manufacturing operator

maintenance technician

process engineer

warehouse worker

product development engineer

Hankook Tire

A typical day at work consists of trying to keep production running despite constant equipment breakdowns, material shortages, poor-quality supplies, and a lack of clear communication. The job itself is not difficult if you have common sense, can think independently, and are willing to learn on your own. Unfortunately, training is minimal, so many employees are left to figure things out through trial and error rather than receiving proper instruction and support.

The biggest thing I learned was how to troubleshoot problems, adapt to changing conditions, and work independently with little guidance. Employees who are willing to work hard and take ownership of their responsibilities often become the go-to people for solving problems and carrying additional workloads.

Management is largely absent on many days and often unavailable when support is needed. One of the company's biggest challenges is leadership development. Rather than focusing heavily on mass hiring, there should be a greater investment in developing competent leaders who can effectively support employees, improve communication, hold people accountable, and create a more stable work environment. Strong leadership would solve many of the issues employees face daily.

The workplace culture can be frustrating because dependable employees are consistently expected to do more work, while poor performers frequently avoid accountability and, at times, seem to be rewarded with advancement opportunities. This creates low morale and discourages employees who consistently perform at a high level.

The hardest part of the job is staying motivated while dealing with the same preventable problems every day. Equipment failures, poor-quality materials, staffing shortages, lack of direction, and inconsistent leadership create unnecessary obstacles that make even simple tasks more difficult than they should be.

The most enjoyable part of the job is working alongside the good employees who genuinely care about doing quality work and helping one another succeed. However, after a long shift filled with avoidable challenges, the best part of the day is often the walk to the parking lot after clocking out.

Do not work at Hankook Tire in Clarksville unless you absolutely need money. It is a standard factory job where you will work 12 hr shifts on the 2-2-3 schedule. There is  very little room for advancement due to needing 2+ years of manufacturing leadership experience to apply for any leadership role, even at the lowest level. A majority of the group leads and unit managers (specifically in building, beads, and curing) are either inept at their roles and responsibilities to the point where they will forget to turn in your evaluations for months on end and keep you from getting your performance review raises. The building dept unit manager (LT) and group lead for B shift (T) have created such a hostile and bullying environment that it seems weekly people are walking because of them. HR won't do anything about it when reported, the red flag system they tell you to use is pointless and sends the report to the unit manager who is enabling the issue and you're told that "That's just how they are" when you go to your managers. This place is opening itself up to a lawsuit in the future with the hostile and toxic work environment that the leadership has enabled and protected. Product wise, I wouldn't have given these tires to insurgents in Iraq or Afghanistan. There's banners all over the factory saying how quality is the number on goal. The tires they are producing here are notoriously bad and if you read customer reviews on them, you will see that either there's tread separation while driving, bulges in the side wall or tread just wearing out well under the mileage warranty. Now they're starting to produce semi and school bus tires and I'm just counting the days down where this company is going to get sued because of a incident like what happened to Firestone. Again, if you absolutely need to make a paycheck, this place has an astronomical turnover rate and you will find a job here. Just be prepared to make subpar products and deal with "leaders" who have let the power go to their head and an HR team that won't do anything about it.

What is the best part of working at the company?
I liked the schedule. Working 14 days per month were good. 

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Not knowing what you're about to do the day of work, and who you will be working with. 

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
It is very harsh and hot. Training takes a while till you know all the ins and outs. Usually about 2 months. You will get filthy and sweat more in the summer heat than the winter months. People come and go a lot here. You will have some downtime and be criticized for doing extra work to stay busy and make the time go by faster. You will learn that some jobs are more "laxed" than yours. Some workers leave looking exactly how they looked when they walked into work. Meaning that they did hardly anything all day long. Then complain to the leader about other smelly co-workers.  

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Always looking for the PCI plates that correlate to the size of the Mold Change/Spec Change. Same for the bladder plates. Never organized to make the job at hand easier. Some workers stay and show up when they're supposed to, and some leave you guessing. Every day is not the same. Frustrating most of the time. It's hard to work together most of the time. Loud, because the portable dry-ice machines are being used to clean molds and or PCI plates and stuff. Overall, 12 hours is a long time when you have to work with someone that likes to work against the grain.

During my time at Hankook, I did gain a lot of knowledge such as how to operate and setup advanced machinery, how to weld, and how to operate a forklift. I also learned about extrusion and using dies. The downside of Hankook was that for the knowledge we had and the work we had to perform under stress, we weren't really getting paid what we should have been. The work was very stressful, and for example, if you had a machine malfunction, and maintenance had to work on it or not, your supervisor would still hold you accountable for your numbers regardless. The sad part is, these supervisors KNEW that the machines were acting up, but they still did not care about that; they just wanted numbers and production. Also, our supervisors treated us very poorly and disrespectfully, and when many reports were sent to HR, they did absolutely nothing about it, and the disrespect and harassment continued. I didn't really leave the job because I didn't like the work, I left because I didn't want to work somewhere like that and be treated unfairly, when I already felt like I was under paid in the first place.

