Bui Van Cuong

Please tell us about your role in the An Nam Factory.

I am responsible for overseeing the management and production of the factory. Specifically, I manage the entire factory from production flow, factory equipment, and quality assurance to shipping.
What is difficult in my work is how to keep human relationships running smoothly. There are many people working in this factory, and communicating with people is more complicated than communicating with machines. I must understand the differences in people’s personalities and abilities. Since each employee has a different starting point, the task of bringing everyone up to a certain level is difficult and it’s a great challenge for me.

At work or in the company, what would you like to challenge and achieve in the future?

I am currently working as a Vice Director, and I would like to take on the challenge of managing the entire factory in the future. Usually, a Vice Director’s duties do not extend beyond the scope of general affairs, clerical work, and accounting, among others, but I want to learn more about the areas covered by general affairs and actively expand my own skills.
I hope to achieve higher quality by reducing mistakes in each process. In addition to improving quality, I also strive to be able to properly evaluate employees regarding personnel management.

What are your challenges outside of work? What do you like to do? Any hobbies?

Since I have more opportunities to communicate with many different customers at work, I put a lot of effort into learning English conversation. In particular, the main customers of this factory are global companies, and in many cases, they use English. We communicate with such customers through e-mails mainly in English, so I feel it is a must to improve my English skills. Some of our business is with Chinese companies, so I will also start learning Chinese.
And I like to play soccer for fun. Soccer is very popular in Vietnam, and I am a member of the factory soccer team. I like to play soccer about twice a week.

Please tell us what MATSUOKA means to you.

I think MATSUOKA is my “second family.” I started working here when the factory was established and my employee number is “1.” I have been working here for four years as a founding employee, and perhaps I can say that I spend more time at the factory than with my family. I consider all the people who work here to be my second family, like my brothers and sisters. I listen to their personal and professional concerns, and I care deeply about each and every one of them.

Comparing before and after you joined the company, what has changed?

I try to be careful in everything I do. When I worked for a Vietnamese company, I sometimes felt a sloppy attitude towards everything, like “nothing matters” or “I don’t care.” But when I joined MATSUOKA, I immediately understood that the attitude used in that company would not work here. This is an environment where customers and even the company have high expectations. I have learned to think and plan well before doing anything to minimize mistakes.

*The contents, etc., of this interview are as of the time of the interview.