The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Samsung

  • ‘How Samsung training changed my life’

    In 2014, Godwin Oghenegueke was hired as a cleaner of Samsung’s welding floor. He never expected he would have a chance to be one of the first beneficiaries of Samsung’s free-of-charge welding training course.

    “I started by watching over the shoulders of the students grinding, welding and coating. Seeing this, the Korean instructors invited me to help them with small tasks.

    “Even though it was a small thing, having seen my commitment and hard work, they invited me to train with them. They said ‘okay let this guy to learn to weld.’”

    Today, God is an internationally-certified welder, permanently hired by Samsung as a professional welder.

    Godwin’s instructor remembers how Godwin watched intently and enthusiastically over the shoulders of the first batch of trainees.

    Goanghun Kim, a senior trainer at Samsung’s Welding Qualification Center (WQC) noted “passion” and “enthusiasm to learn and improve” are the most valued attributes they seek in Samsung’s future team members.

    “There was lot of resistance amongst existing trainees. They saw him as beneath them. We told those students that background is not important. As long as you are devoted in developing your skills, that’s what matters to us.”

    Read also: Fighting inequality through Samsung’s equal training opportunities

    Creating equal opportunities and instilling an inclusive work culture enabled Samsung to break record after record. Motivated by trust and without the constraints of societal prejudice, Samsung’s Nigerian trainees and employees were propelled to keep pushing the boundaries of industry norms.

    Samsung can proudly boast a 100% pass rate in the international welder training program. These achievements eventually led the SHI-MCI integration and fabrication yard to become one of the few companies in Africa to be awarded accreditation and training certificates by national and international bodies including the Nigerian Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment and the International Institute of Welding.

    Welding trainer, Goanghun Kim, believes Samsung’s work culture and equal opportunity policy are just enablers and the achievements are due to the more than 3,000 individuals just like Godwin who worked tirelessly.

    “Nigerians should be proud and empowered by these achievements. This proves the competency and potential of Nigerian people in the international job market and will help establish Nigeria as an engineering hub to global manufacturing industries.

    “Nigerians are ambitious and hard working. I have never seen such enthusiasm and eagerness to improve and to learn.”

    Godwin’s story proves how training opportunities can be equalisers between the haves and the have-nots, and should be further harnessed and fostered in Nigeria to play its part in providing economic growth.

    It also highlights the fact that many vocational courses are too expensive and are not accessible to those who need them the most. This barrier aggravates the economic and societal prosperity gap.

    An international welding certificate training course similar to Godwin’s can cost on average between N2.5-2.8 million per person, which makes the course unaffordable for many Nigerians without extra financial support.

    Godwin is one of many inspiring stories from the Egina project. “I would not have been able to afford this training without Samsung’s help. I know of many lives which improved thanks to the project.

  • Samsung: ‘murder of Korean in Free Zone premeditated’

    Samsung Heavy Industries Nigeria (SHIN) has described as false the claims by LADOL and the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) that the shooting of a Korean employee at LADOL free zone by an operative of NSCDC was in error.

    Speaking with reporters in Lagos on the shooting which claimed the lives of the Korean and an operative of NSCDC, its Managing Director, Mr. Jejin Jeon said the LADOL guard fired deliberately at his NSCDC colleague, killing him with three shots at the scene, before moving away to a different location where he also deliberately shot the Korean employee that had been working in a crawler crane within the SHI-MCI yard.

    Jeon who also showed reporters video evidence of the incident to back his claim, said the statement by the Commandant General of NSCDC Mohammed Abdullahi Gana, that the NSCDC guard opened fire “in error” was false, insisting that the shooting was a deliberate and unprovoked attack.

    He recalled that after the killings, the gunman then made his way to the front gate of the SHI-MCI yard where he threatened SHI-MCI’s unarmed guards and demanded to pass the gate, arguing that the shootings could not have been accidental.

