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Speaker 1: Welcome to Tech Stuff, a production from iHeartRadio. Hey thereon

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Speaker 1: Welcome to Tech Stuff.

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Speaker 2: I'm your host, Jonathan Strickland.

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Speaker 1: I'm an executive producer with iHeart Podcasts and how the

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Speaker 1: Tech are you? It is a Friday, it is time

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Speaker 1: for a classic episode. We're actually going to have a

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Speaker 1: two parter, so part one will publish today and part

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Speaker 1: two will publish next Friday. But this originally published back

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Speaker 1: on May twenty fourth, twenty seventeen, and I gave it

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Speaker 1: the imaginative title The Samsung Story Part one. Enjoy Now.

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Speaker 1: Samsung's a Korean company. That means there's going to be

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Speaker 1: a lot of Korean names that I am going to

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Speaker 1: slaughter in this episode, and I sincerely apologize from the

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Speaker 1: beginning at how I am going to butcher the pronunciation

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Speaker 1: of these names. I'm going to do my best, but

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Speaker 1: chalk it up to cultural ignorance, folks. I just don't

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Speaker 1: have the experience with the Korean language to say all

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Speaker 1: the names properly. Will I will try my hardest to

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Speaker 1: do it, but I just want to make that clear

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Speaker 1: because I know it's important, and I apologize for not

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Speaker 1: being able to nail it. But it's largely just due

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Speaker 1: to my lack of exposure to the Korean language. Now,

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Speaker 1: Samsung was founded in nineteen thirty eight by Li Byong Chol,

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Speaker 1: and originally it was a very modest company when it

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Speaker 1: first started, but today it's a giant with more than

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Speaker 1: one hundred and seventy billion dollars in revenue. So let's

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Speaker 1: talk about its humble beginnings and how it first got started,

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Speaker 1: because it was entirely different when it first when it

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Speaker 1: was first founded. So here's another tricky thing about this company.

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Speaker 1: To understand its rise, you also need to understand a

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Speaker 1: little bit about the history of Korea, and this is

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Speaker 1: an area of the world that I had not really

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Speaker 1: studied that much. East Asia has not been one of

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Speaker 1: the focuses of my studies, and so for a lot

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Speaker 1: of this it was all new information to me, and

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Speaker 1: it really displayed to me my depth of ignorance of

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Speaker 1: East Asian history. But it is fascinating and it does,

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Speaker 1: in fact tie into Samsung. It has a profound effect

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Speaker 1: on the history of the company and even a motivation

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Speaker 1: for the existence of the company in the first place.

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Speaker 1: So we're going to look a little bit at world

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Speaker 1: history before we get into the history of the company itself.

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Speaker 1: Bear with me, because, like I said, it's fascinating and

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Speaker 1: it's important so that you understand why the company is

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Speaker 1: the way it is now. One thing that we have

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Speaker 1: to keep in mind at the beginning is that when

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Speaker 1: the company was founded. When Samsung was first founded, the

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Speaker 1: Korean people were an occupied people. For centuries, Korea had

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Speaker 1: been the center of power struggles between other nations. The

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Speaker 1: Korean Peninsula is incredibly valuable for multiple reasons, and so

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Speaker 1: a lot of different countries had interest in trying to

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Speaker 1: control it, putting the Korean people in the middle as

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Speaker 1: a result. In the nineteenth century, so the eighteen hundreds,

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Speaker 1: the two main powers that were struggling over Korea were

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Speaker 1: Japan and China. There was actually a war fought largely

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Speaker 1: on the Korean Peninsula between Japan and China in eighteen

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Speaker 1: ninety five, and the Japanese won the conflict and essentially

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Speaker 1: eliminated China's interests in Korea. But Korea's queen formally well

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Speaker 1: not formally casually really known as Queen Men and later

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Speaker 1: known as Empress Myeong Seong, was hopeful that she would

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Speaker 1: be able to entice Russia to support Korea against Japan,

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Speaker 1: so there grew a new rivalry. You know, China was

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Speaker 1: now fading away after losing to Japan in this conflict.

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Speaker 1: There was a new rivalry between Japan and Russia, and

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Speaker 1: Queen Men was hopeful that Russia would end up helping

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Speaker 1: out Korea because she really didn't want Japanese influence infiltrating

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Speaker 1: the country. She was technically the wife of the king,

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Speaker 1: the last of a dynasty of kings in Korea, but

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Speaker 1: had considerable influence. She was effectively a ruler in Korea

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Speaker 1: and had put several of her most trusted advisors and

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Speaker 1: relatives into high positions of power. She was also pretty

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Speaker 1: well liked by a lot of the Korean populace, more

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Speaker 1: so after the events I'm about to describe happened. So

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Speaker 1: the government of Japan viewed Queen Men as an impediment

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Speaker 1: to their plans, and they tried numerous times to instill

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Speaker 1: a rebellion against her, to try and encourage aspects of

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Speaker 1: the Korean government to oppose Queen Men and overthrow her,

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Speaker 1: but they didn't really work. So the Japanese government worked

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Speaker 1: with these various political rivals but didn't make a whole

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Speaker 1: lot of progress, and they decided to take more drastic measures.

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Speaker 1: So on October eighth, eighteen ninety five, Japanese ronan in

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Speaker 1: other words, warriors for hire, working with some of Queen

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Speaker 1: Men's rivals, were able to infiltrate her palace. The Ronan

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Speaker 1: killed Queen Men. They assassinated her along with two other

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Speaker 1: ladies in waiting, and they positively identified Queen Men as

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Speaker 1: one of the three women. The fallout from this act

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Speaker 1: was considerable. There were international pressures that forced the Japanese

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Speaker 1: government to put the people who were involved in the

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Speaker 1: assassination on trial. So the Japanese government did. They brought

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Speaker 1: the people in, they gave them trials. However, all of

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Speaker 1: the people were eventually acquitted due to lack of evidence

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Speaker 1: according to the Japanese government, which did not go over

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Speaker 1: well in the international community either. Within Korea itself, there

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Speaker 1: was a growing sentiment that was anti Japanese. It had

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Speaker 1: already been present, but now it was really flaring up

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Speaker 1: in the wake of Queen Men's assassination. Things got really

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Speaker 1: complicated from there, so complicated that it's really not my

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Speaker 1: place to dive that deeply into the history, but it

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Speaker 1: is important to know the basics so that you understand

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Speaker 1: the rise of Samsung, and it also gives you insight

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Speaker 1: into the Korean mindset and philosophy of the time. In

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Speaker 1: eighteen ninety seven, King Gojong, who was husband to Queen Men,

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Speaker 1: founded the Empire of Korea. So this was a new

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Speaker 1: imperial line that he was attempting to establish in Korea. Now,

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Speaker 1: he had sought refuge in Russia after his wife had

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Speaker 1: been assassinated, but he had been pressured to return to Korea.

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Speaker 1: The various governments around the world were saying that he

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Speaker 1: needed to be there to establish this government or else

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Speaker 1: Korea would be plunged into chaos. So he did return

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Speaker 1: to Korea and ended up giving Queen Men her title

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Speaker 1: of Impress posthumously. Japan continued its efforts to expand into

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Speaker 1: East Asia, and then there was the Russo Japanese War,

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Speaker 1: the war between Russia and Japan, which waged from nineteen

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Speaker 1: oh five or nineteen oh four to nineteen oh five. Sorry, now,

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Speaker 1: the Japanese military won some key victories there and then

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Speaker 1: really started to put pressure on Korea. As a result,

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Speaker 1: they compelled the emperor to sign the Protectorate Treaty of

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Speaker 1: nineteen oh five, which made Korea a protectorate of Japan.

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Speaker 1: Now that largely stripped Korea of its nation status. It

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Speaker 1: was technically a nation, but really only in Nane. It

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Speaker 1: was more of an extended property of Japan at this point,

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Speaker 1: and in nineteen ten, Japan went ahead and formally annexed

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Speaker 1: the Empire of Korea. So over the next decade, from

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Speaker 1: about nineteen ten to about nineteen nineteen, Japan forces subjugated

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Speaker 1: Korea using force and severely restricting the rights of Koreans

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Speaker 1: as a result. That particular era ended in nineteen twenty

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Speaker 1: because the Japanese emperor was shocked when Koreans were able

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Speaker 1: to organize mass, coordinated protests across the entirety of Korea,

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Speaker 1: and the emperor realized if things didn't change, so he

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Speaker 1: was going to have a full scale rebellion in Korea

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Speaker 1: and did not want that to happen. So at that

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Speaker 1: point Japan started to ease back on some of these

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Speaker 1: restrictions and things got a little less tense in Korea.

