Field trip to Samsung Bac Ninh factory: learn PR from world-class Factory Tour

Friday - December 22, 2017 23:48

Training in any profession requires an internship and practical training so that learners know how to apply what they have learned to their work. For our PR profession, internship and practical training are even more important. Only by going, watching, listening, and trying things out yourself can we realize many valuable things. On December 14, students majoring in Public Relations at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities had an interesting field trip to the Samsung Bac Ninh factory. We did not come to visit their advanced facilities and production lines, we came to learn how to do PR through a world-class Samsung Factory Tour.

Public Relations field trip to visit Samsung Bac Ninh employee dormitory

To have this high-class Factory Tour, Associate Professor Dr. Nguyen Thi Thanh Huyen (Head of PR - Advertising Department, Faculty of Journalism and Communication) had to contact and work with Samsung Vietnam Company a month in advance. Samsung gave the actual delegation a thoughtful, careful and extremely meticulous care. At exactly 7:00 a.m., 2 45-seat cars picked up the PR teachers and students at the school yard. After more than 1 hour of driving, we arrived at Yen Phong Industrial Park, Bac Ninh and stopped at Samsung's Talent Training Center. The delegation was welcomed at Hoa Sen Hall - this is considered the most beautiful room in terms of both facilities and "feng shui" of the Samsung Bac Ninh factory (SEV).

Our Factory Tour began with an elaborate presentation by Ms. Vu Dieu Linh - Samsung Vietnam's external communications specialist. Through Ms. Linh's introduction, Samsung Vietnam appeared to us as a friendly home whose most valuable asset is its people. SEV is Samsung's second largest factory in the world. At Samsung, regardless of whether you are a manufacturer or have a high or low position, you are respected and are given the title of employee. The welfare regimes of Samsung Vietnam employees are extremely thoughtful, even "above the law", for example, employees are given 8 months of maternity leave instead of 6 months as prescribed by law.

In addition to sharing about the history and structure of Samsung in Vietnam, the delegation actually had a Q&A session with the staff of Samsung Vietnam's communications department. Through this, we learned that they only have 8 employees for all communications work in Vietnam, 4 for internal and 4 for external. Internal work and building corporate culture are highly valued by Samsung because for them, 160,000 employees are valuable assets, must be connected, and promote collective strength. The huge workload, pressure to broadcast internal communications products on time (1 magazine issue / 1 month, 1 news video / 15 days), continuous overtime, but those people always smiled and welcomed us from the time we arrived until we left. A professional working style, working wholeheartedly without getting tired is what we felt from the communications department specialists here.

PR students ask questions to Ms. Vu Dieu Linh - external communications specialist of Samsung Vietnam

Leaving the Lotus Hall, the first thing we received was... anti-static shoe covers to ensure our safety. The actual group moved to a phone component factory on the SEV campus. Following the strict regulations of the factory, all of us, including the media staff, left all electronic devices before entering the factory. It would be a bit redundant to say that SEV's production lines, machinery, and equipment systems are modern and advanced. Perhaps the most impressive thing is the extremely professional, serious, and urgent working style of the production staff. Despite the "disturbing" of the actual group, no one took their hands off the camera, no one was distracted even for a few seconds, everyone seemed to be very well trained and careful. To continue the Factory Tour, all of us had to go through the security check, everyone, without exception.

Leaving SEV, we moved to the next destination of the trip, the staff dormitory area, about 2 km away. This place is likened to an "international kindergarten". All the buildings have many colors and outstanding patterns in the color-block architectural style. This design was revealed by the management staff to help production staff relax and relieve stress after a day of work. The dormitories here are built in the style of modern apartments. Each floor has a common room with a TV, sofa, friendly and cozy decoration, a makeup room with a hair dryer system, mirror, bathroom and apartments with 6 people per room. On the first floor of the color-blocks are various services such as supermarkets, book cafes, gyms, karaoke rooms, game rooms, mini cinemas... To use the dormitory and these services, SEV employees only have to pay 50,000 VND/month (fifty thousand dong) which is a symbolic cost for electricity and water so that they can be more aware of their home.

K62 PR students take pictures at a color-block in the SEV staff dormitory campus

After exploring the SEV staff residence, the Factory Tour ended with a completely free meal at SEV's giant canteen. The canteen here serves up to thousands of meals per day, the amount of food consumed is calculated in tons. There are 8 menus for us to choose from, choosing a satisfactory menu, each person moves along the lines to get a tray, exchange the meal ticket for their meal. At SEV, all employees are equal, from low-level to high-level employees, they all follow a queueing process, serve themselves in the canteen, there is no other discrimination.