    He also faulted the press statement issued by LADOL where it claimed that the Korean employee was in a “stable condition,” when the employee had already died.

    According to him, the Korean employee was never in a stable condition as his injuries were life-threatening, adding that he was in a critical condition from the moment he was shot until the moment he died.

    Jeon said LADOL’s statement issued after the SHI-MCI employee had already tragically died was a deliberate attempt by it to downplay the seriousness of the matter.

    He also said contrary to claim that LADOL was providing every support it could to those impacted and their families, it provided no support to the Korean employee, his family or SHI-MCI since the sad incident.

    “They made no communication to the employee or his family whatsoever, either privately or publicly, and have offered no other support as of now. To this date, there is no public apology to the Korean expatriate that lost his life,” he said.

    Jeon said LADOL falsely stated that the incident was, ‘contained entirely within the fabrication and integration shipyard’ while the gunman threatened the SHI-MCI security guards at gun-point to pass the gate.

  • Samsung unveils Galaxy A series

    Samsung has unveiled the new Galaxy A Series, designed with incredible improvements to the essential device features. These include immersive viewing experiences, longer lasting performance and ground-breaking cameras.

    Head of Information and Mobile Technology, Samsung Electronics West Africa, Adetunji Taiwo, said this is a series that has also embraced affordability in a big way and is set to capture the imagination of more people, in many more ways. Ultimately, the new Galaxy A Series is designed for the way that people are connecting today – sharing, capturing and consuming live content on-the-go. The new series offers diverse, powerful devices that can keep up with these spontaneous, collaborative interactions.

    Managing Director at Samsung Electronics West Africa, David Suh, said: “We are committed to providing meaningful innovation to everyone for a better mobile experience. That innovation starts with the all new Galaxy A Series. People are changing the way they connect, and their smartphones need to keep up. Our new Galaxy A Series offers improvements to the essential features that will support these live interactions, with diverse options to meet their ever-changing needs.”

    With the Galaxy A Series, consumers can also experience the Galaxy ecosystem using key services, such as Samsung Health, Samsung Members, and Bixby. The all-new Galaxy A Series is filled with enhanced features across the range.

  • Samsung: tough driving HSE awareness in workers

    Samsung Heavy Industries Nigeria (SHIN), yesterday, said it has been tough driving awareness about Health, Safety and Envronment (HSE) among its workforce in the country.

    Despite this challenge, it said it achieved 1,000 injury free days in its fabrication and integration yard in Lagos.

    The firm, in a statement, said the development was borne out of the need to continually promote the health and safety of its workers.

    Its Senior Health, Safety and Environment (HSE), Bala Adjuya said the achievement has demonstrated the resolve of the firm to guarantee the safety of its past, present and future workers.

    Read also: Samsung reaches 1,200 days with no lost time injuries

    Adjuya said: “The main challenge for Samsung is that we have many employees who have never worked in the industry before. So it is hard to instill an awareness of health and safety. But once you train them, it becomes a skill for life.

    “The feat begins from the day that new people come into the yard. We first take people to HSE training even if they only come onto the site for a job interview. It makes me proud that during the massive Egina FPSO Project,  we were able to pull through with no sanction from regulators.”

  • Samsung reaches 1,200 days with no lost time injuries

    Samsung Heavy Industries Nigeria (SHIN) has reached the significant health & safety milestone of 1,200 days with no lost time injuries at SHI-MCI, Africa’s largest ship fabrication & integration yard located in Lagos.

    This achievement, the company said, is reflective of SHIN’s intense focus on ensuring the health and safety of its entire workforce through significant investment in training and oversight.

    It pointed out the shipbuilding industry is potentially a very dangerous one with heavy machinery in operation, explosive gases used for welding and high temperatures in enclosed spaces.

    This means there are many challenges to ensuring the health and safety of a large and diverse workforce.

    Senior Health, Safety and Environment (HSE) Manager of SHIN, Bala Adjuya, said: “The main challenge for Samsung is that we have many employees who have never worked in the industry before.