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Speaker 1: The reason why I tell you all this about this

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Speaker 1: era between nineteen ten and nineteen twenty is that on

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Speaker 1: February twelfth, nineteen ten, leb yung chull, the founder of

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Speaker 1: Samsung was born. So he was born shortly well, right

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Speaker 1: around the time that Japan was formally occupying Korea, so

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Speaker 1: this is a very tumultuous time in Korea's history. Now,

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Speaker 1: his family were well off and so he was in

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Speaker 1: a better position than a lot of his fellow Koreans.

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Speaker 1: He was from a wealthy family. They were landowners and

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Speaker 1: they made their money through being landlords. They would rent

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Speaker 1: out their property to other people. Now, Leb yung choll

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Speaker 1: would study in local Korean schools before or he would

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Speaker 1: go off to Tokyo to attend Waseda University. But his

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Speaker 1: father passed away while he was in school, and so

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Speaker 1: he ended up dropping out of college to return home

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Speaker 1: to Korea and take over the family business, so he

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Speaker 1: never earned his degree. That family business at the time

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Speaker 1: was running a rice mill as well as being the

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Speaker 1: overseer of these landlord properties, and the rice mill saw

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Speaker 1: a lot of success. But at that time, Leeb young

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Speaker 1: chol began to feel a greater ambition something more important

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Speaker 1: than running a successful business. He wanted to do more

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Speaker 1: than that.

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Speaker 2: We'll be back with more of the Samsung story after

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Speaker 2: this quick break.

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Speaker 1: We're going to skip ahead now to nineteen thirty eight.

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Speaker 1: So in this time he's running the business everything successful.

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Speaker 1: He feels like Korea really needs something to help inspire

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Speaker 1: the people and to jumpstart the economy of Korea itself

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Speaker 1: because it was so dependent upon Japan, and that was

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Speaker 1: something that was of great concern to Koreans. So the

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Speaker 1: country had been under Japanese occupation for nearly three decades

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Speaker 1: at this point in nineteen thirty eight, and since nineteen

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Speaker 1: thirty one the Japanese rule had become more restrictive. So

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Speaker 1: nineteen twenty nineteen thirty one things had eased up a bit,

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Speaker 1: but from nineteen thirty one up to nineteen thirty eight

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Speaker 1: they had gotten worse again. This was called the Assimilation period,

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Speaker 1: in which Japan was effectively trying to wipe out Korean

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Speaker 1: culture and make Korea essentially just part of Japan, officially

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Speaker 1: part of Japan, and really exploiting Korea's resources as well. Now,

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Speaker 1: Li Byong Chol wanted to make a difference. He wanted

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Speaker 1: to create a successful business that Korea could call its

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Speaker 1: own and create an industry where one had not existed before.

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Speaker 1: The Japanese occupation had brought a couple of positive things

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Speaker 1: to Korea, including industrialization and modernization, two things the country

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Speaker 1: was far behind in compared to the rest of the

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Speaker 1: world in general, in East Asia in particular. But as

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Speaker 1: a Resultan Koreans were paying an incredibly high price. They

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Speaker 1: were under restrictive rule, and the Japanese government and Japanese

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Speaker 1: occupying forces were taking great liberties and exploiting people in

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Speaker 1: horrible ways that I'm not going to go into here,

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Speaker 1: but it was not great. Lee Byung chull was hoping

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Speaker 1: that he could leverage the advances that the Japanese had

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Speaker 1: brought with them and turn them to Korea's advantage and

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Speaker 1: to truly have Korea emerge into the twentieth century as

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Speaker 1: a power player. There was a long long way to go,

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Speaker 1: so to pursue this, he decided to sell off the

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Speaker 1: rice mill and to invest in a new company, and

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Speaker 1: on March first, nineteen thirty eight, he founded the Samsung

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Speaker 1: Trading Company. The initial investment, according to multiple sources, was

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Speaker 1: about twenty seven dollars at the time. That's how much

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Speaker 1: the founding Samsung Trading Company costs twenty seven bucks. That

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Speaker 1: was thirty thousand and one, which is the Korean currency

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Speaker 1: WN the one. If we throw twenty seven dollars into

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Speaker 1: an inflation calculator and adjust for inflation from nineteen thirty

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Speaker 1: eight to modern day, you would get somewhere in the

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Speaker 1: neighborhood of four hundred and sixty dollars. But we have

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Speaker 1: to keep in mind that this is not a apples

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Speaker 1: to apples thing. Whenever we're doing currency conversions and inflation comparisons,

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Speaker 1: we have to make a lot of assumptions. So let's

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Speaker 1: just say founded Samsung with an initial investment that was

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Speaker 1: somewhere in the neighborhood of five hundred bucks. So imagine

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Speaker 1: saving up five hundred dollars and then founding a company.

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Speaker 1: That's essentially what he managed to do back in nineteen

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Speaker 1: thirty eight. As the company started to form, he hired

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Speaker 1: on people, and initially the company had about forty employees.

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Speaker 1: Now the company's name Samsung means literally in Korean three stars.

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Speaker 1: The number three has significance in Korean culture. It often

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Speaker 1: is associated with something that is really momentous or really

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Speaker 1: strong and powerful, and the motto of the company is

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Speaker 1: be great, strong, and everlasting, which seems like a pretty

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Speaker 1: tall order, but the company's done pretty well since then.

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Speaker 1: Its initial business was selling common goods and transporting products

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Speaker 1: across Korea and into China, so it was essentially a

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Speaker 1: grocery store and a trucking company when it first started.

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Speaker 1: That's what Samsung's business was was groceries and transportation. A

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Speaker 1: lot of company origin stories when they talk about Samsung

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Speaker 1: say that it was essentially dealing in dried fish, which

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Speaker 1: in fact was one of the main products that they

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Speaker 1: carried was dried fish Korea. That was a major product there.

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Speaker 1: But I think it oversimplifies the position that Samsung was in.

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Speaker 1: I think a lot of people like to use that

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Speaker 1: as a descriptor because they juxtapose that humble origin of

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Speaker 1: Samsung being a company that sold dried fish and transported

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Speaker 1: it into China to Samsung the multinational global electronics company,

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Speaker 1: the giant that it is today, and I think that

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Speaker 1: under sells what actually was happening. If I'm being honest,

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Speaker 1: it's more of a store. Worry about a businessman who

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Speaker 1: was trying to push against opposition in order to establish

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Speaker 1: a new sense of identity within Korea. This was a

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Speaker 1: country that had been the subject of interference from multiple

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Speaker 1: countries for much of its history, and in fact, for

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Speaker 1: the next several decades would still be the subject of

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Speaker 1: a lot of foreign meddling. And so here was an

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Speaker 1: attempt by a Korean citizen to say, let's make our

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Speaker 1: own name and not have Korea be this extension of

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Speaker 1: some other countries identity. And this is a big deal.

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Speaker 1: But it is true that Samsung's early history had little

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Speaker 1: to do with technology, apart from leveraging modern transportation conveniences

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Speaker 1: like motorized trucks, which were pretty new to Korea at

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Speaker 1: that time. The company saw success in its early years,

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Speaker 1: so they did pretty well. The Japanese occupation of Korea

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Speaker 1: ended in nineteen forty five when Japan surrendered at the

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Speaker 1: end of World War Two, and at this point Korea

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Speaker 1: was again in a time of turmoil. Japan's withdrawal from

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Speaker 1: Korea didn't mean everything was hunky dory. In fact, things

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Speaker 1: got really complicated. In theory, Korea was a single independent country,

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Speaker 1: but in practice that really wasn't the case. The United

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Speaker 1: States and Russia, both or the Soviet Union, both had

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Speaker 1: interests in Korea and decided to essentially divide up the country.

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Speaker 1: So everything above the thirty eighth parallel that's what Russia

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Speaker 1: was looking at, and everything below that, that's what the

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Speaker 1: United States was looking at. And a new leader named

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Speaker 1: Lee Sung Man rose to take control of what would

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Speaker 1: eventually become South Korea. And he wasn't the leader that

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Speaker 1: all Koreans or even most Koreans necessarily preferred, but he

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Speaker 1: had the support of the United States, largely because he

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Speaker 1: was a staunch anti communist. So it wasn't a true republic.