Every day from the first day I started I noticed that many people of different cultural backgrounds work for Hankook Tire Manufacturing. 
More than 10 different staffing agencies were hired tomato sure the quality of the work was to high standards, and that the job gets done in a tally fashion. Every one working together to meet the goals of the managerial staff. 
Since I began working at the Hankook site in Clarksville TN, as a Forklift operator every day I had to make sure the oversized crates were well balanced so that the transportation would go smoothly, every day new obstacles would arise and i needed to improvise, making on fast and on the spot desisions to overcome them, keeping workers on their toes. 
The managerial staff in my company hired by Hankook work well and fast to accommodate any problems that arose in the work environment for example they would keep a stock of supplies with in the facility that was easily accessible to employees to maximize work efficiency.

What is the best part of working at the company?
The two day on, three day off work schedule. There were constantly a three weekend off every other weekend. 

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Working under two separate management groups. There are the Korean Bosses and then the American Bosses which are two distinct groups. The Americans are subordinate to the Koreans. There will never be an American who will be an instrumental manager with that company in the foreseeable future, unless that American is of Korean heritage.   

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Do exactly as you are told. Take no initiative to improve yourself professionally unless you seek advance approval first. NEVER approach a Korean directly. There is a cultural hierarchy and lowly employees simply do not contact managers regarding workflow solutions. This is sent through a chain to be denied because of cultural definition of whom discovered the solution.  

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Very boring. On a weekly basis, I would distribute candy to the machine operators that I had to visit to increase moral.

What is the best part of working at the company?
There is no push on numbers; mostly administrative. 

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
There are more HR / ER problems than you can imagine. The workers can write fictitious statements on the supervisors and they will launch investigation on you with no finding and no consequences to the workers.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
The work environment is the workers do as they please as for as doing their jobs. If you press the policies and rules the older workers will come together against you. You have to prove your innocent or possibly lose your job. Supervisor turnover is extremely high. Unless you turn your head to what's going on on the floor.

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
A typical day you will have maybe 2 to 3 ER issues; such as someone isn't getting alone with another coworker in the work area, or someone feels other coworkers are picking on them. Or the supervisor is under some type of investigation....

Benefits and pay are good depending on your experience and starting pay grade. The long shifts and unpredictable breaks are rough though. You need someone to watch your machine when you go to break, otherwise the downtime is counted against you - can lead to very late lunches at times. Otherwise still a decent position in terms of overall difficulty to pay.
Training can be rough, it's done by an overextended local master across multiple machines picking up at random steps in the process, so mileage can vary. 
Day shift's workplace culture is good, there are definitely good people out there on the floor, but in my experience you'll still often get treated like a moron / get weird stares if you're trying to go above minimum expectations as a new person. 


Hankook pay is unfair. Some people make 16 right out of the gate with no background in manufacturing or even real work experience at all. There are people who have 10 plus years in the tire industry and 20 in manufacturing as a whole who make 12 to 13 dollars an hour and are solid important employees whom of which are looking to leave so the turnover is high. The h.r. department is terrible with fairness with pay and just lies and pushes you out the door to humor you. There isn't even such a simple process as seniority. L.G. will be gaining many when they open soon. The rules and policies are all over the place which is a shame. I personally like my job and travel a long way to work but will have to leave soon as I was lied to as many were about correcting the money for experienced workers and 12 dollars does not effectively feed our families.

Koreans think anyone that is not Korean is a simpleton. There are two sets of leadership at Hankook, Korean and American. The American leadership is toothless with a few who are outright incompetent. The Korean leadership, while not toothless, is analogous the American leadership in their incompetence. There are very smart and capable individuals in every department who are capable and would be an asset anywhere. I worked there for three years and made good money, and you can too. Just know that at Hankook tire, the lowest ranking Korean holds rank over the highest American. Without a change in leadership and consistency in the way the company enforces its policies a Union will get voted in. Towards the end of my time there it was obvious that the ship was adrift without a heading or an Admiralty. I have worked far worse jobs for far less pay.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Manufacturing operator 3 salaries reported	$20.01 per hour
Maintenance technician 5 salaries reported	$31.70 per hour
Process engineer 3 salaries reported	$72,667 per year
Warehouse worker 2 salaries reported	$19.75 per hour
Product development engineer 1 salary reported	$67,000 per year

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