Lessons From Hankook's Chief - Tire Review Magazine

A few weeks ago, the Wall Street Journal presented a one-on-one interview with Hankook Tire CEO Suh Seung-hwa, where the 61-year-old recounted some of his 36-year career with the tiremaker.

When Suh joined Hankook, it was a quaint little South Korean tiremaker serving a domestic market of just 200,000 vehicles. For the entire country. Back in 1973, Hankook’s total capacity was 670,000 tires; today Hankook can produce nearly 80 million tires.

More interestingly, Suh is the first Hankook employee to rise through the ranks and become CEO. Because of that, he is affectionately referred to as “Zero to Hero.”
Suh Seung-hwa
In his interview, Suh talked about his views of corporate management and his company’s future.

• On the most significant lesson learned:

“We persuaded customers to use Hankook tires on a trial basis to see if the quality was good enough to sign a contract. As our ‘quality product and quality services’ policy began to work, we came to have scores of customers who placed orders with Hankook from generation to generation. My biggest lesson at the time was that quality speaks.”

• On making tough management decisions:

“It is always hard for a manager to make decisions that are correct as well as timely at critical junctures…Managers shouldn’t avoid making a timely decision, even if it seems risky at the time.”

• On Hankook’s growth plans:

“We expect demand for Hankook products to continue to increase, and based on demand will expand overseas production facilities to cut logistics costs and customs duties and allow faster delivery. In addition to a new investment of $330 million in the existing Hungary plant during the next two years, we are looking for sites to build our sixth and seventh plants in Southeast Asia and North America. Our domestic capacity will remain the same.”

• On the most important attributes of a good manager:

“I would point to three things: the ability to make a quick and correct decision at difficult times, the ability to predict trends in the industry, and the ability to manage the work force effectively.”

• On what new employees need to succeed:

“Passion is the No. 1 must-have quality for recruits. We cannot ignore their academic backgrounds and working skills, but those without passion will lose the long-term race to their more-passionate peers.”

If you’re a shop looking to sell summer tires, it’s important to know that customers looking for these tires have very specific needs. Let’s talk about why, before recommending summer tires, you need to fully understand customer performance requirements.

Unlike all-season or all-terrain tires built for diverse driving conditions, UHP summer tires are designed with one priority: dry and wet traction for performance driving. Lateral and longitudinal grip in dry and wet conditions are also important, which is achieved through optimized contact patches, high silica tread compounds and circumferential grooves to channel water. Generally, UHP summer tire tread design features large blocks and fewer grooves for more road contact on dry surfaces. The grooves are designed to channel water away from the tire, reducing the risk of hydroplaning on wet roads.