Chapter 296: 296
As soon as Gun-Ho came back to his office in Jiksan Town, the executives followed him to the office to make a report about the matters happened during his absence .
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After the executives left Gun-Ho's office once the reporting was completed, President Jang-Hwan Song entered Gun-Ho's office .
"I met with Mr . Sakata Ikuzo in Japan, and he gave this to me to convey it to you . "
"Oh, this is a samurai statue made of metal . "
"That's right . He asked me to say hi to you, sir . "
"I guess he carved this himself . This is very well made . "
"Mr . Sakata Ikuzo said he made it out of boredom . "
"He is indeed the best craftsman in the metal carving field . "
"He is an incredible engineer . "
"How is he doing? Is he well?"
"Yes . He looked healthy and well . "
"Is he living downtown in Tokyo?"
"No, he is living in Motomachi, Yokohama City . He has a small storage attached to his house, where he does carving work with all his equipment . It seems that he is running his own business there like taking an order and sell his carved product . "
"So, he is still working at his age . Does he have any apprentice of his own?"
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"He said he wants to have an apprentice so he could pass on his skills, but young people in Japan these days, they don't want to learn that sort of hands-on skills . He complained a lot about it . "
"Hmm . That's a shame . His skills are amazing . "
"He said it will take about a week for him to make the mold we requested, and he will mail it to us . I think it was a good idea that I went to Japan to talk with him in person, rather than communicating with him through an email . I could understand better his explanation about the product . "
"You went there with the research center's chief officer, right? What did he say?"
"He said there is an engineer just like Mr . Sakata Ikuzo in Germany . He is an old man too . "
"Really?"
"He also said, Mr . Sakata Ikuzo's product is so pretty even though he wasn't exactly following the design drawing in carving the product . "
"I see . "
"Mr . Sakata Ikuzo has a calligraphy wall hanging in his storage workshop and it says, 'Isshokenmei' (a person risks his life) . "
"He used that wording a lot when he was here working with us . So he has a calligraphy wall hanging with the same wording . That's interesting . "
"He said he applies that mindset every time he makes a product . "
"Well, he is really an eccentric old man . I hope he makes a great product for us . "
When the secretary— Ms . Hee-Jeong Park noticed that President Song would stay in Gun-Ho's office for a while to talk with Gun-Ho, she prepared warm green tea and brought it to the office .
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"Please have some tea . "
"Thank you . "
"How are you doing here, President Song? Are you feeling comfortable working here?"
"Yes . Everyone here is so kind and I appreciate it . I'm just concerned that since I had been with one company—S Group— for a long time, it might take time for me to make a business with other companies . "
"That's okay . Take your time as you need . "
"Thank you for understanding . We will have to press harder on growing and stabilizing our company in order to go public . "
"Hmm . "
"We will have to strengthen the company fundamentals before applying for KOSDAQ registration . "
"Are you saying that we need to lower our debt ratio?"
"At first, we need to focus on generating continuous ordinary income . This company incurred a substantial extraordinary loss while paying off the debts caused by Mulpasaneop's failed investment in China . The internal auditor did a great job in doing so . Because the company removed the loss inherited from Mulpasaneop early, it could start generating income starting this year . "
"So, are we now qualified to apply for the KOSDAQ registration?"
"No . We will need to generate ordinary income at least for three years, so we could knock the door to the Korea Securities Dealers Association . We still have debt, and once we generate income constantly, we can gradually lower the debt . One of the requirements to apply for the KOSDAQ registration is that the debt ratio must be at least 1 . 5 times lower than the average debt ratio of the companies in the same industry . "
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"Hmm . "
"What we can do right now is to increase the sales . As you are well aware, networking is critical in increasing the sales in this particular industry in addition to the ability to produce good products . So every employee needs to act as a salesperson to some extent . Of course, we will need technology, skills, and equipment to manufacture quality products . And then, we will need to adopt an efficient and effective management system . "
"Management?"
"Through the effective management, we will need to block any area that is leaking . Especially, we have to focus on the production site . "
"We will have to give a special education to Director Jong-Suk Park then . "
"I've pointed out several things that he had to correct, but he is doing fine . He works hard . It was an excellent decision to place him in the production site, especially because he is so close to you like a real brother, and everyone knows it . Director Park, who is in a close relationship with the company president, works so hard, and that gives other workers some sort of tacit pressure to work hard along with him . It's not uncommon to see many plant managers or directors spending their time at work without really working . Director Park is not that type at all, so I do highly value him . "
"I see . "
"The CEO of the Hyundai Motor Group—Mong-Koo Chung once fired a plant manager of his manufacturing factory during his visit there, when he saw the plant manager not even being able to open a bonnet of a car . "
"Really? I haven't heard that story . It's interesting . "
"Well, I should take off now . I have an appointment with a customer company . Thank you for the tea . "
When it was lunchtime, Gun-Ho went to the company cafeteria . There was a long line already . When the workers saw Gun-Ho in line, they gave a bow to him . Gun-Ho was thinking of standing in line with other workers for a second, and then he decided to eat somewhere else . He didn't want the employees to feel uncomfortable standing in line with their company's president .
When he was walking out of the cafeteria, he ran into the general affairs director .
"Sir, do you have already had your lunch?"
"No, I just decided to eat somewhere else . The line is too long . If you haven't had your lunch yet, why don't you join me?"
"Sure, sir . I will bring my car . "
Gun-Ho and the general affairs director headed to Seonggeo Town around a reservoir . There was a Korean restaurant that specialized in soft tofu stew . While having lunch, Director Choi made a report .
"We've sent out the invitation letters for the Dyeon Korea's building dedication ceremony . We sent it to the local government officials in Asan City as well . "
"But we are not sure how many of them will actually come, right? If we don't see any local official in our ceremony, that could be a problem, but if we have so many of them, that could also be a problem . "
"Even though they don't want to come, we still have to send the invitation to them . Otherwise, they would consider that we ignored them . "
"Haha . Really?"
"It's true . People say that government officials cannot help your business, but they can certainly ruin your business . "
"Haha . You are so funny, Director Choi . "
"I'm serious . "
"The soft tofu stew is really good here . "
"That's why I brought you here, sir . "