This Place Saved 1.4 Billion Won by Burning 20,000 Chairs... Also Received the Presidential Award

Yangsan Facility Management Corporation Faces Aging Concerns for 20,000 Stadium Seats
Inspired by Restoration Through Heating with LP Gas
14 Billion Won Budget Reduced to 2 Million Won
Received Various Awards Including the Recent Presidential Award

A view of the grandstand at Yangsan Sports Complex being restored to its original colors using a torch. Provided by Yangsan Facilities Management Corporation.

In March, a post titled "Thank you very much to everyone at Yangsan City Facilities Management Corporation" was uploaded on the praise-sharing section of the Yangsan Facilities Management Corporation website. The poster, who identified themselves as a citizen of Daegu, began by saying, "I happened to see an article about the restoration project of the Yangsan Sports Complex stands and couldn’t stay silent, so I am leaving this message." The poster continued, "I want to praise Deputy Manager Jeong Gyeong-ho of Yangsan City Facilities Management Corporation for creating an opportunity to save 1.4 billion KRW in budget with a brilliant idea," adding, "Even though it could have been handled through budget expenditure, I appreciate the effort of personally experimenting with a torch, observing for several months, and then explaining and persuading colleagues about its effectiveness."

The Yangsan Sports Complex showing the stands being restored with torch and the previously aged stands for comparison. Provided by Yangsan Facilities Management Corporation

The poster also expressed gratitude, saying, "I thank not only Deputy Manager Jeong Gyeong-ho for not dismissing the idea lightly but also the staff of Yangsan City Facilities Management Corporation who took time out of their busy schedules to personally carry out the restoration." Furthermore, they said, "I want to praise the open operational approach where anyone can make suggestions and those suggestions are actually accepted and applied." Earlier in February, a housewife living in Seoul also posted on the same board, praising Deputy Manager Jeong Gyeong-ho and his colleagues at Yangsan City Facilities Management Corporation for their self-restoration work on the stands of Yangsan Sports Complex.

The praise was for the project that replaced the seats using a torch instead of spending 1.4 billion KRW to replace the seats entirely. The corporation decided earlier this year to restore the original colors of about 20,000 old seats at the main stadium, Yangsan Sports Complex. The initial budget was estimated at 1.4 billion KRW. However, by heating the faded plastic seats with a torch using LP gas, the seats magically returned to their original colors, saving replacement costs. The cost incurred was about 2 million KRW. What would have cost 1.4 billion KRW was completed for 2 million KRW, thanks to the brilliant idea from the corporation’s Sports Complex team.

Employees of Yangsan Facilities Management Corporation who received the President's Award, the grand prize, at the Active Administration Best Practice Competition on the 26th. Provided by Yangsan Facilities Management Corporation

This case recently won the grand prize, the Presidential Award, at the ‘2024 Active Administration Best Practices Competition.’ Organized by the Ministry of the Interior and Safety and the Ministry of Personnel Management, the competition saw 17 finalists selected from over 570 cases submitted by 289 institutions including central administrative agencies, local governments, public institutions, and local public institutions. The final scores combined 30% from a pre-site inspection by a citizen jury, 50% from a panel of 10 experts in the finals, and 20% from real-time online voting by about 1,000 citizen voters, with the innovation case from Yangsan Facilities Management Corporation receiving the highest score. The corporation also won the ‘Excellence Award’ at the Gyeongnam Province Innovation Competition on October 7 and previously received the Innovation Excellence Award at the ‘2024 Local Public Institution Innovation and Investment Activation Best Practices Contest’ held in September.

When this project became a hot topic early in the year, the corporation’s staff were awarded a budget performance bonus of 7 million KRW by Yangsan City as an excellent budget-saving case. On May 16, the staff donated 5 million KRW of the awarded budget performance bonus to the Yangsan City Talent Development Scholarship Foundation. Park Seong-gwan, the corporation’s director, stated, "We will continue to be Yangsan City Facilities Management Corporation that quietly does our best in our duties for a better living environment for the citizens of Yangsan."