New Employees With an Annual Salary of 1 Trillion Won - Chapter 124

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 124. Internal Crackdown (3)

Nexcon Factory.

Today, as always, a scrap transport truck entered through the main gate.

“Open the gate! What are you doing?”

“Oh, I’m sorry. I’m new here and didn’t know well. Where are you from?”

“Did the security guard change again? Where did the previous guard go?”

“I wouldn’t know. I don’t know if he was fired or quit, but I’ve been newly assigned as security.”

The Driver clicked his tongue and filled out the ledger.

He had liked the friendly young guard after a long time, but he had already quit.

“Next time, open the gate right away. Unless you want to get scolded by the boss.”

“Understood. Since I’m new, there are many areas where I’m lacking.”

The Driver frowned and headed toward the Scrap Yard.

Upon arriving at the Scrap Yard, he quickly moved his facial muscles to smile.

“Sorry for making you wait so long, Department Manager Kim.”

“You came right on time. Let’s weigh it now.”

“I’ll start the work right away.”

The Driver skillfully transferred the scrap into the transport truck.

The large scale installed under the vehicle operated and measured the weight.

“There’s a lot today too.”

“21 tons? We can just set it to about 11 tons, right?”

“That would be fine.”

When Department Manager Kim skillfully manipulated the scale, the reading that was 21 tons instantly changed to 11 tons.

Right then, two vans rushed into the Scrap Yard with sirens blaring.

“We’re from the police. Stop what you’re doing and everyone come outside.”

“Wh-what’s going on?”

Department Manager Kim instinctively felt something was wrong.

He quickly tried to reset the scale weight.

But Police Officers who had been hiding in the Scrap Yard beforehand jumped out and grabbed Department Manager Kim’s hands.

“You’re under arrest on charges of embezzlement and breach of trust. The reasons for arrest have all been stated, and you have the right to appoint a lawyer. You also have the right to refuse to make statements, and anything you say now can be used as evidence in court.”

“What did I do to deserve this!”

Department Manager Kim strongly resisted.

But when he saw the president also being arrested and brought out from the Office Building side, he gave up on everything.

“Just tell me who reported us.”

“Think about it. How could we have come this quickly? The Factory owner reported it, so it proceeded rapidly, didn’t it?”

“You’re saying Tiger Fund reported us?”

“Let’s continue the detailed discussion at the station, and it would be good to hire a lawyer quickly. Though I don’t know if there’s a lawyer who can handle Korea’s major law firms.”

The Police Officer subtly revealed the informant.

This went against police protocol, but since the informant wanted it, the Police Officer could say such things.

“Come on! Secure the Computer too, and find the Account Books quickly.”

The police turned the Factory upside down.

Not stopping there, an external audit company came and ransacked the Factory again.

They swept away all Materials from the president, materials team, and production team.

***

When I arrived at the Fund Office, Song Sang-yeon was waiting for me with a serious expression.

He was holding a Newspaper, which prominently reported the Nexcon embezzlement and corruption case.

“Was it necessary to mobilize the Police? It could have a negative impact on Nexcon.”

“Rotten parts must be cut out quickly and cleanly. And doing it this way can serve as an example to other companies.”

That was exactly why I had mobilized both police and media simultaneously.

Tiger Fund had numerous companies under it, and a strong example was needed to instill vigilance in them.

“From what I hear about various affiliates, an atmosphere of fear is being created.”

“People with nothing to hide don’t need to be afraid. And Materials related to the semiconductor business division will come in soon. Please review them.”

“Is the semiconductor business division the next internal audit target?”

“We need to ensure internal discipline before making large-scale investments.”

There was no point in pouring water into a leaky jar.

So we had to plug the holes first, which is why I had sent the red line to the semiconductor business division.

“There could be legal problems.”

“We need to prepare thoroughly to prevent such issues.”

“Although the General Manager has established lines with police, prosecutors, and the National Tax Service, it’s still much weaker compared to other large corporations.”

