell iron ore. There shouldn’t be a problem as major industries are signing long-term contracts and competing with each other.
And if the steel mill runs well, cement is naturally procured as a by-product.
“Did you decide to build the quay wall as a gravity quay wall for about 2,000m?”
“Yes that’s right. “At that level, the depth of water can be maintained at more than 14m, allowing entry and exit of VLCCs or container ships, so we believe that operations can begin from the first tool.”
“Vice President Skow, what’s going on with the repair shipbuilding facilities?”
“Yes, we plan to collaborate with Daese Heavy Industries to domestically produce cranes, production equipment, electricity, and auxiliary facilities. In particular, we will install a total of 7 cranes, including a 200-ton jib crane and a 900-ton gantry crane, so that there will be no complaints that repairs are delayed due to a lack of equipment.”
“Aren’t we pushing the field staff too hard? “I need to give you some excuses.”
“We need to give the best equipment to the best to avoid any setbacks.”
Vice President Skow took my joke very seriously. Then of course, manufacturing is basically a battle over equipment. If you try to make up for low-level equipment capabilities with manpower, you will eventually lose out on manufacturing competitiveness.
“That is correct. Let’s invest that much.”
“thank you. President.”
The competitiveness of the industry is to make decisions quickly, make investments boldly, and carry out projects meticulously.
“And instead of moving all ship repair capabilities to Gunsan, the existing Ulsan shipyard should be allowed to focus on LNG ships and full container ships.”
“I understand what you mean. What you are saying is that it is time to introduce the 4800 TEU mainstream standard ship to the world.”
“I remember, Vice President Scow.”
“Of course. How could we forget the idea of moving the cabin to create 400 TEUs of extra refrigerated cargo space underneath? “I was getting sick of waiting for the right moment.”
This is an opportunity to seriously increase the capacity of major shipping companies.
Sooner or later, Iran and Iraq will no longer be able to endure the difficulties of raising war funds and will begin to release crude oil like crazy, and we will be the first to benefit.
The Reagan administration will start lowering interest rates starting next year, so a second-low boom will begin, and if the Plaza Agreement is reached, we will burst into champagne with a third-low boom.
VLCC and LNG ships are important as hidden cards that maximize such opportunities, but 4800 TEU full container ships are also essential.
As consumer sentiment in the U.S. skyrockets, shouldn’t we be shipping a lot of Korean products?
The most popular full-container ship is structured to have six cargo holds in front of the engine room and one cargo hold in the rear.
It was designed to load 2000 TEU inside the cargo hold, 2400 TEU on the deck, and an additional 400 TEU under the cabin.
A rail was built under the hull so that it could move about 15 meters back and forth like a train.
This 21st century technology, also known as the Sky Bench, has already been verified by Daese Shipbuilding while remodeling ships.
All that know-how is gathered together to create a standard line. In this era where 2,500 to 3,000 TEU classes are still the main focus, introducing the 4,800 TEU class can secure overwhelming competitiveness in logistics.
“As a construction worker, I often feel envious when I look at shipbuilders. “You always make something new, right?”
“Director Kim is the same. If the construction of the shipyard here progresses, won’t various infrastructure including residential-commercial complexes and shopping malls be built around it? “Building a city is an exciting thing.”
“you’re right. “I am a Joseon builder, but every time I go to a residential development area led by Daesae Construction, I wonder if such a beautiful village exists.”
“Haha, we are good at building a waterfront park. To be honest, even I would be shocked if I took a picture of a waterside park with a late summer sunset in the background.”
Managing Director Kim Chun-seok also looked satisfied as he shifted his gaze from the sea toward downtown Gunsan.
First, all the dirty electric poles and wires will go under the straight roads, and a new city will be built around them.
In particular, Gunsan is located at the mouth of the Geumgang River, making it the optimal city to build a waterside park.
“You talked a lot about boring work at a fun blasting ceremony. Let’s go somewhere and have a delicious lunch together.”
“Ah, I heard the jjamppong here is so delicious. How is it?”
“great. When you think of Gunsan, it’s Jjambbong. Vice President Scow, is spicy food okay?”
“Even Jjamppong and red pepper powder are available.”
“Let’s go.”
The three of us left without even knowing who would go first.
It’s not enough for politicians to listen to me brag if I stay in my seat, they’ll have to pay for the company dinner instead.