Samsung Vietnam's Factory Tour for PR students seemed to have ended with a perfect meal, but there was still one more part that made the trip unforgettable, which was the gifts from Samsung for the field team: a Tucano laptop backpack with Samsung's logo printed on it. So, we went to Samsung, listened to them talk, watched them work, visited their place of residence, ate with them and even... brought their "names" back with us. The trip ended with smiles and waves from the media staff, the bus started moving, and we returned to Hanoi at 1:00 p.m. the same day.

Ms. Vu Dieu Linh - external communications specialist of Samsung Vietnam - presented souvenirs to the delegation.

The Factory Tour at Samsung has ended, the practical experience of a PR activity to promote the corporate image has opened up many things for PR Humanities students.

Sharing about the trip, Mai Lan - a final year student said“To make it on time for this trip, I had to catch the 4am bus from my hometown to Hanoi.to meet the group.For those of us who work in PR, wherever we go, we pay special attention to the people there. Because PR is culture, and culture ultimately comes from people.After the trip, a Samsung person and a Samsung culture appeared clearly in our minds.”

As a PR student, you are never allowed to not ask questions wherever you go. Ngoc Linh - class monitor of K60PR shared:“The excellent employee care regime that Samsung is doing is an understandable reason why Samsung always attracts human resources and retains its existing human resources. Everyone wants to be loved and Samsung has loved them like family. However, the secret, unspoken stories of employees working at Samsung are still a curiosity to me. Do they really love and are satisfied with what they are doing at this factory? And is the relationship between senior management and employees really as classless as is said?Maybe this is something I will always want to find the answer to after the trip".

Tran Ngoc Huyen, K59 Public Relations:

The first impression is that the Samsung Bac Ninh communications team, although only 8 people, has a huge amount of work for each employee. Among them, the person who welcomed and directly talked to us about Samsung was Ms. Vu Thi Dieu Linh - Samsung's external communications specialist. Through the conversation, we could clearly feel her enthusiasm for her work and her pride in the big house Samsung, where she is working. When seeing an employee with so much love and pride for the company she works for, as a public figure, it makes me more sympathetic towards Samsung, and at the same time, from a communications perspective, this is really a good way of communicating, communicating with the feelings of each employee for Samsung. Samsung in Bac Ninh alone has tens of thousands of employees, while the external and internal communications department only has 8 people, so effective communication is really difficult. But the media department still works very professionally, regularly producing monthly magazine publications and company newsletters with advanced, modern techniques that are no less than those on television. Each stage of production from idea generation, script writing, design, filming, and editing is undertaken by the media department itself. One special thing is that the presenters in the news are also Samsung employees, and in addition to the main media team, Samsung also has employees who love writing scattered throughout the departments to collect information and contribute articles to the internal magazine. To be able to do so many things, the employees must have a high sense of responsibility, as well as enjoy good welfare policies from the company to be able to work with peace of mind and achieve such high efficiency.

Nguyen Thi Hoang, K59 Public Relations:

Samsung Bac Ninh factory is the second largest in the world, after Samsung factory in Korea, as we witnessed. If you come to visit here, it is completely understandable to feel overwhelmed. There are many things that will overwhelm you that I want to tell you. Firstly, Samsung factory is magnificent and modern. A complete and professional Korean working style. If you want to explore this factory, you need to spend a day to learn. Secondly, Samsung Bac Ninh's employee care regime is perfect, thoughtful, and complete. I was completely "wow" when the dormitory for Samsung employees is no different from a 5-star hotel. Gym, karaoke room, movie room, cafeteria, mini supermarket for food, household appliances, makeup room..., all are beautifully decorated, pretty, modern, luxurious to the point of captivating people's hearts. Accordingly, you only need to pay 50 thousand VND/month for the dormitory and the above services. This is enough to understand that Samsung always values and cares about the health and personal life of each person. That is also the motto of Samsung worldwide when considering people as the top factor. Third, Samsung's internal communication is good enough to retain anyone who comes to Samsung to work and study. With a team of only 4 people in the internal affairs department, Samsung's "Hello" magazines are still published regularly every month, and the current administrative newsletter is still updated hotly so that everyone can keep up with information trends. The most special thing in Samsung's internal communication is organizing team building activities to connect emotions and nurture the spiritual life of employees. In short, with the excellent employee care regimes that Samsung is doing, it is understandable why Samsung always attracts human resources and retains its existing human resources. Everyone wants to be loved and Samsung loves them like family.

Author:Tran Hieu (class monitor K59 PR)

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