Ready for takeoff

The first 10 years of Cook Korea’s history – What a journey!

It was a shining Sunday morning as smartly dressed Cook Korea colleagues gathered at the International Finance Center (IFC), where Cook Korea lives now, excited to be actors and actresses for Cook Korea’s history video.

The video planning was a big part of the process. In a short video, we wanted to depict how much Korea has grown over the years. Watch it below!

The beginnings

As a company, Cook Korea started in March 2000 with Young-Rok Han, who is now a program manager for greater China and Korea Vascular division. Before Cook Korea was legally established in 2007, it was a small liaison office that helped bridge business communication between Cook companies in Asia and at Park 48, Cook’s global headquarters.

After Young-Rok’s time, Robert Webb was sent to Korea for 20 months, and he recruited Dominic Lee. Dominic was Korea’s general manager for 10 years and is now the APAC Continuous Improvement Director. In recent months, Joy Choi took on the job of overseeing operations of the company as the chief operating officer for Cook Korea.

Our story over time

• Employee count: When Cook Korea started in 2010, there were nearly 20 people. Now, we have 73 employees.

• Team collaboration: As business grew, respective needs for various functional departments to increase their support for the growing business arose. Now, we have more than 10 departments collaborating to solve problems.

• Our sales: The first year of the business transition from distributor’s selling our products to Cook employees taking over sales was in 2010. We made the transfer with the smallest business unit and added one by one afterwards. The sales we had in 2010 were about $1 million; they now exceed $40 million. Since the transition was completed in 2013, Cook Korea has continuously grown each year.

Family and friends

I joined Cook Korea in April of 2011 as Finance manager. I was very passionate, being a part of the early start-up members at Cook Korea. I was single back then, but once Cook came into my life, I got married and had a beautiful daughter. At Cook Korea, this is not a unique story. During our time at Cook, many of us have met our significant others, started our families, and made important friendships.

Overcoming challenges

Even with all of these treasured aspects of our history, looking back on the decade, our journey wasn’t always an easy one. There were inevitable turnovers, and there was significant growth in sales. At times, it was difficult to make final decisions when collaborating with various stakeholders. Managing inventories in the many hospital locations directly and reconciling physical and accounting figures was also challenging. Because of the hundreds of diversified customer needs, we had to redo things multiple times. Sometimes, there was miscommunication that caused us to feel defeated. Transferring things from previous business partners was hard and frustrating at times, too. However, despite these hardships, the business had to continue, and these challenges would become the backbone to making us strong.

Radio Frequency Identification technology (RFID) stepped up to serve complex demands. Previously we had to use a barcode reader when checking our inventories, but now, having RFID technology, managing stock became much easier and faster. Distribution Channel Management (DCM), now called Indirect Market Management (IMM), was formed to negotiate and customize all different customers’ requirements and tend to the sophisticated supply chain process that helps optimal safety stock level measurement in consignment locations. These challenges posed an opportunity for us to grow and improve in order to succeed.

Looking back with tears and laughter

After going through this journey together, we shared and recalled of our precious moments with tears and laughter. We reassured ourselves that helping and respecting each other was the key to having a successful journey. We may have different backgrounds and cultures, but we have one Cook Value and idea residing in us: “We take care of the company, and the company will take care of us.”

Now with new leadership, such as Jean-Marc Creissel in Korea and APAC, we are fastened tight and ready for take-off! It’s a truly modern global company. Let’s go, Cook Korea!

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