Input 2021.02.28 06:30
Syringe mold with 20% increase in vaccine, produced in 4 days after first meeting
The production of masks and diagnostic kits amid the corona crisis last year
He was on the scene. In the early days of last year’s coronavirus infection (Corona 19), when the problem of shortage of masks arose across the country, he ran to small and medium-sized companies and raised the daily production from 25,000 to 100,000. Mass production of syringes for corona vaccination, which had been taking more than half a year, was also realized in two months. Expressions such as’magic’ or’miracle’ followed. This is the story of Kim Jong-ho, head of the Samsung Electronics Smart Factory Support Center.
28 days Samsung Electronics (005930)According to the Ministry of SMEs and Ventures, Center Director Kim played a decisive role in bringing Poonglim Pharmatech’s LDS syringe to the world. One vaccine can be inoculated five times with a regular syringe, but six times with an LDS syringe can increase the number of inoculations by 20% with the same amount of vaccine. Poonglim Pharmatech, located in Gunsan City, Jeollabuk-do, is a medical device manufacturer who recently visited by President Moon Jae-in and said, “We are very happy to inform the people of the excellence of our syringes.”
The start was a video call between an executive from Samsung and an executive from a US pharmaceutical company Pfizer in December of last year. At the time, Samsung ran in all directions to bring the vaccine to Korea, and Pfizer was struggling with requests for vaccines from various countries. It is known that the video call was played by a personal relationship between Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong and a high-level Pfizer executive.
At the end of the call between Samsung and Pfizer, the’syringe’ became a hot topic. Pfizer said that about 20% of the vaccine was wasted if the vaccine was given with a regular syringe, and Samsung thought that using a syringe could secure the vaccine. Samsung immediately looked for a syringe manufacturer and selected Poonglim Pharmatech as the most suitable company in terms of patents and technology.
On December 24 of last year, Center Director Kim, Poonglim Pharmatech, and the Mid-term Industry and Energy Department met for the first time and met each other. What was urgent was a’mold’ for the production of prototype LDS syringes. It took at least a month for SMEs to prepare sophisticated molds. However, center director Kim and colleagues came forward and prepared a mold on the 27th, four days later. On the 30th, a prototype was produced and tested.
Center chief Kim was busy moving for mass production during this period. The delivery of the injection molding machine could take more than three months. Thanks to this, Poonglim Pharmatech is able to produce 10 million LDS syringes per month as of the end of last month.
Jung-hoon Cha, head of the Start-up Venture Innovation Division of the Mid-term and Industrial Service Department, who worked with the smart factory support project last year, said, “A strict executor” to the head of the center. “We have not compromised on product quality while shortening the manufacturing time,” said Mr. Cha. “In a new field, I value expertise enough to study and prepare myself.”
People around me refer to Mr. Kim as “the world’s best manufacturing, production, and management expert.” A Samsung Group official said, “If you add some managers, the problem that was blocked will be revealed once the head of Center Kim goes around the factory, and if you turn around, the problem will be solved.” Another said, “He lives in the field. He travels from the warehouse to the staff cafeteria, solving and solving even the smallest problems, resulting in efficiency”
Center Director Kim was born in Hongseong-gun, Chungcheongnam-do in 1957. Graduated from Soongsil University’s Department of Electronic Engineering and joined Samsung Electronics in 1983. He has been in charge of production and management at the factory.
The event that became a major inflection point for Center Director Kim was the’Anycall format’. In March 1995, the late Chairman Lee Kun-hee collected 150,000 mobile phones in the playground of the Gumi factory in Gyeongbuk, when the cell phone defect rate reached 11.8%, and cut them into pieces with hammers and bulldozers and burned them. A product worth 50 billion won in market value disappeared in front of you. It was two months after Kim became the head of the wireless business division’s manufacturing manager.
Center chief Kim mentioned the incident several times in public. In a special lecture on the forum hosted by the Chosun Ilbo and the Small and Medium Business Administration in November last year, he said, “I was actually the one who lit the fire in Anycall format.” “I felt the importance of quality, and what kind of pain comes when quality is wrong.” Said. He said, “I have been able to attend Samsung Electronics for over 30 years because of the bitter experience in quality.”
Center head Kim was promoted to head of global technology center in 2013, responsible for the quality of all products of Samsung Electronics. In 2016, he worked as the head of the production division of Samsung Heavy Industries, overseeing the production of shipyards. He returned to Samsung Electronics during the’Galaxy Note 7 ignition’ in 2017, and served as the head of the Global Quality Innovation Office, which leads quality and manufacturing innovation throughout the set business.
Samsung Electronics reorganized the smart factory business, which has been promoting since 2015, into the smart factory support center in 2018, and appointed Director Kim. Center Director Kim has been in charge of comprehensive support activities necessary for small and medium-sized companies including smart factories for over three years.
Samsung Electronics and the Ministry of SMEs are supporting smart factory construction projects for SMEs by raising a total of 100 billion won each year from 2018 to 2022, each of 10 billion won. The goal is to create smart factories in 2500 SMEs by 2025. 505 in 2018 and 566 in 2019 received support.
Samsung Electronics has invested 10 billion won separately to discover buyers at home and abroad for small and medium-sized businesses, as well as global promotions and training programs. Not only Center Director Kim, but also 200 Samsung Electronics manufacturing experts are working for the smart factory construction support project.
Center Director Kim’s philosophy is’three strings’. He stressed that in interviews with the media several times, “You have to go to the field and see the real thing and observe the phenomenon.” Center director Kim says he is still visiting the site to further increase the production of LDS syringes. The goal is to produce up to 20 million LDS syringes per month by next month.