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Speaker 1: The people of Korea didn't get to vote on Li

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Speaker 1: Sungman establishing control. He was essentially instilled as leader by

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Speaker 1: the United States. Now, meanwhile, again the Soviet Union was

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Speaker 1: looking at the northern part of Korea, and the Soviet

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Speaker 1: Union established its own leadership that was totally separate from

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Speaker 1: this leadership in South Korea, which, as you would imagine,

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Speaker 1: caused a little bit of friction. Both governments, both the

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Speaker 1: one in the northern section of the country and the

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Speaker 1: one in the southern section of the country, claimed leadership

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Speaker 1: across the entire nation. So you have two different governments

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Speaker 1: both claiming to be the leader of Korea overall. Now,

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Speaker 1: technically the United States and the Soviet Union had joint

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Speaker 1: trusteeship overall of Korea. And technically they were supposed to

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Speaker 1: come to an agreement as to what the government of

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Speaker 1: Korea would be following its release from Japan, and then

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Speaker 1: from that point forward, theoretically the people of Korea would

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Speaker 1: have a say in how their government was formed. But

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Speaker 1: that never happened because the Soviet Union in the United

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Speaker 1: States didn't see eye to eye. They completely disagreed with

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Speaker 1: each other's choices, and so this leadership question became a stalemate. Now,

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Speaker 1: at the same time, Lee Byung chung wanted his company

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Speaker 1: to reinvest in Korea and that was continuing to struggle

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Speaker 1: in the wake of World War Two and the interests

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Speaker 1: of the United States and the Soviet Union. So in

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Speaker 1: nineteen forty eight, he founded the Samsung Construction and Trading

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Speaker 1: Corporate or Samsung C and T. Now, this would eventually

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Speaker 1: become the parent company of all the other Samsung companies,

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Speaker 1: at least for a while, and so Samsung C and

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Speaker 1: T became kind of like the top notch company under

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Speaker 1: which all the others would fall. And often you'll see

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Speaker 1: that the founding date for Samsung C and T is

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Speaker 1: nineteen thirty eight, although really that was the Samsung Trading Company,

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Speaker 1: the Samsung C and T was sort of the transformation

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Speaker 1: of that company. So I guess it really just depends

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Speaker 1: on your perspective as to whether or not you would

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Speaker 1: call the founding of it being nineteen thirty eight when

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Speaker 1: the initial company started, or nineteen forty eight when they

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Speaker 1: formally created the organization known as Samsung C and T.

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Speaker 1: This gets way more complicated the longer I go, So

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Speaker 1: if you think that part is a little confusing, I apologize.

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Speaker 1: It's not going to get any easier to understand. In fact,

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Speaker 1: it gets really messy when we get up into the eighties,

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Speaker 1: nineth these and the two thousands for Samsung's history. Now,

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Speaker 1: another big thing happened in nineteen forty eight. That's the

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Speaker 1: same year that Korea officially split into two nations. Remember

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Speaker 1: I mentioned you had these two different governments that were

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Speaker 1: in opposition to each other, both laying claim to the

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Speaker 1: entire Korean country, and that could not sustain itself. In

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Speaker 1: the South, Singhman Ri established the Republic of Korea, and

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Speaker 1: in the North Kim Il sung became the leader of

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Speaker 1: the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. The United Nations only

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Speaker 1: recognized the Republic of Korea. The South Korean government as

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Speaker 1: being legitimate. Meanwhile, the Northern Korean government began seizing companies

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Speaker 1: and properties that were originally owned by Japanese or pro

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Speaker 1: Japanese interests, and then claiming those companies for the state,

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Speaker 1: so they were state owned and operated. At that point

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Speaker 1: they had been seized by four Tensions between North and

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Speaker 1: South Korea increased, with each planning to use military force

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Speaker 1: against the other in order to reunite the country under

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Speaker 1: one government. Now, at this time, Samsung had established a

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Speaker 1: new headquarters building in Seoul, but in nineteen fifty, North

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Speaker 1: Korean forces invaded South Korea and the two nations officially

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Speaker 1: entered the Korean War. At that point, Samsung relocated its

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Speaker 1: base of operations to Busan. Seoul eventually would fall to

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Speaker 1: North Korea, but it would eventually also be returned back

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Speaker 1: to South Korea once the two countries negotiated peace, and

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Speaker 1: at the conclusion of the war, Samsung would return to

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Speaker 1: Seoul as its base of operations. Now, I've got a

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Speaker 1: lot more to talk about once we've gotten to this

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Speaker 1: point where things are a little more steady for Samsung.

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Speaker 1: But before I do that, let's take a quick break

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Speaker 1: to thank our sponsor by nineteen fifty one, Korean War

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Speaker 1: is now technically over. Things would continue to fall out

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Speaker 1: until nineteen fifty three. But nineteen fifty one, Samsung was

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Speaker 1: pulling in revenues of two billion one By today's exchange rate,

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Speaker 1: that's about one point seventy five million dollars. But keep

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Speaker 1: in mind that, you know, like I said earlier, when

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Speaker 1: you talk about currency conversions and adjusting for inflation and

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Speaker 1: that sort of thing, there are a lot of factors

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Speaker 1: that are present that you can't necessarily account for easily.

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Speaker 1: So just think of that as like a round number

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Speaker 1: somewhere around two million dollars in revenue, which was a

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Speaker 1: significant amount for a brand new company. I mean brand

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Speaker 1: new in the sense of this. Korea had no real

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Speaker 1: corporations that were of any real significance around the time.

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Speaker 1: It had some industries, it had some companies, don't get

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Speaker 1: me wrong, but Samsung was trying to establish a brand

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Speaker 1: new era in the post industrial world of Korea, which

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Speaker 1: underwent industrialization very rapidly and under Japanese occupation. It's just

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Speaker 1: important to know that the company had been successful even

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Speaker 1: in the wake of the Korean War. Now, during this time,

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Speaker 1: the company expanded its operations by purchasing other businesses and

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Speaker 1: getting into new industries. In other words, they were diversifying.

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Speaker 1: It wasn't just groceries and transportation. So was it consumer electronics.

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Speaker 1: Not yet. It'd be a long time before they would

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Speaker 1: actually get into consumer electronics. But this was in part

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Speaker 1: an effort to get Korea independent of imports. Korea was

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Speaker 1: importing tons of stuff, and Samsung leadership said, what if

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Speaker 1: we were able to produce these things within Korea so

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Speaker 1: that we removed that dependence upon other countries and grew

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Speaker 1: the economy of Korea as a result. It was a

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Speaker 1: way of trying to stand on their own. So the

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Speaker 1: new industries included a sugar refinery and a woolen mill.

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Speaker 1: And since it's going to be a while before consumer

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Speaker 1: electronics enters the picture, we're going to talk about how

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Speaker 1: those work because they involve technology. So we're going to

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Speaker 1: talk about sugar refineries and woolen mills now, because I thought,

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Speaker 1: why not, it's the perfect opportunity. We'll start with sugar refineries. Now,

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Speaker 1: the purpose of these buildings, these manufacturing plants, these factories

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Speaker 1: is to purify or refine sugar. So, in other words,

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Speaker 1: this is all about getting rid of impurities to create

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Speaker 1: a pure and consistent product that table sugar type stuff

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Speaker 1: granulated sugar. Now, there are actually two types of facilities

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Speaker 1: you would use with your typical sugar refinery if you're

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Speaker 1: using cane sugar. The first is a raw sugar mill,

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Speaker 1: which turns plant sugars into a raw form of sugar

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Speaker 1: that you can find in many stores or if you've

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Speaker 1: ever seen that golden sugar that you can use in

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Speaker 1: different places. A lot of trendy coffee shops use this

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Speaker 1: raw sugar. That's what comes from sugar mills. But you

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Speaker 1: would also take this raw sugar and you could give

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Speaker 1: it to a sugar refinery which will further refine the product.

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Speaker 1: And that's where you get the white sugar that is

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Speaker 1: free of various impurities. So sugar starts off as sucrose.

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Speaker 1: It's a carbohydrate that you would find in plants, and

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Speaker 1: it's a byproduct or actually a product of photosynthesis. That's

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Speaker 1: the process by which plants take energy from the sun

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Speaker 1: and they produce food that they can use for their

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Speaker 1: own energy later on. Now, I'm not going to go

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Speaker 1: into the whole plant cycle here, because I assume you've

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Speaker 1: been through elementary biology. But just understand that plants take water, minerals,

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Speaker 1: carbon ditide, and sunlight and end up producing, among other things, sucrose,

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00:27:06,680 --> 00:27:10,000
Speaker 1: which eventually will undergo further transformations to become stuff like

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Speaker 1: plant matter, fibers, complex starches, that kind of thing. Now,

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00:27:15,440 --> 00:27:19,240
Speaker 1: all green plants produce sugars, but some do it in

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Speaker 1: higher concentrations than others and thus make a better product.

