Certified master craftsmen from Doosan Infracore, posing in front of the newly dedicated handprint monument.

Doosan Infracore has opened a monument featuring the handprints of its certified master craftsmen in front of the Global R&D Center in Incheon, Korea. The monument honors Doosan Infracore’s 103 master craftsmen, including 10 who obtained that honor in June, and is also designed to encourage junior craftsmen to strive for advancement.

A master craftsman refers to the highest level of expert technician, as recognized by government certificate. Just to take the exam requires a minimum of five to seven years’ experience — depending on the specialty — after obtaining a license, or else a minimum of nine years’ experience in a technical specialty.

Doosan Infracore has established the On-Site Technical Expert Cultivation System and offers its technical personnel a wide range of training programs so that they can develop into its essential technical talent.

Most notably, the company has run study clubs and performance testing prep classes for the national technical certification tests since 2013 to provide its technical. Currently, there are 35 study clubs are in operation with 251 employees. Six of 10 master craftsmen who passed the national test in the first half of this year were active in the company’s study clubs or performance testing prep classes.

“I thought that it might be a bit too late for me because of my age, but I wanted to set an example for my colleagues as their Senior Foreman, that’s why I decided to try for the certified master craftsmen in plumbing,” said Changhwe Gu (56), the most senior among the 10 people who became certified master craftsmen in the first half of this year. “My goal is to help all of my colleagues get their master craftsmen certificates.”

Doosan Infracore has set up a monument of handprints of its certified master craftsmen in front of its Global R&D Center in Incheon.