Best Places to Work: Kumho America Technical Center has family atmosphere

Not far from the heart of Akron in the city of Fairlawn sits the Kumho America Technical Center. The facility, opened about 20 years ago, is the heartbeat of the company's North American R&D activities.

And while the facility is part of a much larger global company, it has the feel of a tight-knit small company. According to KATC Managing Director Rick Cunat, the 18-person technical center achieves big things in R&D while keeping its focus on the small things that matter—things like building trust, establishing friendships and ensuring a work-life balance.

Ultimately, those things set the technical center apart and make it one of Rubber News' Best Places to Work for 2024. Here's what Cunat had to say about what makes KATC special.

"Through our investment in Global R&D and at KATC, both capital and human resource, we have enhanced our virtual modeling and technical capabilities to deliver superior performance at a great value to our customers. In addition, our focus on our people separates us from others."

"Kumho's operations and culture are centered around our people. We ensure we listen and adapt as we bring in the new generation of talent with new skill sets aligned with the new technologies as they emerge. While the skill sets are obviously important, we also listen to their ideas and suggestions to enhance our working environment—which is as equally important. While we may not be able to accommodate every request, we listen, work together and agree on the path forward. Open communication is key to the success of creating a collaborative and productive work environment. This award is a testament to the success of this approach."

"We, like many companies, have team-building events throughout the year, like a cornhole tournament, potluck lunches, etc. We will celebrate team achievements, which can be measured in several ways. In these cases, we have impromptu celebrations—a lunch or a dinner out—just to say thank you. Spontaneous celebrations are inherently fun!

"In the office, each of our team members have a very positive, can-do attitude. Everyone at KATC understands their direct impact on our tire development success and the importance of it to win new business and/or grow share. I think we can all agree, understanding this and celebrating milestones along the way as a team is fun!"

"KATC currently has 18 team members. However, we collaborate with our counterparts in KRDC (Kumho Research & Development Center) in Yong-In, South Korea, daily. Essentially, we are developing 24-7. This enables us to be very agile and change direction in a timely manner as needed."

"At the end of the day, success is winning new business opportunities by delivering/exceeding the performance targets for our customers—both OE and replacement. Having fun while doing it is a very important part of our success."