President Kang Dal-ho of Hyundai Oilbank. (Photos: Hyundai Oilbank)

Hyundai Oilbank President Kang Dal-ho stressed the successful completion of a heavy feed petrochemical complex (HPC), to be dedicated this year.

He made the remarks while delivering his New Year’s message on Jan. 4.

Hyundai Chemical, a joint venture between Hyundai Oilbank and Lotte Chemical, is building a HPC in Daesan, Chungcheongnam-do.

An HPC significantly reduces manufacturing cost by using oil residue compared to an NCC that uses naphtha to produce petrochemical products like polyethylene or polypropylene.

With the upcoming dedication of the HPC, Hyundai Oilbank will have a capability to produce 750,000 tons of polyethylene and 400,000 tons of polypropylene annually.

Hyundai Oilbank has invested 2.7 trillion won in the project, the largest-ever investment since its founding.

Hyundai Oilbank has surpassed the “disaster-free 20 million work hours threshold,” becoming the first Korean refinery to make it.

Hyundai Oilbank’s disaster-free period, which stated in October 2013, has lasted for more than seven years. It is rare in Korea and abroad that a Korean company has made achieved such a record.

Hyundai Oilbank achieved a feat of disaster-free 10 million work hours in September 2017, the first such record since its founding. The refinery had renewed its record before reaching 20 million work hours.

Hyundai Oilbank has introduced a “reverse mentoring” system to facilitate communication among all generations.

Hyundai Oil bank Introduces ‘Reverse Mentoring’ to Remove Generational Barriers

Hyundai Oilbank has introduced a “reverse mentoring” system to facilitate communication among all generations.

Reverse mentoring is a program in which younger employees of millennials and Generation Z are paired with executives to share new generation culture.

The program is a new communication method in which seniors learn the current world from younger employees, departing from the conventional mentoring system in which seniors teach juniors.

It is designed to raise the understanding of each other and create a younger generation corporate culture of work.

The first reverse mentoring class lasted about three months between October and December.

Executives teamed up with junior employees and got together to conduct a variety of activities once or twice monthly.

Younger mentors with the average age of 27 coached curricula of current trends such as Instagram, latest SNS experiences, new generation buzzwords study, and the understanding of broadcasting and culture trends.

An executive, a member of the class, said, “It is necessary for management leaders to learn trends from younger employees to proactively cope with changes, which are made in a rapid pace lately, and it’s a personal funny experience to learn new culture such as fad languages among those in their 20s.”

Hyundai Oilbank plans to regularize reverse mentoring, not a transient program, The company plans to implement a new reverse mentoring program connecting new employees in production and specialization sectors and site managers next year.