"Without relying on phone calls, we can now easily track work progress and share facility issues. Digitalization has made communication smoother and more efficient."
-Mijeong Kim, Team Leader of Building Operations Team, Korea Institute of Maritime and Fisheries Technology -
Hello, I’m Mijeong Kim, Team Leader of the Building Operations Team at the Korea Institute of Maritime and Fisheries Technology (KIMFT).
I started my career here at KIMFT and have been working at the organization for over 30 years. During this time, I’ve gained experience across various departments, including education, business development, and management. I’ve always been particularly drawn to developing new programs and educational courses, which has kept me motivated and passionate about my work for so long.
KIMFT is a specialized institution under the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries, dedicated to nurturing maritime professionals. We not only manage national certification exams for maritime officers but also focus on delivering high-quality education to develop skilled maritime talent.
As I mentioned earlier, we manage a wide range of facilities necessary for maritime education, including specialized equipment, training centers, training ships, and dormitories. Since these spaces are where trainees practice and live daily, the condition and quality of our facilities directly impact their safety and education.
The Building Operations Team is primarily responsible for monitoring the status of these facilities, ensuring smooth operations, and managing maintenance to guarantee safe and seamless training.
For example, we handle basic tasks like security patrols, safety inspections, and environmental upkeep. Additionally, we actively gather feedback from trainees regarding any issues or inconveniences they encounter while using the facilities or equipment. By addressing these concerns and improving the usability of our facilities, we work continuously to maintain and enhance user satisfaction.
At the end of the day, facility management is about ensuring that trainees and users can safely and comfortably access everything they need. It’s the foundation of providing a great service. These small details add up to shape the overall experience at our institution, which is why we consider facility management a critical aspect of delivering exceptional customer experiences.
The most challenging aspect of facility operations and management has been the sheer inefficiency of many of our processes.
We manage around 150 facilities, and every day, these spaces need to be inspected and maintained. Previously, workers would conduct inspections and record their findings on paper. The operations team would then collect and consolidate all these checklists.
This process made it difficult for us to get a clear, visual overview of the facility status. To ensure everything was clean and safe, managers often had no choice but to physically visit the sites themselves. This frequent on-site monitoring took up a significant amount of time.
For the workers responsible for inspections and cleaning, reporting an issue was also cumbersome. If there was damage or a problem, they had to visit the operations team in person, which was time-consuming due to the large size of our facility grounds. Communicating the issue over the phone was limiting, as it was difficult to explain everything clearly. This meant managers had to visit the site again to confirm the problem, and then coordinate further with the facilities maintenance team.
All this back-and-forth communication created delays in resolving facility issues, which ultimately inconvenienced the trainees using the facilities. These delays directly affected their experience, highlighting just how critical facility management is to the overall quality of our services.
That’s when we discovered HADA, a QR code-based solution that streamlines facility inspections. Implementing HADA has allowed us to make our processes far more efficient.
⛔️ Cumbersome Paper Management and Maintenance Costs
Previously, we used paper checklists to conduct safety and cleanliness inspections for each facility. Given that most of our workers are in their 50s and 60s, they preferred working with physical documents.
However, managing paper checklists came with its own set of challenges. Printing and replacing the forms regularly was a hassle, and workers had to frequently visit the operations team to collect new checklists, leading to unnecessary travel.
With around 150 facilities to inspect daily, paper usage was significant. After reviewing internally, we realized that we were using approximately 88 sheets per day—adding up to about 1,936 sheets per month just for inspection logs.
As a public institution, ESG management is a key priority for us, so we recognized the need to improve and implement sustainable solutions.
✅ Improving Both Costs and Inspection Processes Efficiently
With QR codes now placed at each facility, we no longer need to replace paper checklists, and workers no longer have to make regular trips to the operations team.
Initially, some workers, given their age group, found it challenging to use mobile devices for completing inspection tasks. However, HADA’s intuitive and user-friendly interface, combined with repeated training sessions, helped them adapt quickly. Now, they find the new process far more convenient.
By eliminating paper usage, we’ve naturally reduced maintenance costs. From paper expenses to facility inspection workflows, we can now manage everything far more efficiently.
⛔️ Delays and Complicated Steps When Facility Issues Occur
With paper checklists, workers could only verify facility conditions and check off simple items. This process made it difficult for managers to visually assess the actual status of facilities. To ensure the accuracy and thoroughness of inspections, managers often had to revisit the site, which consumed significant time.
Facility issues, in particular, involved overly complex communication steps.
For example, if there was an issue with a restroom, a worker would report it via phone or visit the operations team in person. However, verbal explanations often made it hard to pinpoint the exact problem. As a result, managers had to visit the site to confirm the issue, relay it to the maintenance team, and then the maintenance team would also visit the site for verification. This meant that identifying the issue alone required three separate on-site visits, involving multiple team members.
This cumbersome process not only caused inefficiencies but also delayed resolutions. As a result, the facility users experienced prolonged inconvenience, leading to a decline in overall satisfaction and customer experience.
✅ Report Issues with Photos and Connect Directly to the Maintenance Team
Now, there’s no need for every team to visit the site. Through the QR codes placed at each facility, workers can report issues as well as conduct inspections.
The best part is that reports can include not just text but also photos. By visually confirming the problem, the operations and maintenance teams can quickly understand what’s wrong. This eliminates unnecessary on-site visits and clearly identifies which team needs to respond.
When an issue is reported, managers receive real-time notifications via messaging apps or email, allowing us to address problems immediately. The Issues & Resolutions feature has simplified communication steps and significantly reduced the time needed to resolve issues, minimizing inconvenience for facility users.
These seemingly small improvements ultimately enhance the overall customer experience, contributing to greater satisfaction with our training institute.
⛔️ Lack of Channels for Facility User Feedback
Since many of our trainees live on-site, facility management is especially important for us. However, when users experience inconveniences, they often don’t provide feedback—instead, they simply leave with a negative impression. This makes it difficult for us to identify opportunities to improve facility services.
Previously, we collected feedback through regular evaluations and satisfaction surveys. However, this method lacked immediacy and didn’t capture the real-time experience of users. As a result, gathering honest and actionable feedback was challenging.
We often struggled to find a way to collect genuine input from facility users to improve their overall experience.
✅ Collecting Customer Feedback Easily with QR Codes
We now use QR codes placed at each facility to gather customer feedback in real time. If users experience any inconvenience, they can share their opinions instantly through the QR code.
From the users' perspective, this process is contactless and hassle-free, encouraging them to provide honest and immediate feedback. This has allowed us to capture on-the-spot insights and identify more opportunities for improving our facilities.
While inspections focus on objective issues like malfunctions or damage, customer feedback highlights ways to make facilities more convenient and user-friendly. This perspective has helped us discover areas for improvement that we hadn’t previously considered.
Ultimately, this system has helped enhance our facility services and significantly improve customer satisfaction.
"With HADA, we’ve elevated both facility management and the customer experience.”
- Mijeong Kim, Team Leader, Building Operations Team, Korea Institute of Maritime and Fisheries Technology—
Today, we shared how the Korea Institute of Maritime and Fisheries Technology is streamlining facility management and capturing customer feedback with HADA.
If you’re looking to make facility management more efficient, start with HADA!