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Speaker 1: Our better crop for you to grow if you want

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Speaker 1: to harvest sugar, and sugar cane is about twelve to

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Speaker 1: fourteen percent sucrosse, which is why we grew so much

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00:27:33,840 --> 00:27:37,040
Speaker 1: of the darn stuff a few hundred years ago. It's

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00:27:37,040 --> 00:27:38,800
Speaker 1: a really good crop to raise if you wanted to

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Speaker 1: produce sugar or molasses, that kind of thing. Now, there

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00:27:42,560 --> 00:27:44,960
Speaker 1: are other plants that we use to harvest sugar, such

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Speaker 1: as sugar beets, and the process is similar to getting

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Speaker 1: sugar from cane sugar, but they're not exactly the same.

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Speaker 1: They're close, but not one hundred percent identical. However, I'm

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Speaker 1: gonna focus on cane sugar just for simplicity, So since

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Speaker 1: I just want to talk about the technology and process

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Speaker 1: of purifying and refining sugar, so to get sugar from sugarcane.

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Speaker 1: You have to wash the stalks and then you have

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Speaker 1: to shred the stalks turn it into kind of a pulp,

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Speaker 1: and typically raw sugar mills use a contraption with rotating

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Speaker 1: knives to do the trick. So it helps if you

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Speaker 1: imagine that the sugar cane is a little James Bond

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Speaker 1: and the rotating knives are the villain's method of torture

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Speaker 1: in order to get information now in James Bond, except

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Speaker 1: in this case, James Bond does not make a daring

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Speaker 1: escape and then romance some other stalk of sugar. Instead,

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Speaker 1: they get shredded, which I guess would make an exciting

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Speaker 1: but short James Bond movie, and that's why they don't

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00:28:43,360 --> 00:28:48,600
Speaker 1: let me write screenplays. Anyway, you end up with shredded sugarcane,

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Speaker 1: which you then wash thoroughly again and you put it

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Speaker 1: through a pair of very heavy rollers to squeeze all

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Speaker 1: that sugar out. Essentially, ju u is this pulp, so

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00:29:03,760 --> 00:29:07,400
Speaker 1: it squishes everything down. You get this cloudy sugary juice

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Speaker 1: as a result, and you need to be able to

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Speaker 1: remove stuff from that cloudy liquid in order to refine

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Speaker 1: the sugar. So your next step is to make clarified solution.

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Speaker 1: And you create the clarified mixture by adding in carbon

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00:29:24,400 --> 00:29:30,280
Speaker 1: dioxide and something called milk of lime. Now that's lime,

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Speaker 1: as in the mineral lime, not the fruit. So in

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Speaker 1: other words, you're using a diluted solution of calcium hydroxide

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Speaker 1: and a source of carbon dioxide. Why well, when you

435
00:29:44,680 --> 00:29:47,800
Speaker 1: mix these components together and you bubble carbon dioxide through it,

436
00:29:47,840 --> 00:29:51,640
Speaker 1: so it's essentially a carbonation process, it begins to form

437
00:29:51,840 --> 00:29:55,120
Speaker 1: calcium carbonate. And this stuff is kind of like chalk,

438
00:29:55,560 --> 00:29:57,840
Speaker 1: and it ends up sucking up a lot of materials

439
00:29:57,840 --> 00:30:01,240
Speaker 1: that you don't want in your sugars, like fat and

440
00:30:01,360 --> 00:30:05,800
Speaker 1: gum and wax. That kind of stuff pulls that out

441
00:30:05,880 --> 00:30:09,800
Speaker 1: of the solution. Now, those materials end up being heavier

442
00:30:09,840 --> 00:30:12,200
Speaker 1: than the solution itself, so they all settle at the bottom.

443
00:30:12,280 --> 00:30:14,840
Speaker 1: That way, you can just harvest the liquid from the top.

444
00:30:15,920 --> 00:30:18,560
Speaker 1: Then you take the clarified juice and you put in

445
00:30:18,640 --> 00:30:22,160
Speaker 1: a vacuum pan, So it's a pan that's actually subjected

446
00:30:22,280 --> 00:30:26,640
Speaker 1: to vacuum to reduce pressures. Now by reducing the pressure,

447
00:30:27,000 --> 00:30:31,120
Speaker 1: you also reduce the temperature you need to boil off liquid,

448
00:30:31,360 --> 00:30:33,000
Speaker 1: which is exactly what you want to do. You want

449
00:30:33,000 --> 00:30:35,719
Speaker 1: to start boiling off the water that's inside this solution

450
00:30:36,240 --> 00:30:41,960
Speaker 1: to concentrate it, or you're making a concentrate. As this happens,

451
00:30:42,360 --> 00:30:47,160
Speaker 1: the mixture turns into a thick, brown, rich syrup, and

452
00:30:47,240 --> 00:30:51,000
Speaker 1: this is the concentrated form of that sugar juice. Now

453
00:30:51,000 --> 00:30:55,280
Speaker 1: you still need to convert the syrup into sugar crystals.

454
00:30:55,640 --> 00:30:59,320
Speaker 1: So typically you'd put this in another vacuum pan subjected

455
00:30:59,360 --> 00:31:02,520
Speaker 1: to another vacum and you would also add some pulverized

456
00:31:02,600 --> 00:31:05,920
Speaker 1: sugar crystals to act as sort of nucleic sites for

457
00:31:06,440 --> 00:31:09,320
Speaker 1: raw sugar crystals to form around them. Think of it

458
00:31:09,440 --> 00:31:14,000
Speaker 1: kind of like a rain cloud. Rain Drops form around

459
00:31:14,320 --> 00:31:17,480
Speaker 1: tiny particles. It acts as a nucleic site for the

460
00:31:17,560 --> 00:31:20,600
Speaker 1: moisture to form around the particle, and then it gets

461
00:31:20,600 --> 00:31:23,320
Speaker 1: heavy enough to fall from the sky in the form

462
00:31:23,320 --> 00:31:27,720
Speaker 1: of precipitation. Similar concept here, except instead of it being

463
00:31:27,800 --> 00:31:31,800
Speaker 1: droplets of water, we're talking about crystals of sugar. It's

464
00:31:31,960 --> 00:31:34,480
Speaker 1: just a little bit of lattice for the crystals to

465
00:31:34,520 --> 00:31:40,080
Speaker 1: start forming around. So you get these sugar crystals glomming

466
00:31:40,160 --> 00:31:43,840
Speaker 1: onto these nucleic sites as the water begins to boil off,

467
00:31:44,680 --> 00:31:46,960
Speaker 1: and you're not done yet. You then would take this

468
00:31:47,320 --> 00:31:51,320
Speaker 1: mass of crystals and you would put them into a centrifuge,

469
00:31:51,400 --> 00:31:53,400
Speaker 1: and this kind of looks like a clothes dryer. It

470
00:31:53,520 --> 00:31:58,000
Speaker 1: is a cylindrical container that's got perforated sides and it

471
00:31:58,040 --> 00:32:01,520
Speaker 1: can spin very very quickly, and it slings more moisture

472
00:32:01,600 --> 00:32:05,320
Speaker 1: outside of it while retaining all the crystals. You end

473
00:32:05,400 --> 00:32:08,120
Speaker 1: up with raw sugar, which is kind of this golden

474
00:32:08,160 --> 00:32:11,800
Speaker 1: color I was talking about. So that golden color is

475
00:32:11,840 --> 00:32:14,840
Speaker 1: because the sugar crystals have a thin layer of a

476
00:32:14,840 --> 00:32:18,080
Speaker 1: substance that we call molasses on them. So raw sugar

477
00:32:18,120 --> 00:32:24,760
Speaker 1: has molasses around those those raw sugar crystals. If all

478
00:32:24,800 --> 00:32:27,200
Speaker 1: you want is raw sugar, this is where you stop.

479
00:32:28,160 --> 00:32:30,640
Speaker 1: Otherwise you then have to move on to the sugar refinery.

480
00:32:31,920 --> 00:32:34,800
Speaker 1: So since Samsung had a sugar refinery, I guess I

481
00:32:34,800 --> 00:32:37,560
Speaker 1: should explain how this works. Let's keep this sweet train

482
00:32:37,680 --> 00:32:41,320
Speaker 1: a rollin. The typical sugar refinery takes in raw sugar

483
00:32:41,360 --> 00:32:44,840
Speaker 1: from the mills, and first thing they do is they

484
00:32:44,880 --> 00:32:48,200
Speaker 1: put the raw sugar in a mixture of water and sugar.

485
00:32:48,960 --> 00:32:52,400
Speaker 1: This actually helps them separate the molasses from those raw

486
00:32:52,480 --> 00:32:56,440
Speaker 1: sugar crystals. So you end up with a batter like

487
00:32:56,520 --> 00:33:02,120
Speaker 1: substance called magma, the lish magma, and I am not

488
00:33:02,160 --> 00:33:04,440
Speaker 1: making that up. That is actually the term for it.