As much as they boasted, they should pay for the dinner themselves.
If you came to someone else’s blasting ceremony and boasted about your ridiculous results, wouldn’t you have to pay for advertising?
***
A few days later, the Korea Telecommunication Research Institute.
“Well, the sign has changed.”
I stopped by Daejeon to discuss the progress of TDX development and optical communication system development, and the lab’s signboard had been changed to ETRI.
It’s a familiar name to me, but I think it was a long time ago that the institute’s name was changed to ETRI…
“Oh my, Chairman! welcome.”
When I parked my car in the front yard of the institute, Director Chae Sun-dal rushed out of nowhere to greet me.
“I’m sorry you’re busy. “I want to know how research progresses.”
It is much faster to ask this question face-to-face than to refer to a written report.
And since I am supporting a portion of the research funds, it would be nice if I could scratch any itch.
“I was thinking that we should already have a briefing session with the chairman.”
Director Chae Sun-dal also thought so.
It is now the end of June, and six months have passed since I applied for research funding. In Korea, it is time to show some level of success.
Other countries might say this is nonsense.
“I’m looking forward to it. “They even changed the name of the institute.”
“ah! You mean ETRI? “As we collaborated with AT&T, we changed it for communication.”
“Did AT&T help you a lot?”
Since Korea has a 1% stake in the transatlantic optical communication system, there should be at least nominal cooperation. Of course, in the end there will be close cooperation with Korea.
“At first, they blatantly ignored our technology, but when we recently showed them the TDX test machine, their attitude changed a lot.”
“…Are you saying you’ve already created a prototype?”
This was surprising considering the results were achieved in just six months.
“I received a lot of help from the carpet bombing by employees of major telecommunication companies. In one experiment, they made 124 circuit packs of 18 different types. This means that development costs should not be skimped. Thanks to this, the third test machine was able to conduct field tests.”
“Oh, now that I think about it, 10 of our main communication employees were dispatched here, right?”
“Yes, there were dispatchers from Suseong Electronics and Geumyang, but the Daesae Telecommunications employees were truly outstanding. “What a waste of money… No, it really showed what development cost spending is.”
Director Chae Sun-dal praised our employees.
of course. If there is a developer who wastes time to save development costs, it is the same as saying that he has no intention of being promoted.
It is a gamble because the money spent must pay off, but the prevailing system is that a developer who cannot take such a gamble will never become a leader.
“I can’t wait to see the third test machine.”
“I will take you this way.”
As Director Chae Sun-dal took the lead and crossed the lobby of the institute, a large number of researchers followed from somewhere.
Among them, some were seen wearing work clothes belonging to a major news agency. As Director Chae said, their confident walking appearance shows that their contribution was quite significant.
“This system was tested in parallel with an idle telephone system at the Transmission Post Office in Yongin, Gyeonggi-do. “The results are very reliable because 362 households participated in the test without burdening phone costs for three months.”
In this day and age, if you had told people to call freely because it was a free phone, people from neighboring villages would have come and called indiscriminately.
“What was the result?”
“As a result of three months of operation, the entire system went down 15 times, and the outage time was 15 hours and 44 minutes. The causes are outlined here in the report.”
It was a report that I, without knowledge of this area, could not judge properly.
There was an 8-hour power supply failure, 2 hours and 57 minutes of breakdown due to 3 lightning strikes, battery discharge time due to a power outage, 69 software bugs, 3 system reloads for unknown reasons, etc., etc. It was impossible to weigh the severity.
“How should I interpret this report?”
“This is Manager Seo Jong-wook of Mainstream News. “May I explain?”
“Please explain briefly.”
“Yes, the results are generally good. However, reloading 3 times for unknown reasons is a fatal defect. “This is because it is a defect that can cause all of the system programs you have set up to be initialized.”
“What is the cause?”
“We are figuring it out. “I suspect Xilog’s Z-80A CPU, which is in charge of system control, but since Xilog does not provide proper technical support…”
Z-80A CPU? Why are you using a CPU I’ve never heard of? We have Intel’s 8086 CPU.
This is the CPU that NASA uses to launch rockets.
It’s a luxury product that has been used day and night for 40 years, so why aren’t you using it?
