Organizational change begins with small, everyday actions: identifying opportunities for improvement, even in familiar work environments and routine tasks, and acting on them. Heesung Catalysts recognizes employees who take the initiative to improve operations and workplace safety, offering opportunities to build on their efforts through further learning.

The recent overseas benchmarking visits were organized with this purpose in mind. The employee recognized as the top contributor to the 2025 employee suggestion program visited BASF’s Huntsville site in the United States to explore production processes and operating practices. Outstanding participants in Safety100 visited BASF ECMS’s Nienburg site in Germany to learn about its safety management systems and practices.

Where Change Begins: In the Workplace

Heesung Catalysts runs an employee suggestion program that turns ideas from daily work into gains in productivity, quality, and cost efficiency. Sharing and rewarding successful examples encourages employees to participate voluntarily. Jung-hyun Moon, Senior Technician (Production Management Team), was recognized as the program’s top contributor in 2025 for his continued efforts to improve inefficient workflows. Whenever he had an idea, he sought input from colleagues involved in the work and relevant support departments, assessing its feasibility and expected benefits before putting it into practice.

Heesung Catalysts also encouraged everyday safety practices through Safety100, a company-wide safety culture initiative. From March to June 2026, the program ran under the theme “100 Days, 100% Participation, 100% Action.” Activities included hazard identification, pre-task toolbox meetings (TBM), 3정5S workplace organization and housekeeping practices, and risk assessments. Employees inspected their work environments and addressed hazards, making safety part of their daily routines. Those who actively participated and helped strengthen our safety culture were recognized as outstanding contributors to the program.

To recognize these efforts and provide opportunities to learn from other workplaces, Heesung Catalysts arranged overseas benchmarking visits for the selected employees.

Broadening Perspectives Through Experience

Putting Quality First in Daily Operations

In late July 2026, Moon visited BASF’s Huntsville site in Alabama, United States. The site is a major North American production hub for emissions control catalysts used in gasoline and diesel vehicles.

Moon examined production processes and operating practices from the perspectives of productivity, quality, and EHS (environment, health, and safety). Beyond equipment and processes, he paid particular attention to the standards employees followed and how they put them into practice. He highlighted their commitment to quality and daily morning toolbox meetings as particularly memorable examples.

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

Making Safety Standards Part of Everyday Work

On August 25–26, 2026, the outstanding Safety100 participants visited BASF ECMS’s Nienburg site in Germany.

On the first day, they toured the production facilities to observe work practices and everyday approaches to safety. On the second day, they explored safety management systems, risk assessments, incident analysis, and machinery and equipment safety, identifying useful examples and potential areas for improvement. They focused on how safety standards and principles were reflected in actual tasks and employee behavior.

✅ Heesung Catalysts Conducts Safety Benchmarking at BASF ECMS in Germany for Safety100 Outstanding Participants

Seeing Our Own Workplace from a New Perspective

Experiencing another workplace firsthand offers an opportunity to reassess familiar ways of working. During these visits, participants gained a renewed appreciation of Heesung Catalysts’ strengths and identified areas for improvement in their own work.

For Moon, the Huntsville visit also reaffirmed Heesung Catalysts’ technical expertise and capabilities in equipment improvement. He shared that seeing Heesung Catalysts exchange technical knowledge and collaborate with a global enterprise gave him a stronger sense of its competitiveness and pride in being part of the organization.

The Safety100 participants who visited Nienburg focused on the role employees play in building a safety culture. Systems and equipment alone are not enough; employees must understand the standards and consistently follow them. This prompted participants to reflect on their own work practices and safety habits.

Bringing Lessons Back to the Workplace

The value of benchmarking becomes tangible when lessons learned are put into practice. Moon expressed his commitment to drawing on Huntsville’s production practices to improve his own work. The Safety100 participants plan to apply ideas and approaches from Nienburg’s safety management system to their respective work environments and share what they learned with colleagues during team meetings.

As individual learning informs team practices, improvements can spread across the organization. We will continue to build on these employee-led efforts, creating opportunities for our people to grow and contribute to the organization’s development.