489
00:33:04,560 --> 00:33:06,880
Speaker 1: I do urge you to be careful if you're ever

490
00:33:07,040 --> 00:33:09,600
Speaker 1: offered a sample of magma to taste, make sure you

491
00:33:09,680 --> 00:33:13,240
Speaker 1: know which type of magma it is. The tasty, sweet

492
00:33:13,320 --> 00:33:16,479
Speaker 1: kind is fine, but the kind that's underneath the Earth's

493
00:33:16,480 --> 00:33:20,480
Speaker 1: crust is probably bad for you. Next, you put this

494
00:33:20,680 --> 00:33:25,880
Speaker 1: magma into another centrifuge lots of centrifuges and water involved

495
00:33:25,880 --> 00:33:28,880
Speaker 1: in this process, and you give it another spin. Now,

496
00:33:28,880 --> 00:33:32,160
Speaker 1: this separates the molasses film from the crystals, so you

497
00:33:32,200 --> 00:33:34,760
Speaker 1: can collect the molasses and you can sell that, which

498
00:33:34,800 --> 00:33:38,440
Speaker 1: is great. It means that you can make use of

499
00:33:38,480 --> 00:33:42,280
Speaker 1: a byproduct of the process of refining sugar, and it

500
00:33:42,320 --> 00:33:44,720
Speaker 1: means that you have less waste. You're not just throwing

501
00:33:44,800 --> 00:33:48,600
Speaker 1: the molasses away. You can actually sell that as another product,

502
00:33:49,160 --> 00:33:52,680
Speaker 1: and it's more efficient, more effective use of the material.

503
00:33:53,360 --> 00:33:56,400
Speaker 1: I'm in favor of it. Also, I like various desserts

504
00:33:56,400 --> 00:33:58,880
Speaker 1: that are made with molasses because I'm from the South

505
00:33:58,920 --> 00:34:03,240
Speaker 1: and they were very popular. Now, the remaining crystals go

506
00:34:03,280 --> 00:34:07,760
Speaker 1: through a filtering process to remove any other impurities. It's

507
00:34:07,800 --> 00:34:10,000
Speaker 1: still in liquid form in this point, so you're still

508
00:34:10,040 --> 00:34:13,000
Speaker 1: talking about liquid sugar. You pass it through various filters.

509
00:34:13,520 --> 00:34:16,600
Speaker 1: The color is golden until you pass it through some

510
00:34:17,000 --> 00:34:20,239
Speaker 1: carbon filters, which removes that last bit of color, and

511
00:34:20,280 --> 00:34:23,440
Speaker 1: you end up with the water white sugar syrup. Then

512
00:34:23,480 --> 00:34:26,080
Speaker 1: you evaporate some more of the water to concentrate the

513
00:34:26,080 --> 00:34:29,399
Speaker 1: mixture further. You put that mixture in another vacuum pan.

514
00:34:29,960 --> 00:34:32,560
Speaker 1: You seed it with some crushed sugar crystals, and you

515
00:34:32,640 --> 00:34:36,920
Speaker 1: allow the sugar, the granulated sugar to form. Then you

516
00:34:36,960 --> 00:34:40,759
Speaker 1: put that mixture in yet another centrifuge, and then the

517
00:34:40,800 --> 00:34:45,400
Speaker 1: crystals are washed with fresh hot water moved to dryers.

518
00:34:45,680 --> 00:34:48,719
Speaker 1: You actually put this wet sugar in a dryer and

519
00:34:48,800 --> 00:34:51,680
Speaker 1: the dryers will remove almost all the water, almost all

520
00:34:51,680 --> 00:34:55,080
Speaker 1: the liquid and moisture from the sugar granules. They'll go

521
00:34:55,160 --> 00:34:58,320
Speaker 1: from having about a one percent moisture content to point

522
00:34:58,480 --> 00:35:03,839
Speaker 1: zero three percent moist your content. It's pretty phenomenal. Then

523
00:35:03,920 --> 00:35:06,200
Speaker 1: you pass these crystals over a series of screens to

524
00:35:06,239 --> 00:35:10,480
Speaker 1: separate the different sizes of grains of sugar, and then

525
00:35:10,520 --> 00:35:12,839
Speaker 1: you got it. That's how sugar refineries work. You end

526
00:35:12,920 --> 00:35:15,279
Speaker 1: up with the refined sugar at the end of it,

527
00:35:15,840 --> 00:35:18,000
Speaker 1: at least for cane sugar. Like I said, beat sugar

528
00:35:18,080 --> 00:35:22,759
Speaker 1: is slightly different, but not by a whole lot. But hey,

529
00:35:22,800 --> 00:35:28,120
Speaker 1: I also mentioned woolen mills besides sugar refineries, and how

530
00:35:28,120 --> 00:35:30,600
Speaker 1: do they work. We're going to talk about that for

531
00:35:30,680 --> 00:35:34,640
Speaker 1: a second now, only briefly, because I also covered mills

532
00:35:34,680 --> 00:35:38,680
Speaker 1: when I talked about them in the Industrial Revolution podcasts.

533
00:35:38,719 --> 00:35:41,160
Speaker 1: So if you've listened to those, you know a little

534
00:35:41,160 --> 00:35:43,960
Speaker 1: bit about how these work already, and if you haven't

535
00:35:44,000 --> 00:35:45,759
Speaker 1: listened to those, I recommend it. It was a lot of

536
00:35:45,760 --> 00:35:48,880
Speaker 1: fun for me to go and explore the history of

537
00:35:48,880 --> 00:35:55,000
Speaker 1: the Industrial Revolution, which is a fascinating era in world history. Now.

538
00:35:55,000 --> 00:36:01,880
Speaker 1: Broadly speaking, a woolen mill it takes animal fiber, typically wool,

539
00:36:02,280 --> 00:36:05,560
Speaker 1: and turns into the useful stuff like yarn and felt.

540
00:36:06,760 --> 00:36:11,120
Speaker 1: The mills allow for mass production of these products, which

541
00:36:11,160 --> 00:36:15,080
Speaker 1: is something you couldn't really do before the Industrial Revolution.

542
00:36:15,320 --> 00:36:18,760
Speaker 1: You could only produce stuff by hand, which obviously limited

543
00:36:18,800 --> 00:36:22,759
Speaker 1: how much you could create at any given time. Typically,

544
00:36:22,800 --> 00:36:26,560
Speaker 1: you start by washing the fibers. So you've got wool

545
00:36:26,600 --> 00:36:30,400
Speaker 1: that's been harvested from sheep or so, I am told,

546
00:36:31,520 --> 00:36:36,080
Speaker 1: give it a good wash. And then you end up

547
00:36:36,400 --> 00:36:40,960
Speaker 1: taking the washed wool where you've gotten rid of as

548
00:36:41,040 --> 00:36:44,040
Speaker 1: much dirt and grease and other stuff as you possibly can,

549
00:36:45,239 --> 00:36:48,719
Speaker 1: and you then put it through a device called a

550
00:36:48,880 --> 00:36:53,640
Speaker 1: picker or an opener. This is to remove tangles from

551
00:36:53,719 --> 00:36:57,880
Speaker 1: the fibers. Also helps you open up the fibers so

552
00:36:57,880 --> 00:37:00,520
Speaker 1: you can work with them and ensure consists and see

553
00:37:00,560 --> 00:37:04,080
Speaker 1: as you work with the wool. Typically, the way these

554
00:37:04,120 --> 00:37:06,439
Speaker 1: machines work is they have a conveyor belt on them.

555
00:37:06,600 --> 00:37:08,920
Speaker 1: You put the raw wool on the conveyor belt, it

556
00:37:08,960 --> 00:37:11,359
Speaker 1: pulls it toward the rest of the machine. And then

557
00:37:11,400 --> 00:37:15,320
Speaker 1: we get into another kind of James Bond torture device,

558
00:37:15,480 --> 00:37:18,400
Speaker 1: or maybe Indiana Jones if you prefer. Temple of Doom

559
00:37:18,480 --> 00:37:21,360
Speaker 1: had that giant rock crusher. It's kind of similar to that,

560
00:37:21,560 --> 00:37:25,840
Speaker 1: except imagine rollers that have a set of teeth on them.

561
00:37:26,160 --> 00:37:29,160
Speaker 1: There's actually a couple different sets of rollers. The first

562
00:37:29,200 --> 00:37:32,239
Speaker 1: set has small teeth that are meant to open and

563
00:37:32,320 --> 00:37:36,040
Speaker 1: untangle the fibers. Then there's that set, by the way,

564
00:37:36,200 --> 00:37:40,560
Speaker 1: is called lickers. I'm not making that up. Liquors are

565
00:37:40,600 --> 00:37:44,359
Speaker 1: the rollers that fine teeth and start to open up

566
00:37:44,360 --> 00:37:47,400
Speaker 1: the fibers on wool that leads to a drum that

567
00:37:47,440 --> 00:37:49,880
Speaker 1: has larger teeth on it. This one is called a picker.

