Korail
Our visit with KoRail started with a conference room adjacent to the Daejeon Central train station. We were given a presentation from Lin who was KoRail's director of operations, and she showed a presentation of KoRail's current standing numbers such as revenue, employee head count, stock (which is what they call their fleet of train cars), percentage of electric trains vs. diesel trains, etc... She also showed us graphics of how their trains are powered, showcasing how some trains are powered through the middle cars and how some trains are powered from the front and rear cars. It was a very informative presentation that gave us a good idea of KoRail's overall operation.
Following the conference room visit, we were escorted to the Daejeon Centrail train station; roughly a two minute walk. We were shown to the train master's office (shown in the picture to the left in a full suit and tie), and were given an opportunity to ask him any questions as needed. One thing to note, however, was that before we walked to the station, Lin asked us to appoint two "speakers" for the group who would ask the station master any questions the group had. Both Phil and Dakota were chosen by the group.
The train master's office had 10 large arm chairs sat around a table, and one large arm chair at the front which was his seat. He greeted us with a bow, and told us all we could sit down, as well as sip the orange juice his staff gave to us. Gifts are quite important in Korean culture, and this was no different. He explained to us general numbers about the station such as staff, cameras, train lines, etc... We followed this meeting with a walk around of the station, taking a look into the control rooms, the security rooms (which also doubled as the server room), and finally going to the "restricted" areas of the station to see what would happen if any unauthorized person would go to these areas. We ended our visit by taking a group photo with the station master, and he was swept away by his assistant to take care of what seemed to be something important.
Vision Semicon
Vision Semicon is a company that designs and builds semiconductors, as well as produces a few different products for retail. The first product is an automated robot that serves various types of coffee (regular, americano, lattes, cappuccino, etc), a self driving robot that can simultaneously run the coffee (or any other product), to a customer's table and return to a designated spot, and a smart "droplet" table that when one sits down, it shoots air up in the middle the table as a "germ guard" to prevent sickness from spreading.
This meeting started with a short meeting in what was likely the largest and most high technically advanced conference room we've ever seen. The table had 29 chairs surrounding a very large conference table, and before the hosts began their meeting, a computer monitor assigned to each chair rose out of the table in front of us to mirror what was on the screen at the end of the room. It was a great solution to make it much easier to see what was on the screen; something we think could be adopted into American conference rooms.
After the presentation, we were given an opportunity to ask any questions we had about Vision Semicon, and then we were given a tour of the building. The tour began with a trip to a room where they test the automated coffee machine, and made a coffee which was delivered to Phil. We then made our way to the cafeteria where we were able to see both the self driving robot as well as the droplet table. The president of company was unable to answer a few of the questions, but luckily some of the engineers were gracious enough to use some of their personal time to explain some of the inner workings of the machines we were observing.
Finally, we walked to the semiconductor manufacturing room to see the ovens in which the materials are finalized. Around the corner from the ovens was a room where we were able to see the most current version of the droplet table as well as a coffee machine that was prepping to be delivered a customer. It's roughly a three month period from order to delivery; quite a fast turnaround for such a complicated product.
3i Technologies
On day four of our trip we visited 3i. 3i is a digital technology company that is transforming and innovating a new way for people to make content. The three I's stand for imagine, invent, and inspire. 3i is based in Seoul, South Korea, and is fairly new to the market as they were established in 2017. In less than 10 years, 3i has come out with a multitude of products using the help of AI technology. One of the most popular products 3i has out right now is called Pivo, which is an AI-powered mount that tracks your movement and captures every moment. This product is more popular with the equestrian crowd but is also used for many other sports.
Another perk of this technology that was impressive was the capability to do tours of offices and/or buildings without being present. I cannot remember if they had the technology to measure floor plans or not but that was also a huge factor for us as well. Some of us in this group lay flooring and/or are in the construction world so having an AI-based technology would decrease our time out in the field and spend more time on designing drawings and ordering material to complete our tasks faster.
Other than the product aspect of 3i, their offices were slightly different than the offices we have in the United States to an extent. The multicolored windows made everything more lively but at the same time, it was harder to see inside. It seems like they value working together and when it is time to meet they want a more private setting. One aspect we found unique was the kcals that were on the steps and you could count how many calories you were burning going up the stairs. We liked how the offices were set up as well, some of the chairs had a leaf hanging over it almost like a little shade. But, everyone sat near each other making it more simple to collaborate.
Songpa Police Station
The Seoul Songpa Police Station is one of 31 metro police stations located throughout the municipality of Seoul and is the largest of the police stations located throughout metro Seoul. The Seoul Police Department falls under the Korean National Police Agency (KNPA) and is a division of the Korean Ministry of the Interior and Safety.
We were met at the Seoul Songpa Police Station and escorted to the rather large and upscale police department conference room where we were introduced to the Station Director, Brian. All members in attendance were presented with a gift bag containing a stuffed animated doll adorned in the Seoul Police Department uniform in addition to a Seoul Police Department patch and uniform pin. Brian informed us that the police uniform pin is held with much esteem and is seldom handed out to guests and visitors of the police station.
Brian provided a brief overview of the police department followed by showing a rather in-depth video of the aspects and functions of the police department. Upon conclusion of the video, the Seoul police chief arrived where he fielded questions from the group with interpretation provided by Brian. Brian mentioned that due to strict gun control laws in Korea, he has yet to deal with a mass shooting or incident involving firearms in his 20+ law enforcement career with the Songpa Seoul Police Department.
Phil, from our group, was afforded the opportunity of conducting a uniform patch exchange with the Chief of Police where he provided the Chief of Police a patch and a challenge coin from his organization, the Marin County Sheriff's Office, as is tradition from law enforcement agencies to swap organizational patches and/or challenge coins with each other.
Upon the question and answer session with the Police Chief, we were provided a quick tour of the dispatch center where Brian demonstrated the technologically advanced CCTV system that displayed various sections throughout Seoul. However, our tour was cut short as an emergency situation was unfolding which precluded the group from touring the rest of the police station and we were escorted out of the police station at that moment. Brian bid us all farewell and we resumed the rest of the day by loading back onto the bus and checking into our hotel in Seoul at the Four Points, Sheraton.