After a few days of gaining my bearings and a visit to the Namsan Seoul Tower, I was tired, but mentally prepared for the longest day of the trip itinerary. Plus3 Korea day 3 began at 8:00 AM with a visit to Eaton Korea and did not end until 10:45 PM after a baseball game. With such a wide variety of activity, it felt just like a day in the life of a Korean engineer. To be able to compare and contrast my past industry and academic experiences with South Korean offices and manufacturing lines offered fascinating insights into how the culture of a company truly makes or breaks its success.

Eaton South Korea

Although Eaton South Korea is a smaller branch of the massive Fortune 500 company, it is at the peak of efficiency, safety, and revenue in its industry. At the company, we had the chance to meet the head of sales and engineering, Mr. Daniel Yang. In a conference room adorned with some of the best snacks I have ever had, Mr. Yang gave a comprehensive overview of the branch. In his report, he thoroughly explained both their fuel valve and slip differential manufacturing lines and how they amount to over 99% of the branch’s profits. Mr. Yang also had other high-ranking employees explain their product design process and how they are beginning to use 3D printing to prototype products during assembly line alterations.

After Mr. Yang’s presentation, we had time to ask him questions about the future of the company and their business practices to date. I had the opportunity to ask Mr. Yang about the emergence of electric vehicles and how their increased presence has affected their product sales. He explained how they have had to increase the volume of manufacturing for slip differentials due to the increase in automobile production, but also that they are beginning to gain more market share in the fuel valve space, so their sales have stayed mostly similar.

After thanking Mr. Yang for his presentation and answering all of our technical questions, we were led by one of the manufacturing leads on a tour of the lines. While I have not had the chance to witness automotive manufacturing lines in the United States, I can say with complete confidence that the Eaton South Korea lines are state of the art. They have allocated resources to ensure safety and efficiency more effectively than a vast majority of other factories in South Korea and thus have been recognized for it. Perhaps the best factor of their success can be seen in their robotic arm implementation practices. As each arm costs around 60,000 USD, they conduct plentiful research on their line in terms of both labor intensity and construction time. The arms are not a major presence, but are clearly strategically placed to help keep employees healthy, happy, and working at peak performance. Eaton South Korea is a ballet of efficiency and output that taught me a great deal about the role of reflective company research in client relationship success.

Pork Lunch, Fish Market, and The Hyundai Mall

As the University of Pittsburgh has a strong relationship with the Pittsburgh branch of Eaton Company, everyone was excited to take pictures and show them to the higher-ups. After a long 20 minutes of photos, we stayed in Pyeongtek for lunch to eat Korean pork BBQ. With our hands we rolled rice, pork, and a variety of side dishes into a mix of different leaves to enjoy. The pork was exquisite, and best of all, was very adaptable to the different side dishes offered.

With full stomachs, we then ventured to a traditional Korean fish market where we had the chance to see (and smell) the largest variety of seafood and shellfish that I have ever seen. It was as if a Costco had been gutted and filled entirely with fish vendors selling all different kinds of creatures. It was at this market that I had the chance to try live baby octopus, and while I must admit it was not my favorite texture, the dipping sauce was very delicious.

A short subway ride away from the fish market was one of the largest and most luxurious malls in Korea, The Hyundai. My group and I spent two hours perusing the luxury mall that most certainly catered to the wealthy American traveler, not to the college student on a budget. Despite our best efforts, we were unable to find Seoul sweatshirts in our price range, but we walked out of the mall with some of the best boba smoothie I ever had – definitely worth the trip.

Korean Baseball

I am no stranger to over-excited sports fans or baseball games, but I have never experienced anything quite like Seoul city baseball. The Boston Red Sox sing Sweet Caroline, the New York Yankees have their roll call, but the Seoul Heroes might have the best cheers that I have ever seen. American cheer leaders sometimes play a questionable roll in actually leading cheers – this is not the case in Korean baseball. When each team is up to bat they have their own Emcee and cheerleaders leading the crowd in dozens of different cheers so loud you feel the stadium shake. The passion in the crowd every time the ball touches the bat is positively unquantifiable. Although the cheers are exclusively in Korean, our group cheered along for the Seoul Heroes until the very end. Although the Heroes ultimately lost in a 6-1, they certainly left an indelible mark on their American bleacher creatures sitting in right field.