An Ocean Apart, Bridged by Forklift

I’VE been with this company, which manufactures forklifts in Lexington, Ky., my entire career. We were successful for years, even opening a manufacturing division in Korea. Then, in 2000, we went bankrupt and struggled until a South Korean company, Youn-An Hat, bought us in 2003. We went from having a satellite manufacturing plant overseas to reporting to headquarters in Korea. It was a big cultural change.

I call on customers in several countries and advise the engineers in Korea on product design. I also help ensure that the forklifts and other machinery meet specifications for the United States market. Last October, I traveled to Korea to answer questions about a new part designed to carry rolls of carpet on the front of a forklift.

The factory was producing a prototype. I had sent a CD ahead with the engineering drawings, so I sat with a Korean engineer while we reviewed the specifications on his PC. Between his limited understanding of English and both of us pointing to the drawings, we were able to communicate. It helps that these drawings use universal symbols. For example, we both recognize the weld symbol for joining steel parts.

About a year ago we started using video conferencing for group meetings. It’s a major improvement over teleconferencing. Somehow, because we can see one another’s facial expressions and hand gestures, we can understand one another better. There’s something about being able to see one another that makes us relate more informally, too. We joke back and forth, which we never did over the telephone. It changes the tone of the meeting.

We hold these meetings when we can all be at work at a reasonable hour in both countries. That means 6 a.m. on our end and 8 p.m. on their end. If the meeting lasts two hours, we see someone in Korea nodding off every so often. Once a guy was snoring. I’m not sure the Korean employees are aware that we see everyone in camera range, or that we move the camera occasionally. We’ve seen worse things than someone sleeping.

Our Korean counterparts never hold side conversations in meetings as we do here. They’re too polite. They’re terrific hosts as well. When I travel there, a host employee is assigned to me to meet me at the airport and make sure I have everything I need. One host took me on a tour over the weekend. That Friday I had been bending over a forklift. I was having excruciating back spasms, and riding in his small car made it worse. The next day he brought me a muscle relaxant.

Once I wanted to thank a group in the factory for doing a good job on a project, so I asked one of the workers how to praise them in Korean. After he told me what to say, I practiced the pronunciation a few times. When I repeated the words in front of the group, everyone laughed. One of the senior men took me aside and said, “You can say that here at the factory, but don’t say that at headquarters.”

I learned later it was a phrase used to compliment a person’s sexual performance. The Korean employees had a joke at my expense. They tell me that now, when one of the group fixes a broken gas pedal, for example, someone repeats that phrase.

Few people in the factory speak English. If our group in Lexington has to solve a problem, a Korean worker writes a report, and someone there has to translate it into English for us. We can’t have just a simple conversation.

Occasionally I’ll run into a crisis situation that can’t wait for a meeting. I’ll call Korea at 10 p.m. to catch someone who is at the factory first thing in the morning there. Then the employee asks me to send an e-mail message to make sure he understood what I said. He has all day to think about the problem, and when I arrive at work the next morning I find his response.

The employees at the factory look up to me because Koreans respect seniority and because of my experience. But unlike before, the company is designing machinery for the whole world now. The United States is just one part of that world, and I have to respect that.

For example, we don’t have license plates on forklifts in the United States. They’re not over-the-road vehicles here. But we have to help the factory design a license plate holder and turn signals for forklifts in Korea since they drive forklifts on the road there.

I’VE found it hard to get used to their idea of personal responsibility. In this country, we’re taught it’s best to admit a mistake and move on. Koreans believe in saving face and restoring equilibrium instead.

Not long ago I pointed out to a Korean colleague that there was a problem with the pressure valve in a forklift. It was obvious that I made him uncomfortable. I explained how the pressure was outside the acceptable limits, but he wouldn’t agree or disagree that this was a dilemma. Then I had a real problem because I had to make sure the design was changed.

In the United States someone would have just said, “Holy Mack, you’re right!” I kept trying, but the conversation was going nowhere. Finally his boss came into the room and stated the obvious. We changed the design.

As told to Patricia R. Olsen.

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