Being able to quickly conduct a search and seizure of Nexcon Factory was thanks to that line.

When we utilized the connections the General Manager had carefully cultivated, a search warrant was issued in just one day.

However, this wasn’t enough.

There was a high possibility of larger-scale internal audits proceeding, and to prepare for unexpected problems, we needed to strengthen our lines even more.

“We need to find ways to strengthen our lines.”

“The best method is to utilize preferential treatment for former officials. We can recruit retired judges, prosecutors, and high-ranking police officials as advisors. It’s also a method many companies use.”

Relying solely on preferential treatment for former officials had many shortcomings.

But I didn’t want to use illegal methods like Lobbying or slipping bribes.

It could create situations that would trip me up later.

“Are there methods used on Wall Street?”

“There are methods mainly used by Goldman Sachs and hedge funds. Tiger Fund Headquarters also uses these methods.”

“What kind of methods?”

“Providing Investment opportunities.”

Providing Investment opportunities?

At first, I didn’t understand well.

Investing in Funds was something anyone could do.

“It wouldn’t be regular Investment.”

“That’s right. It’s a method of providing opportunities to invest in ultra-high-yield Investment Products. By offering Products that guarantee 2-3 times annual returns, we can create economic interests and strengthen lines.”

“It’s a method with absolutely no legal problems.”

Who could complain about investing in Funds and earning profits?

Moreover, there were ways to minimize problems.

“It would be safer to invest directly in Tiger Fund Headquarters rather than the Korea Branch.”

“Correct. Since it’s Investment in the US Headquarters Fund, the potential for Domestic problems is greatly reduced.”

“Legal Lobbying would be possible without any legal issues.”

“Even if the administration changes and investigations into Overseas Fund money tracking come in, it’s just legal Investment so it won’t be a big problem.”

As long as there were no legal flaws, that was sufficient.

Even if high-ranking officials were called to hearings, it would only amount to moral criticism at most.

“Tiger Fund Headquarters already creates and uses such Investment Products? Let’s include Korean officials in that.”

“That part can be included without difficulty if we speak to the General Manager.”

“And let’s recruit advisors, establish foundations and think tanks to take care of preferential treatment for former officials. And if necessary, let’s proceed with scholarship programs to maintain the social dignity of former officials – let’s do it all together.”

It would cost quite a lot of money.

But lines were essential for doing business in Korea.

Of course, if we only did simple financial business, we wouldn’t need lines to this extent, but strong lines were absolutely necessary for the plan I had designed.

“I’ll proceed by mobilizing existing line connections to branch out.”

“There’s no need to rush too much. It’s not too late to expand the scale after building sufficient trust.”

“First, I’ll fully mobilize Overseas networks. I’ll create solid lines centered on people who studied at universities, Graduate Schools, or MBA programs in the United States.”

Lines that wouldn’t obstruct my plan would be sufficient.

However, to secure lines to that extent, we needed networks comparable to major corporations.

To prevent foreign substances from getting caught in well-meshed Gears, Lubricant called lines was absolutely necessary.

***

Nexcon was normalized.

When the president and Executives who committed corruption disappeared, it actually began running more smoothly, and quickly completed preparations for iPod OEM.

Of course, when I arrived at the factory, everyone froze up.

I could see employees looking at me like the grim reaper, but I deliberately ignored it and received a report from the Quality Team Department Manager.

“Branch Manager, we’ve completed preparations for iPod pilot production.”

“What are the targets?”

“We’re targeting a defect rate below 5%, line operation rate above 80%, and 100% pass rate for quality stability tests.”

“If you achieve those targets, how many units can we produce per day?”

The Quality Team Department Manager looked through his materials for a moment.

Then reported the target production volume with a voice full of confidence.

“Over 1,500 units per day is possible. Once production speed picks up and line expansion is completed, up to 3,000 units should be fully achievable.”

“3,000 units per day means we could produce over 90,000 units per month.”