    “So it is hard to instill an awareness of health and safety. But once you train them, it becomes a skill for life.”

    The feat, he explained, was achieved through continuous staff training as well investigation of every site for hazards, mitigation measures implemented and active HSE personnel constantly present onsite to ensure safety protocols are followed.

    Samsung Heavy Industries set itself a target of 0.9% LTIs on the Egina FPSO Project in Nigeria.

    LTI, is a HSE term which means “lost time injury”, which is an injury sustained by an employee that will lead to loss of productive work time.

    Even one minor incident will result in a complete reset of the LTIs counter to 0.

    As of 25th March 2019, SHI-MCI has achieved 1,207 days of no LTIs. To achieve this challenging target, SHI-MCI said it follows a rigorous process.

    “It begins from the day that new people come into the yard. We first take people to HSE training even if they only come onto the site for a job interview,” said Adjuya.

    “It makes me proud that during the massive Egina FPSO Project [Africa’s largest FPSO recently completed] we were able to pull through with no sanction from regulators.”

    At the peak of the Egina FPSO Project, Samsung Heavy Industries Nigeria employed approximately 5,000 employees at its fabrication & integration yard in Lagos.

  • ‘Samsung has transformed Nigeria into construction hub’

    Korean shipbuilding giant, Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI), has transformed Nigeria into a hub for fabrication and integration of Floating Production Storage Offloading (FPSO) unit in Africa, the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) has said.

    Executive Secretary of NCDMB Simbi Wabote, who addressed reporters in Lagos, said SHI’s investment in Lagos is a major breakthrough in the implementation of local content in Nigeria.

    Wabote said the successful construction and local integration of the Egina FPSO in the company’s fabrication yard in Lagos was a key success story in the Nigerian content initiative.

    He said: “Under the local content implementation, we have seen a major breakthrough with the massive investment by Samsung in Lagos. The successful construction and integration of the FPSO for the Egina project is worthy of mention, and this is a key success story, and going forward, this singular asset will bring massive revenue to the country as we expect other African countries to take advantage of this facility than going outside the shores of the continent for FPSO construction.

    “Samsung has proven to have efficiently transformed the country into FPSO construction hub, and recall we were doing this in Korea before now.”

    The Korean giant set a new record on Nigerian content when it successful completed the FPSO unit, the largest floating oil platform in the world and also achieved its first oil in the facility.

  • Samsung: leveraging decade-old leadership in mobile industry

    • Unveils Galaxy S10

    South Korean original equipment manufacturer (OEM), Samsung, is leveraging its decade leadership in the smart device space to usher in a new era of smartphone technology.

    Managing Director, Samsung Electronics West Africa, Mr. David Suh, who stated this in Lagos at the weekend during the unveiling of Galaxy S10, said since its launch 10 years ago, the Galaxy S series has stood for premium innovation – offering consumers an incredible experience, and the ability to find the device that’s right for them.

    He said: “Galaxy S10 builds on that incredible legacy, and delivers breakthrough display, camera, and performance innovations. With three premium devices, each built for a unique consumer in mind, Samsung is leveraging a decade of industry leadership to usher in a new era of smartphone technology.”

    He said with the three unique devices, the Galaxy S10 line is engineered to meet the distinct needs of today’s smartphone market, so consumers can do more of what they love. Each device delivers a next-gen experience in the categories consumers care about most: ground-breaking innovations in display, camera and performance.

    “As testament to a decade of innovations, Galaxy S10 is designed for those who want a premium smartphone with powerful performance and sets the stage for the next generation of mobile experiences. For consumers looking for a supercharged device, Galaxy S10+ takes every spec – from display, to camera, to performance – to the next level. Galaxy S10e is built for those who want all the premium essentials in a compact package on a flat screen,” he explained.

    The firm said the devices have Dynamic AMOLED Display: Full Screen Experience with Ultrasonic Fingerprint Scanner.

