On January 28, 2021, the Award Ceremony of the 14th Proactive Awards was broadcasted from the Technoplex Center in Korea. The online event, which was online this year due to the virus situation, was even more important than before for the staff of the Rácalmás factory because of the Hungarian aspect, as Sándor Péter Hegyaljai, the Unit Manager of the Technology Uniformity Unit, was among the winners of the competition, announced last year.
Every year, Hankook announces this competition in several categories with the aim of showing ambitious employees their talent and gaining recognition worthy of their professional knowledge. Colleagues participating in the competition have the opportunity to implement professional projects that not only testify to their outstanding skills, but also contribute to the success of the company by sharing their experiences.
Projects launched at the Proactive Awards were judged in the categories Management, Professional Challenges, Performance Optimization, and Innovative Solutions. It is a great pride for us that our colleague Sándor Péter Hegyaljai received the award for the Best Result in the Challenges category! We asked him about the competition.
What made you take part in this competition?
In 2019we have received order from a German car manufacturer for the production of the new size group. There were different types of tires (winter, summer, four seasons and runflat) is this group and 10 different sizer, 6 of which did not meet the OE requirements, so we had to modify the production line. We have modified firs of all the curing process where we used molds made od 11 section instead of the previously used ones with 8 section. We have developed new parts, and finally we have also optimized the building machine (TRF Holder). During all this time, and also after it we have conducted lots of tests and maintenance work; these works are still going on so that we can produce the best quality. Presently such tires made with modified machinery and technology are made only in the Rácalmás factory, so we are very proud of this project.
You received the award, the idea comes from you too, but you still prefer to use the plural in your sentences…
It’s only natural. Two years of hard work, continuous testing, plenty of manufactured tires and pioneering innovative solutions led to success that I could not have achieved alone. Once again, I would like to thank my immediate supervisor, Shin Min Kyung, as well as my colleagues in the Uniformity Department and all those who helped us to make this serious challenge a reality in such a short time. Special thanks to Kyusik Kim, Gábor Bula, István Kleiber, Gábor Klement and Zoltán Csengeri for their exceptional attitude, I am very grateful to have been able to work with you on this great task.
The commemorative plaque, a bouquet of flowers and a cash prize for the Proactive Awards was presented by the Managing Director, Mr. Hyung Yun Kim, to Péter Sándor Hegyaljai, and our winner thanked the colleagues and the previous and the new Managing Directors of the factory. We also learned that Sándor would like to share not only his work, but also his glory with his colleagues; so, he offered them half of the large amount of cash from the prize money.
Congratulations, Sándor! We wish you much more success!