Heesung Catalysts’ 2025 Best Suggestion Award Winner Benchmarks BASF Production Site

Mr. Jung-hyun Moon, Senior Technician in the Production Management Team and the recipient of Heesung Catalysts’ 2025 Best Suggestion Award, visited the BASF Huntsville Site in the United States in late July as part of the award program.

Located in Huntsville, Alabama, the BASF Huntsville Site is a major North American production hub for emissions control catalysts for gasoline and diesel vehicles. During the visit, Mr. Moon toured the catalyst production processes and reviewed site operations, identifying best practices and potential areas for improvement that could be applied at Heesung Catalysts from the perspectives of productivity, quality, and EHS.

Turning Ideas from the Workplace into Meaningful Improvements

Heesung Catalysts operates an employee suggestion program to encourage employees to identify opportunities for improvement, develop creative ideas, and actively participate in making the workplace better.

Through the program, ideas identified in day-to-day operations are put into practice to drive tangible improvements in areas such as productivity, quality, and cost reduction. Employees who make outstanding suggestions and contribute to meaningful improvements are recognized and rewarded, helping encourage broader participation and share best practices across the company.

Mr. Moon, who received the 2025 Best Suggestion Award, said that his approach to finding improvement ideas starts with paying close attention to unnecessary or inefficient aspects of everyday work.

“I always look for unnecessary or inefficient steps in the way we work. I see even small inconveniences or repetitive tasks as opportunities for improvement and think about how we can work faster and more accurately. When I come up with an idea, I seek input from colleagues and support teams to determine whether it can be applied in practice. I also consider what benefits the improvement could bring before putting it into action.”

Learning from Operations at the BASF Huntsville Site

During the benchmarking visit, Mr. Moon had the opportunity to observe the catalyst production processes and operational practices at the Huntsville Site firsthand.

The visit focused particularly on how the site approaches productivity, quality, and EHS, as well as practices that could provide useful insights for Heesung Catalysts’ own production operations. Mr. Moon highlighted the scale of the facility, the employees’ strong commitment to quality, and operational practices such as daily Toolbox Meetings (TBMs) as some of the most memorable aspects of the visit.

Reflecting on the experience, Mr. Moon said:

“Visiting the BASF Huntsville Site and seeing its catalyst production processes and operational practices firsthand was a very meaningful experience. I was particularly impressed by the strong focus on quality and practices such as daily TBMs. Experiencing the site’s approach to operations gave me many valuable insights and ideas that we can consider for our own workplace.”

He added, “Seeing firsthand how we share technologies and collaborate with a global company gave me a renewed appreciation of Heesung Catalysts’ competitiveness and capabilities. It also made me proud to be part of the company. I hope to apply the new perspectives and insights I gained from this experience to my work going forward.”

Mr. Moon also expressed his hope to visit other sites in the future, learn from a wider range of production practices, and apply those insights to Heesung Catalysts’ operations to contribute to the company’s continued development.

Heesung Catalysts will continue to encourage employees to turn ideas identified in their daily work into meaningful improvements through its employee suggestion program. The company also plans to recognize outstanding improvement initiatives and provide employees with opportunities to broaden their perspectives through diverse experiences.