568
00:37:50,120 --> 00:37:51,920
Speaker 1: So you go with the liquors and then you go

569
00:37:51,960 --> 00:37:57,080
Speaker 1: to the pickers. By the way, if you really want

570
00:37:57,080 --> 00:38:02,040
Speaker 1: to encounter some fun words, research wool mills because they

571
00:38:02,080 --> 00:38:06,360
Speaker 1: have a language all unto themselves, and it's mostly fanciful stuff.

572
00:38:06,360 --> 00:38:10,760
Speaker 1: In fact, the word fancy features heavily in wool mills.

573
00:38:11,480 --> 00:38:13,760
Speaker 1: So once it passes through the liquor and the picker,

574
00:38:14,719 --> 00:38:17,839
Speaker 1: the fiber is ready to have some conditioner added to

575
00:38:17,880 --> 00:38:20,360
Speaker 1: it to make it a little more pliable and workable,

576
00:38:21,400 --> 00:38:24,160
Speaker 1: and you move it to a separate device, the separator.

577
00:38:25,280 --> 00:38:28,200
Speaker 1: The separator is meant to remove impurities like plant matter

578
00:38:28,440 --> 00:38:30,839
Speaker 1: from the fibers, so stuff that didn't get removed from

579
00:38:30,880 --> 00:38:34,920
Speaker 1: the initial washing. Some fibers need more than one pass

580
00:38:35,040 --> 00:38:38,360
Speaker 1: through a separator in order to get the majority of

581
00:38:38,400 --> 00:38:41,120
Speaker 1: the stuff out, so you might put it through a

582
00:38:41,120 --> 00:38:45,200
Speaker 1: couple of times. The device also rolls and picks the fibers,

583
00:38:46,040 --> 00:38:48,600
Speaker 1: with these impurities falling into the base of the machine,

584
00:38:48,640 --> 00:38:51,359
Speaker 1: so you would just empty out the container occasionally when

585
00:38:51,360 --> 00:38:54,319
Speaker 1: it would start to fill up. Now following that is

586
00:38:54,320 --> 00:38:59,960
Speaker 1: another machine called a carter crder. Carding is all about

587
00:39:00,080 --> 00:39:03,719
Speaker 1: aligning fibers properly, getting them all to line up in

588
00:39:03,760 --> 00:39:06,600
Speaker 1: the same direction, so you want them parallel to one another,

589
00:39:07,080 --> 00:39:09,120
Speaker 1: and you can do this by hand by using a

590
00:39:09,160 --> 00:39:12,040
Speaker 1: pair of carters, which are sort of like specialized brushes.

591
00:39:12,080 --> 00:39:15,400
Speaker 1: If you've ever used a brush that has metal teeth

592
00:39:15,640 --> 00:39:19,879
Speaker 1: for combing in animals fur, specifically to help it when

593
00:39:19,880 --> 00:39:21,839
Speaker 1: it's shedding, like if you have a dog that has

594
00:39:21,840 --> 00:39:25,000
Speaker 1: an undercoat and you need to get that undercoat. Typically

595
00:39:25,040 --> 00:39:27,640
Speaker 1: you would use a brush that has metal teeth to

596
00:39:27,719 --> 00:39:31,480
Speaker 1: help grab onto those fibers and gently pull them away.

597
00:39:32,440 --> 00:39:35,600
Speaker 1: Same sort of thing is used in carters, so you'd

598
00:39:35,640 --> 00:39:37,239
Speaker 1: use a pair of these by hand. If you want

599
00:39:37,320 --> 00:39:40,200
Speaker 1: to do it by hand and put some wool on

600
00:39:40,200 --> 00:39:42,640
Speaker 1: one of the carters, use the other carter to gently

601
00:39:42,760 --> 00:39:46,080
Speaker 1: pull the fibers, gently being the operative term because if

602
00:39:46,080 --> 00:39:47,719
Speaker 1: you use too much force, you're just going to stick

603
00:39:47,760 --> 00:39:49,840
Speaker 1: the two things together and you'll never move them apart.

604
00:39:50,800 --> 00:39:53,520
Speaker 1: And as you do this, all the fibers start to

605
00:39:53,560 --> 00:39:55,920
Speaker 1: line up in parallel. That makes it much more easy

606
00:39:55,920 --> 00:39:57,600
Speaker 1: to work with when you want to do something like

607
00:39:57,680 --> 00:40:03,160
Speaker 1: spin that wool into yarn. Well, the machines do this automatically.

608
00:40:03,200 --> 00:40:06,399
Speaker 1: You've got another conveyor belt. You have a thing called

609
00:40:06,440 --> 00:40:09,920
Speaker 1: the swift, which is got one set of teeth on it,

610
00:40:10,120 --> 00:40:12,120
Speaker 1: and then you have the card, which has the other

611
00:40:12,160 --> 00:40:15,920
Speaker 1: set of teeth on it, and by having one pull

612
00:40:15,960 --> 00:40:18,480
Speaker 1: the other, or pull the wool against the other, you

613
00:40:18,600 --> 00:40:23,440
Speaker 1: align all the fibers. This happens a couple of different ways,

614
00:40:23,440 --> 00:40:26,560
Speaker 1: depending upon the actual machine, but at the end you

615
00:40:26,680 --> 00:40:30,080
Speaker 1: get a thin web of wool where all the fibers

616
00:40:30,120 --> 00:40:33,399
Speaker 1: are aligned properly, and you can then use that for

617
00:40:33,440 --> 00:40:39,120
Speaker 1: whatever purpose you were planning. Further down. The description of

618
00:40:39,160 --> 00:40:41,560
Speaker 1: a typical carter cracks me up because this is where

619
00:40:41,600 --> 00:40:44,080
Speaker 1: we run into some of those terms I was talking about.

620
00:40:44,600 --> 00:40:47,160
Speaker 1: It has stuff on it like a swift, a fancy,

621
00:40:47,280 --> 00:40:49,400
Speaker 1: and a doffer, But the important thing to remember is

622
00:40:49,440 --> 00:40:52,640
Speaker 1: that it's just about aligning the fibers properly. Now, the

623
00:40:52,680 --> 00:40:55,200
Speaker 1: next step is dependent upon what you want to do

624
00:40:55,560 --> 00:40:59,120
Speaker 1: with the wool once you've gotten to this point. If

625
00:40:59,160 --> 00:41:02,040
Speaker 1: you're turning it into beelt, you have to convert the

626
00:41:02,040 --> 00:41:06,279
Speaker 1: fibers into bats that's bat with two teas, or you

627
00:41:06,320 --> 00:41:09,279
Speaker 1: can convert the fibers into rough yarn or something called

628
00:41:09,520 --> 00:41:13,240
Speaker 1: roving or bumps. Otherwise you would have to draw the fibers,

629
00:41:13,320 --> 00:41:16,839
Speaker 1: spin them into a finer yarn, ply that yarn, and

630
00:41:16,840 --> 00:41:21,920
Speaker 1: then either wind it onto cones or process it a

631
00:41:21,920 --> 00:41:24,920
Speaker 1: little bit more and then eventually turn it into skeins

632
00:41:24,920 --> 00:41:28,399
Speaker 1: of yarn. And honestly, I'm left wondering how anyone ever

633
00:41:28,480 --> 00:41:31,239
Speaker 1: figured out these processes in the first place, because none

634
00:41:31,280 --> 00:41:35,239
Speaker 1: of them seem at all intuitive to me. If it

635
00:41:35,239 --> 00:41:37,600
Speaker 1: were up to me, we'd all be wearing mud and leaves,

636
00:41:37,600 --> 00:41:39,959
Speaker 1: because that's as advanced as I would be able to get.

