It seems like only yesterday that I was honored to become the managing director of our factory, and now we are well into the first half of the year, and in May we celebrated the 84th anniversary of Hankook’s foundation.
It is traditional for the company at this occasion to recognize the commitment and excellence of its employees. This year, 80 of our colleagues celebrated their 15th, and 175 celebrated their 10th anniversary with the company, 30 colleagues were presented with Excellence Awards for their outstanding work. Congratulations and thank you all for your commitment to the company!
I would like to quote three thoughts from the message of our CEO Cho Hyun Bum that directly concern our factory.
- We have to strengthen our R&D resources in order to speed up technological innovation, and to think constantly about sustainable services and products. Through technological innovation we have to play a leading role in the ecosystem of future mobility. Thanks to our innovations, the OE supply of our ultra-high performance tires is steadily increasing, and the iON brand, which specializes in electric vehicles, is being chosen as OE by global automakers such as Tesla and Porsche. OEy deliveries now account for 50% of our production in Hungary.
- We must strive to make an implementation-oriented culture, make “Proactive Innovation” the part of our everyday life. If something fails, try again. Ask for help, look at the problem and find a solution together. This should be our way of working. Don’t be afraid of failure and be brave enough to go down paths that others have not yet taken.
- We live in an era of digital transformation. Hankook is accelerating its future-oriented investments in artificial intelligence, mobility platforms, big data and robotics. It is up to all of us to actively participate, adapt to these changes and apply the latest digitalization developments in our daily work.
Finally, allow me to wish you all a long and productive break during the upcoming summer shutdown. I trust that this period will give you the opportunity to relax and spend quality time with your loved ones. And to the maintenance staff who are working during this time, thank you for your work!
Best regards,
Ho Taek Lim
Managing Director