    Galaxy S10 is made with Samsung’s best screen yet, the world’s first Dynamic AMOLED display. As the first HDR10+-certified smartphone, the display delivers vivid digital content, and with dynamic tone mapping, you’ll see a wider range of colour for a brilliant, realistic picture. Galaxy S10’s Dynamic AMOLED display is also VDE-certified for vibrant bright colours and the industry’s best contrast ratio on a mobile device for even deeper blacks and brighter whites.

    Verified by DisplayMate, users will also enjoy the world’s most accurate colours on a mobile device – even in harsh sunlight. What’s more, the Dynamic AMOLED display also reduces blue light through its TÜV Rheinland-certified eye comfort display without compromising picture quality or adding a filter.

    The result of a ground-breaking engineering, Galaxy S10’s unique Infinity-O Display packs an array of sensors and camera technology into a hole-in display – so you can maximise the screen real estate without any distractions.

    Galaxy S10’s Dynamic AMOLED display also includes the first-ever embedded Ultrasonic Fingerprint Scanner  that reads the 3D contours of your physical thumbprint – not a 2D image of it – for improved anti-spoofing.

    With the world’s first FIDO Alliance Biometric Component certification, this next generation biometrics authentication offers vault-like security to keep your device safe.

    Building on Samsung’s camera leadership of Dual Pixel and Dual Aperture firsts, Galaxy S10 introduces new camera technology and advanced intelligence that makes it easy to take epic shots and videos.

  • Samsung trains female welders

    Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI) has trained another set of  internationally-certified female welders in Nigeria.

    The firm is a major partner in the building of the Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessel for the production of 200, 000 barrels of crude oil per day from the Egina deepwater field.

    A beneficiary of the training scheme, Chinonye Okonkwo, told The Nation that the training is highly impactful as she became one of the globally certified welders in the country.

    She said through the training, Samsung has brought out the welding skills in her, adding that she has now become a home-grown engineeri in the oil and gas industry, adding that she started in the administration department of Samsung Heavy Industries in Nigeria in 2015, and later moved into technical segment of the firm.

    “I spoke to  my manager  on whether I could become a welder in Korea and he replied in affirmative that I could be trained as a welder in any part of the country. This prompted me to apply for the training in Nigeria. In the beginning, I faced hurdles as many came around to see whether I would succeed or not, but at last, I succeeded in being trained as a welder. According to her, she now trains others in the area of welding, noting that the knowledge she received has helped a lot.

    The training, she said, has helped her to contribute her quota to the construction of  Egina FPSO, which was partially fabricated in Lagos.

    She urged existing and prospective welders to take a cue from the trainees, adding that there is beauty in being trained as a globally certified welder for the oil and gas and other industries.

    Samsung, she said, has confidence in Nigerian workers and firms, because they meet their standards.

    “Records were broken during construction.  This is the first ever project to meet Nigeria’s demanding new standards for “local content”, which in simple terms means Nigerian-owned businesses delivering work in Nigeria.  Over 9.7 million hours were spent by the Nigerian workforce, with over 6,000 Nigerians in employment on the project at its peak via Samsung and its partners and sub-contractors,” she added.

  • Samsung smart shirt coming for sportsmen, others

     

    Multiple sports sponsorship outfit Samsung, appears to have gone beyond sponsorship to further touch the lives of sportsmen, fans and other stakeholders as it is thought to be venturing into health by developing a new smart shirt with build in sensors that can diagnose diseases through your smart phone

    The technology uses sensors to make extensive lung function readings by detecting sound from the organs and providing diagnosis and advice, LetsGoDigital reports.

    The Korean manufacturing giant have respiratory diseases can be diagnosed as well as the frequency and strength of breath can be measured.

    A number of different diagnoses can be made including pneumonia and bronchitis, but also chronic lung diseases such as asthma and COPD are recognised.

    According to a patent filed with the World Intellectual Property Organisation, the technology takes your health history into account along with your Body Mass Index.