637
00:41:40,040 --> 00:41:43,960
Speaker 1: This stuff is like rocket science to me, or maybe magic,

638
00:41:44,160 --> 00:41:47,359
Speaker 1: or a combination of the two. All Right, so we've

639
00:41:47,360 --> 00:41:51,640
Speaker 1: covered sugar refineries and woolen mills. What else was Samsung

640
00:41:51,719 --> 00:41:56,000
Speaker 1: getting into. Well, the woolen mill's subsidiary name was Child

641
00:41:56,320 --> 00:41:59,440
Speaker 1: Woolen Fabrics Industries, and later it became known as just

642
00:41:59,640 --> 00:42:05,000
Speaker 1: Child Industries ch EIL. This will become important later on

643
00:42:05,040 --> 00:42:08,880
Speaker 1: when it becomes time to unravel which is kind of

644
00:42:08,920 --> 00:42:13,600
Speaker 1: a pun the complicated corporate identity of Samsung. So for

645
00:42:13,680 --> 00:42:16,640
Speaker 1: much of its history, this particular part of Samsung was

646
00:42:16,680 --> 00:42:22,560
Speaker 1: focused almost exclusively on producing textiles. Eventually, Samsung would actually

647
00:42:22,640 --> 00:42:27,600
Speaker 1: introduce a men'swar division that would also fall under this company.

648
00:42:28,239 --> 00:42:30,440
Speaker 1: But that was in the eighties, so we'll get to

649
00:42:30,480 --> 00:42:33,359
Speaker 1: that later. We've got a little bit more to talk

650
00:42:33,360 --> 00:42:36,879
Speaker 1: about before I go into that. Let's take another quick

651
00:42:36,920 --> 00:42:49,480
Speaker 1: break to thank our sponsor. In nineteen fifty seven, Samsung

652
00:42:49,560 --> 00:42:52,799
Speaker 1: became the first company in Korea to hold open recruitment

653
00:42:52,880 --> 00:42:56,800
Speaker 1: for new employees with an aim at recruiting college students

654
00:42:56,920 --> 00:43:00,560
Speaker 1: graduates of college right out of the gate. So this

655
00:43:00,800 --> 00:43:06,760
Speaker 1: was a new approach in Korea to create a means

656
00:43:06,800 --> 00:43:11,240
Speaker 1: for college graduates to go right into the workforce. Recruits

657
00:43:11,280 --> 00:43:14,640
Speaker 1: actually had to take a new employee course. It was

658
00:43:14,640 --> 00:43:17,480
Speaker 1: an extensive course to become an employee at Samsung, and

659
00:43:17,520 --> 00:43:22,600
Speaker 1: it served a couple of purposes. In one sense, administrators

660
00:43:22,640 --> 00:43:25,759
Speaker 1: over at Samsung could determine where each person would best

661
00:43:25,800 --> 00:43:28,640
Speaker 1: be used, what his or her talents would be best

662
00:43:28,680 --> 00:43:31,080
Speaker 1: put forward, you know, whether you should put them in

663
00:43:31,080 --> 00:43:35,280
Speaker 1: this division versus that division, this subsidiary versus that subsidiary.

664
00:43:35,840 --> 00:43:39,920
Speaker 1: But it also gave these new employees the chance to

665
00:43:40,040 --> 00:43:43,040
Speaker 1: learn Samsung's values, the way they do things, to get

666
00:43:43,280 --> 00:43:46,880
Speaker 1: the specific skills they would need to excel at whatever

667
00:43:47,000 --> 00:43:51,840
Speaker 1: job they would go to, so both parties were benefiting

668
00:43:51,840 --> 00:43:56,000
Speaker 1: from this relationship. It wasn't just a means for Samsung

669
00:43:56,080 --> 00:43:59,399
Speaker 1: to fill out its employee list, but also to make

670
00:43:59,440 --> 00:44:01,959
Speaker 1: sure that the people they hired were the best fit

671
00:44:02,320 --> 00:44:06,400
Speaker 1: and best trained for those jobs. And really they were

672
00:44:06,400 --> 00:44:09,480
Speaker 1: trying to cultivate an efficient and effective workforce and it

673
00:44:09,520 --> 00:44:13,719
Speaker 1: paid off. Samsung was in a position to make some

674
00:44:13,840 --> 00:44:18,959
Speaker 1: bold moves into yet more industries. They had already started diversifying,

675
00:44:18,960 --> 00:44:21,200
Speaker 1: and they continued to do so. It was flush with

676
00:44:21,320 --> 00:44:25,000
Speaker 1: cash from its businesses and began to dive further into

677
00:44:25,080 --> 00:44:31,279
Speaker 1: other ventures, including insurance, so again still not at consumer electronics.

678
00:44:31,320 --> 00:44:34,360
Speaker 1: In nineteen fifty eight, Samsung acquired a company called Ncook

679
00:44:34,480 --> 00:44:38,840
Speaker 1: Fire and Marine Insurance, which later became Samsung Fire and

680
00:44:38,880 --> 00:44:41,799
Speaker 1: Marine Insurance, but by later I mean much later I'm

681
00:44:41,840 --> 00:44:45,120
Speaker 1: talking nineteen ninety three, so it was still known by

682
00:44:45,120 --> 00:44:49,440
Speaker 1: its old name for quite some time. Samsung also acquired

683
00:44:49,600 --> 00:44:54,000
Speaker 1: dong Bang Life Insurance in nineteen sixty three, which would

684
00:44:54,040 --> 00:44:58,239
Speaker 1: transform into Samsung Life Insurance in nineteen eighty nine. The

685
00:44:58,239 --> 00:45:01,440
Speaker 1: company also took over a popular department and store in Korea,

686
00:45:01,960 --> 00:45:04,719
Speaker 1: and Samsung had become the largest corporation in Korea and

687
00:45:04,800 --> 00:45:09,799
Speaker 1: was transforming into a conglomerate of subsidiaries. Now we got

688
00:45:09,880 --> 00:45:12,239
Speaker 1: to take a break from Samsung to talk a little

689
00:45:12,239 --> 00:45:14,800
Speaker 1: bit more about Korean history, because again it's going to

690
00:45:14,880 --> 00:45:18,840
Speaker 1: play an important role in the next era of Samsung's development.

691
00:45:19,800 --> 00:45:23,279
Speaker 1: Had a big impact on how Samsung would progress. Now,

692
00:45:23,280 --> 00:45:25,840
Speaker 1: when I last left off in the history lesson, I

693
00:45:25,880 --> 00:45:28,560
Speaker 1: was talking about the formation of North and South Korea

694
00:45:29,080 --> 00:45:31,560
Speaker 1: and how the split nation found itself the focus of

695
00:45:31,640 --> 00:45:34,800
Speaker 1: the USSR in the case of North Korea and the USA.

696
00:45:34,800 --> 00:45:38,359
Speaker 1: In the case of South Korea, you still had Lee

697
00:45:38,480 --> 00:45:42,000
Speaker 1: Sung Man, who was that US backed leader who assumed

698
00:45:42,000 --> 00:45:44,160
Speaker 1: control way back in the nineteen forties. He was still

699
00:45:44,160 --> 00:45:47,000
Speaker 1: in control by nineteen sixty, and he had managed this

700
00:45:47,040 --> 00:45:51,320
Speaker 1: by essentially changing the rules several times whenever he approached

701
00:45:51,320 --> 00:45:54,759
Speaker 1: a term limit. But by nineteen sixty a substantial number

702
00:45:54,800 --> 00:45:59,879
Speaker 1: of South Korean citizens had had enough. Lee Sung Man

703
00:46:00,400 --> 00:46:03,799
Speaker 1: would flee to the United States as the people of

704
00:46:03,840 --> 00:46:07,359
Speaker 1: his country began to resist his rule, and then they

705
00:46:07,440 --> 00:46:10,520
Speaker 1: formed a second Republic of Korea. But this didn't last

706
00:46:10,640 --> 00:46:14,319
Speaker 1: very long. The region was extremely unstable, so eventually a

707
00:46:14,400 --> 00:46:19,200
Speaker 1: military leader named Bak Jong He seized control in a coupda'ta,

708
00:46:20,000 --> 00:46:24,400
Speaker 1: forming what was called the Third Republic of Korea, although

709
00:46:24,480 --> 00:46:27,960
Speaker 1: Bak ruled as a self appointed leader and had no

710
00:46:28,000 --> 00:46:31,080
Speaker 1: structure in place for elections to replace him. So essentially

711
00:46:31,080 --> 00:46:33,560
Speaker 1: he said I'm the leader, now just follow what I say.

712
00:46:34,920 --> 00:46:38,280
Speaker 1: So technically he was a dictator, but he wasn't a despot.