“Based on full operation with 7 days a week, 3 shifts, it’s definitely possible.”

This level wasn’t enough.

While the current monthly sales volume of iPods was said to be 100,000 units.

This was merely stagnant sales due to supply shortages, and over 200,000 units per month was fully possible.

And the current iPod was only the first generation.

New products like 2nd and 3rd generations would continue to come out.

Since sales would definitely surge each time, it was necessary to expand production lines in advance.

“First, please operate the factory targeting 100,000 units per month production. And we’ll expand the factory targeting 200,000 units per month production before this year ends.”

“To produce as many as 200,000 units, the factory scale needs to be twice as large as now.”

“We’ve agreed to acquire the site that Daehyeon Electronics isn’t using, so we can proceed with new factory construction.”

The scale of the Daehyeon Electronics Complex was 320,000 pyeong.

Of this, unused sites alone reached 100,000 pyeong, and acquiring this wasn’t difficult.

Nexcon’s factory site was 30,000 pyeong.

By securing an additional 100,000 pyeong, we could expand the factory by more than three times.

“We’ll need to hire many more employees.”

“Since we’ve decided to replace simple repetitive processes with robotic arms, we won’t need that many employees. And let’s continue researching process minimization methods before the new factory construction is completed.”

Hiring personnel wasn’t difficult.

But reducing personnel once hired wasn’t easy.

So we needed to find ways to minimize labor costs as much as possible before factory construction was completed.

Movement minimization, introduction of semi-automatic equipment like robotic arms, etc.

Still, if time was insufficient, we had to devise methods using temporary or dispatched workers as much as possible.

“The facilities and equipment already introduced to our factory require much less manpower than other factories. And the movement optimization method you created, Branch Manager, has already been introduced and is being utilized.”

“That alone isn’t enough. Let’s start with pilot production and continue making modifications.”

“We’ll begin pilot production.”

Many methods I had devised were already applied to Nexcon.

Especially since movement minimization and robotic arms were introduced for the first time, I watched the pilot production with anticipation.

The production line began operating.

Parts moved along the belt, and employees concentrated on their assigned tasks, assembling parts.

Since these were employees who had experience producing Daehyeon Electronics products from before, they continued their work very skillfully, but discordant sounds kept reaching my ears.

“Line 3’s movement isn’t optimized enough. When parts move from Process A to Process B, they’re making two unnecessary turns. And reduce the distance between the soldering device and inspection device. Let’s minimize unnecessary movement. Also, the belt speed seems to differ slightly between processes, so please check.”

“We’ll correct it right now.”

I immediately corrected the points where discordant sounds came from.

However, there were dozens of variables I couldn’t directly check.

While it appeared to run without problems on the surface, defects could occur anytime with just one minor variable.

“The inventory management system also seems problematic. The line stops slightly while filling parts.”

“It can’t be helped. Workers and line supervisors must check inventory status in real-time and bring insufficient inventory from the warehouse, so some gaps are inevitable.”

All inventory checking was being done manually.

If worker or line supervisor confirmation was delayed even slightly, specific lines stopping was a common occurrence.

“We need to introduce an inventory tracking system first.”

“We’re using the same system that Daehyeon Electronics used.”

“We need a more computerized system. And there’s already a system we’ve created.”

It was a problem that could be solved by introducing the inventory system used at Rollbook Mart.

Though Rollbook Mart was a warehouse-type mart with much more diverse and numerous inventory than Nexcon.

It had a perfect inventory management system through various algorithms and data analysis systems.

“Is it a system applicable to our factory?”

“We can modify it to make it applicable. Department Manager, please organize all the pilot production data. Record everything in detail – which lines had defects, what caused the defects, down to the smallest details.”

With data alone, we could create a system for defect management too.

Of course it wouldn’t be easy, but if we added new algorithms to already created algorithms.

We could create a framework capable not only of collecting and analyzing data for real-time adjustments but also predictions.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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