This morning we had to wake up, like, really early. However, we had a good reason to do so! At 6.30 we rose with suits ‘n’ noodles – some fresh and early spicyness. About one hour later we were strolling to the subway station to kick off our trip to Cheonan: we were going on a company visit to Maxon Motors. From the subway we went to Seoul station, where we had some time left to grab a cup of coffee before our train left. After getting on the train and finding our designated seats, we settled for the one hour trip in the nice and comfy chairs. At around 10:30 we got off at Cheonan (which still seemed like Seoul, because the city scenery just kept on going on all the way there…) and stepped into the blistering heat.
FUN FACT! Seoul is one of the biggest cities in the world, as we experienced: it has about 1.5 times the number of inhabitants as compared to the Netherlands – 24 million!
We were greeted by our guides from Maxon, and in a short while the bus they sent to pick us up arrived as well. It was really cosy. We had a short drive into the mountains, into the more rural area where Maxon was located. To kick things off, we got an interesting sales pitch about the company, followed by a more technical explanation of their motors’ inner and outer workings, with some human analogies to keep things on a level that everyone would understand.
FUN FACT! Maxon has branches in various countries across the world and was actually founded in Switzerland: here in Korea they specialize mainly in the production and assembly of brushless iron core motors, if that means anything to you.
After the presentations and the opportunity to ask questions, we were engaged in a group picture with our guides and moved on to the company canteen, where they provided lunch for us – a western one actually, a salad with bread and other nice food thingies. In a while, the canteen filled up with all the employees that were on their break, and we got the opportunity to taste some of the Korean lunch food as well. Apparently we where quite the attraction (especially the tall ones among us), since we got a lot of surprised looks our way. After lunch we met again in the lobby to receive a company tour – really interesting! They showed us the whole process: checking incoming materials, storage, production, the assembly line, testing, more assembly, final testing and shipping logistics. Consecutively, we received relational gifts, gave our very generous hosts some thank you presents, and were sent on our way back to Cheonan station.
After a soothing train ride back, everyone jumped into some more comfy clothing and grabbed dinner in various places, after which we either enjoyed the evening breeze in Seoul City or just chilled in the hostel. Jur was so generous to wash all our button shirts for the next company visit tomorrow: Netmarble Games. See you then, and good night!
