Today, we visited two companies in Busan. Our first site visit was at Trainor Korea. This company specializes in safety, offering certificates to various employees or companies to confirm the training in electrical safety. The speaker gave us a talk about the importance of electrical safety. According to the statistics he showed us, nearly 98% of accidents could be prevented, since the majority of accidents are caused by human error or equipment malfunction. Therefore, Trainor’s mission is to ensure that employees are trained to ensure equipment is up to standard and they are aware of proper protocol. The company offers both online and hands-on training for their clients. It was relatively interesting to learn about the company and the manager’s experience living in South Korea as a foreigner.

Afterwards, we drove to Busan New Container Terminal, or BNCT for short. I found this company visit extremely interesting because we were introduced to a real smart system: the terminal system used at BNCT is fully automated. In the space that containers are transferred, there are no people allowed other than those who transfer cargo to the ship! The fact that the process was completely robotic inside the yard made it truly amazing to see. They have been using this technology for years now, and it has proven effective. Furthermore, BCNT uses a vertical layout for the containers so that they are perpendicular to the sea. This layout has been seen as favorable in comparison to other terminals that stack containers parallel because once the container is perpendicular the employees do not have to turn the container to load it. It is a smart tactic, since one container can contain up to 32 tons of material and would be a hassle to rearrange.

We learned about the future goals of BNCT from the CEO himself. He took us up to the heart of the operation at BNCT, which is the control tower. From there we saw the automation at work and met the employees who ensure that everything is working smoothly. There, the CEO told us about their current plan to expand the facility and construct more ship-to-shore cranes. BNCT is one of my favorite companies we have seen because of the real automation implemented in their work.