    To get the correct diagnosis, the user’s age, gender, weight and height are taken into account along with their medical history. 

    The sensors connect to the smartphone, so the user can read the diagnosis, like ‘pneumonia symptoms’ or ‘respiratory infection’ on the screen.

    Based on the result, advice is then given, varying from preventive to emergency measures.

    It has already introduced their smart suit last year and a smart skating suit with which the Dutch short trackers could train for the 2018 Olympic Winter Games.

    Last month they released Samsung smart shoes, which give athletes real-time feedback on their training performance.

    The sensors can also be integrated into other types of clothing. It is not known when the smart clothing range will be on the market to the general public.

    Although the company says that the possibilities are ‘endless’.

    ‘Consider, for example, a professional footballer who is on the sports field, where the lung function can be monitored in real time,’ a spokesperson said.

    ‘But also for a sick baby or child this technological solution can offer a solution.’

    ‘If you can easily make a long scan at home, that is of course a big win. Obviously the smart shirt must be made a size smaller for this group of users.’

    Football clubs like Juventus and Chelsea enjoy Samsung partnership and the new effort some say may come handy during players’ medicals.

  • Samsung trains female welders, set new record on local contents

    Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI) has trained another batch of internationally-certified female welders, setting a new record on local content in the oil and gas industry.

    The multi-national said the gesture was in line with its belief the future of Nigeria should be in the hands of Nigerians.

    Speaking to reporters, one of the first certified female international welding specialists in Nigeria, Chinonye Okonkwo, stated when she started the training, many people were coming to watch her to validate their belief that she would fail.

    But she ended up representing the “new wave” of home-grown engineering talent on the African continent as the company tapped into the knowledge and expertise of international partners to build a domestic talent base to serve the needs of this dynamic country.

    According to her, she joined Samsung Heavy Industries Nigeria in 2015, initially in the administration team.
    She saw colleagues joining the new welding training programme, and was curious about whether this could be a career choice for her.

    “I spoke to my manager and he told me that in Korea it is quite normal for a woman to become a welder. So, I thought that there is no reason why it can’t be the same in Nigeria,” Okonkwo explained.
    She stated when she began the training programme, she was faced with lots of people coming to watch her

    progress – not to see her succeed but to validate belief she would fail.

    Okonkwo did nothing of the sort. She’s now one of Samsung Heavy Industries Nigeria’s most talented welders promoted to an assistant training role where she trains new welders, amplifying her impact on the local talent base.
    Okonkwo recently returned from a trip to the Geoje Shipyard in Korea to improve her skills and is looking forward to a future for the SHI-MCI yard in Lagos, Nigeria following the successful completion of the Egina FPSO.
    The Floating production storage and offloading partially fabricated in Lagos is the world’s largest platform of its type.
    On her advice to future engineers, she said: “If you are willing to try something different, you can find beauty in creating something special for yourself: a career where you play your role in the future of our country at the same time as building a career for you and your family.”
    She is now the proud holder of an International Welding Specialist Licence, which she obtained via her work at the yard.
    This success story has been made possible through Samsung Heavy Industries’ belief in the potential of Nigerian companies and workers to deliver to their tough, exacting standards.
    A number of records were broken during construction. This is the first ever project to meet Nigeria’s demanding new standards for “local content”, which in simple terms means Nigerian-owned business delivering work in Nigeria.
    Over 9.7 million hours of time have been spent by the Nigerian workforce with over 6,000 Nigerians in employment on the project at its peak via Samsung and its partners and subcontractors.
    This project is not the end of Samsung’s ambitions for Nigeria.

    The firm said its vision is a future of extraordinary growth and opportunity, building on their now-proven model for heavy involvement of local companies and local workforce talent.

    The combination of Korean efficiency and expertise, fused with Nigerian talent and passion, presents limitless possibilities for a future repairing, maintaining and building high value ships to serve needs in Africa and beyond.