“What are you worrying about? Please throw away products from companies that do not provide technical support. Bring on Intel. “Aren’t they mass producing 8086 CPUs recently?”
“Intel… I understand. “We will seek your cooperation to formally participate in this project.”
“Uh… Chairman. Are you requesting an American semiconductor company to dispatch a technician?”
“Why not? We also do business with Trends, and we are part of the AT&T consortium. “We are also customers of Intel.”
Nowadays, high-profile people have no hesitation in requesting business cooperation from American or Japanese companies, but even Director Chae Sun-dal is unfamiliar with this.
This will gradually improve over time.
“If you need a special semiconductor, please discuss with Daeje Foundry. If you need circuit boards, bring in the semiconductor industry as well. “There should be no limits to your work.”
“Yes, I will keep that in mind.”
“Chairman, I think this project could be completed faster if work in each field is coordinated. “I am saying this out of regret.”
Manager Seo Jong-wook added from the side.
Since he is at the manager level, it is not possible to discuss work coordination, and compared to the project management methods used by major groups, ETRI’s method appears to be backward.
“What do you think would make it more efficient? Please speak without hesitation. “I don’t think anyone here will misunderstand that opinion.”
All I had to do was lay a mat for Manager Seo.
“Yes, Chairman. First, I hope that Korea Telecommunications Corporation will take charge of management of the development project, and ETRI will go all-in on system testing and evaluation. Also, I would like to divide the development of modules by technology field into participating companies.”
“Let’s clearly give ownership of development for each module… Director Chae, what do you think of our employees’ opinions?”
“The development area is divided by company, and ETRI makes the final combination and evaluation. “It’s an innovative method.”
“It is a well-proven project implementation method within the mainstream, so let’s apply it to ETRI as well. “We will step forward and coordinate the development areas of each company.”
“If you do, we would be grateful.”
Honestly, if I were to come forward and suggest dividing the development area in this way, I don’t think any company would object.
If you do anything else, you may be excluded from this project.
The general trend is that there is no tolerance for companies that do not want to work for them.
“First of all, hundreds of lines have been verified with the third tester, so I hope to quickly collaborate to exceed 10,000 lines. “Then wouldn’t it be worth applying it to international lines as well?”
It would be great if it could be done by the end of next year.
Starting from the end of this year, we will begin laying optical cables in earnest, starting with TAT-8, and by the end of next year, we must be able to connect communication facilities and conduct a trial operation to reassure investors.
So, it’s only a matter of time before Asia’s APCN project becomes a huge success.
“Chairman, that’s not that difficult. TDX, which is currently under development, adopts a distributed control method, so it can still increase to 10,000 lines by simply adding modules.”
“Huh, really? Director Chae. “You say 10,000 lines are possible?”
what? You’re already at that level?
They said that technology verification was the problem, but there was a methodology.
“However, if it is an international line facility, I think it would be a good idea to discuss with Daesae Foundry to build 50,000 lines. “If we build a general-purpose communication CPU and a standardized interface, export facilities will be possible.”
“That’s great.”
“Of course, that requires some money… To get certified for a large-capacity facility with 50,000 lines, there are 122 certification items. “With most experimental design methods, it would take several years.”
“If we had enough money, how much could we reduce?”
“I think it is possible within a year. Isn’t that right, researchers!”
“That’s right! “I am confident!!!”
He hesitated at first, but when the director gained courage, the researchers responded by clenching their fists.
“It’s nice to see how confident you are. Research expenses must be supported as much as possible. “If the process is complicated because it is a national project, we will handle it in the grand scheme of things.”
“Waaaaaa!!!”
“After all, you are the chairman!”
“If possible, I hope that the speed of technological development in optical communication technology will also be increased. “Our achievements lie within TDX itself, but on an international scale, whether or not TAT-8 succeeds is very important.”
“ah! President. “It looks like we can shorten the development period because ETRI has installed prototypes three years ago.”
“I beg your pardon? “There is a prototype in our country?”
“Ah… Because it is a short-wavelength optical communication system, its performance is slightly lower than the international standard long-wavelength system. Still, the basic concept is the same, so it is sufficient for research purposes.”
Director Chae said it as if it was no big deal, but I couldn’t help but be surprised.
Our country didn’t just become an IT powerhouse.
ETRI was full of geniuses.
What was lacking was money and support.