713
00:46:39,160 --> 00:46:42,759
Speaker 1: He led Korea into a new age of industrialization with

714
00:46:42,840 --> 00:46:46,799
Speaker 1: Samsung poised to be a leader in that space, and

715
00:46:46,840 --> 00:46:49,920
Speaker 1: he would rule for eighteen years during the Third and

716
00:46:50,000 --> 00:46:53,040
Speaker 1: Fourth Republics of South Korea, and it was a relatively

717
00:46:53,120 --> 00:46:56,080
Speaker 1: stable time for the country. So while the people of

718
00:46:56,120 --> 00:46:59,319
Speaker 1: Korea didn't have any real say in their leadership, at

719
00:46:59,440 --> 00:47:04,520
Speaker 1: least the lead wasn't exploiting his people, he wasn't taking

720
00:47:04,560 --> 00:47:08,200
Speaker 1: advantage of his position, and he was making what a

721
00:47:08,239 --> 00:47:11,400
Speaker 1: lot of people consider wise use of money that was

722
00:47:11,400 --> 00:47:15,120
Speaker 1: coming from other countries like the United States, to actually

723
00:47:15,680 --> 00:47:23,000
Speaker 1: invest back in Korea itself. So there's pros and cons

724
00:47:23,040 --> 00:47:26,480
Speaker 1: to this particular arrangement. However, for Samsung, it was a

725
00:47:26,480 --> 00:47:30,080
Speaker 1: slightly different story. Lee byung chul was in Japan during

726
00:47:30,080 --> 00:47:34,000
Speaker 1: the coup d'ta and he decided to stay in Japan

727
00:47:34,080 --> 00:47:36,520
Speaker 1: for a while. He actually led the company from Japan.

728
00:47:37,080 --> 00:47:40,719
Speaker 1: He only returned to Korea after receiving assurances that his

729
00:47:40,800 --> 00:47:44,200
Speaker 1: company would more or less be able to operate the

730
00:47:44,200 --> 00:47:49,200
Speaker 1: way it had. But there was one enormous concession. Samsung

731
00:47:49,280 --> 00:47:54,320
Speaker 1: had to surrender control of several financial institutions it acquired,

732
00:47:54,400 --> 00:47:58,279
Speaker 1: essentially banks, and they had to turn those over to

733
00:47:58,360 --> 00:48:03,239
Speaker 1: the Korean government, So that was a big change for Samsung.

734
00:48:04,320 --> 00:48:08,640
Speaker 1: In nineteen sixty one, Samsung's founder became the first president

735
00:48:08,680 --> 00:48:12,400
Speaker 1: of the Federation of Korean Industries. According to its website,

736
00:48:12,400 --> 00:48:17,280
Speaker 1: this organization quote has championed the principles of free enterprise

737
00:48:17,320 --> 00:48:21,120
Speaker 1: to achieve wholesome development of the national economy, end the quote.

738
00:48:21,719 --> 00:48:24,759
Speaker 1: So it's an organization of Korean companies that are dedicated

739
00:48:24,760 --> 00:48:27,880
Speaker 1: to making Korea a competitive player in the global marketplace,

740
00:48:28,239 --> 00:48:33,040
Speaker 1: while simultaneously attempting to contribute positively to the socioeconomic climate

741
00:48:33,080 --> 00:48:38,000
Speaker 1: of Korea itself. Samsung helped establish a couple of other

742
00:48:38,080 --> 00:48:42,960
Speaker 1: industries within Korea during this time, including a paper manufacturing

743
00:48:43,040 --> 00:48:48,480
Speaker 1: industry and a fertilizer processing industry. Samsung also began to

744
00:48:48,520 --> 00:48:51,880
Speaker 1: explore the possibility of exporting more goods out of Korea,

745
00:48:52,080 --> 00:48:54,560
Speaker 1: so not just producing stuff for Koreans themselves, but other

746
00:48:54,560 --> 00:48:57,920
Speaker 1: parts of the world, reversing that trend of the country

747
00:48:57,960 --> 00:49:02,080
Speaker 1: importing stuffwe In nineteen sixty one and nineteen sixty five,

748
00:49:02,160 --> 00:49:05,440
Speaker 1: Samsung would see its export business increase by a factor

749
00:49:05,560 --> 00:49:09,320
Speaker 1: of eight, reaching four point eight million dollars of business

750
00:49:09,360 --> 00:49:14,280
Speaker 1: by nineteen sixty five. Also around this time, Samsung invested

751
00:49:14,280 --> 00:49:18,960
Speaker 1: in broadcasting and newspapers inside Korea, creating a media division

752
00:49:19,000 --> 00:49:22,400
Speaker 1: within the company. Samsung had also created a foundation to

753
00:49:22,400 --> 00:49:25,719
Speaker 1: give back to the Korean community in nineteen sixty five,

754
00:49:26,160 --> 00:49:29,879
Speaker 1: and the company founded the Korea Hospital in nineteen sixty eight.

755
00:49:31,400 --> 00:49:35,240
Speaker 1: In nineteen sixty nine, Lee Byung Chol and Samsung received

756
00:49:35,239 --> 00:49:38,720
Speaker 1: a Presidential award for the company's role in elevating Korean

757
00:49:38,800 --> 00:49:41,839
Speaker 1: business in the post war era. It was also at

758
00:49:41,840 --> 00:49:46,160
Speaker 1: this time that the company first entered the electronics industry, finally,

759
00:49:46,840 --> 00:49:49,640
Speaker 1: thirty one years after it was founded. Now they're getting

760
00:49:49,680 --> 00:49:53,040
Speaker 1: into electronics. He knew we would get there eventually, right, Well,

761
00:49:54,080 --> 00:49:56,640
Speaker 1: we only have time to talk about the early days

762
00:49:57,000 --> 00:50:00,439
Speaker 1: of Samsung Electronics before we conclude this episode. We'll talk

763
00:50:00,480 --> 00:50:03,520
Speaker 1: a lot more about it in the second part. Now,

764
00:50:03,560 --> 00:50:06,560
Speaker 1: Samsung's big goal was to move Korea off of imported

765
00:50:06,600 --> 00:50:09,680
Speaker 1: goods in the electronics fields. Now that required setting up

766
00:50:09,880 --> 00:50:13,920
Speaker 1: entire new industries in Korea. I cannot stress what a

767
00:50:14,000 --> 00:50:16,920
Speaker 1: huge deal this is. It meant that you couldn't just

768
00:50:17,440 --> 00:50:21,719
Speaker 1: buy semiconductor chips and other parts from other countries. They

769
00:50:21,760 --> 00:50:24,920
Speaker 1: wanted to make those industries within Korea itself, which meant

770
00:50:25,320 --> 00:50:28,000
Speaker 1: building the things or acquiring companies that were on the

771
00:50:28,040 --> 00:50:31,839
Speaker 1: way to doing that and then putting them toward this goal.

772
00:50:33,600 --> 00:50:37,040
Speaker 1: So Samsung Electronics was born as a result of this,

773
00:50:37,200 --> 00:50:40,600
Speaker 1: and Samsung ended up acquiring about fifty percent ownership of

774
00:50:40,640 --> 00:50:44,160
Speaker 1: a company called Korea Semiconductor and began to churn out

775
00:50:44,239 --> 00:50:49,160
Speaker 1: parts to make electronics. Samsung established more subsidiary companies like

776
00:50:49,200 --> 00:50:56,840
Speaker 1: Samsung electro Mechanics, Samsung Semiconductor and Telecommunications, and Samsung Corning,

777
00:50:57,200 --> 00:51:01,719
Speaker 1: so lots more subsidiary to fall in line and help

778
00:51:01,800 --> 00:51:06,880
Speaker 1: support this effort of bringing Korean electronics to the world,

779
00:51:08,000 --> 00:51:11,760
Speaker 1: and they bullishly began to develop products. The first major

780
00:51:11,920 --> 00:51:15,720
Speaker 1: Samsung Electronics product was a black and white television set

781
00:51:16,239 --> 00:51:19,600
Speaker 1: sporting Korean components, so it was all Korean parts inside

782
00:51:19,640 --> 00:51:22,640
Speaker 1: of it, and it hit Korean store shelves in nineteen

783
00:51:22,760 --> 00:51:26,440
Speaker 1: seventy two. It was a black and white set, which

784
00:51:26,480 --> 00:51:30,000
Speaker 1: meant that Samsung and Korea were trailing behind other countries

785
00:51:30,040 --> 00:51:33,719
Speaker 1: at that point, since color television had actually overtaken black

786
00:51:33,760 --> 00:51:37,240
Speaker 1: and white TV sales in nineteen seventy. If you listened

787
00:51:37,239 --> 00:51:40,080
Speaker 1: to my episodes on the history of TV, you remember,

788
00:51:40,520 --> 00:51:44,040
Speaker 1: even though color television had debuted in the late fifties

789
00:51:44,080 --> 00:51:47,160
Speaker 1: and really got started in the sixties, it wasn't until

790
00:51:47,200 --> 00:51:51,080
Speaker 1: the seventies that color televisions themselves started to outsell black

791
00:51:51,120 --> 00:51:54,560
Speaker 1: and white TVs. But even so, even though it was

792
00:51:54,600 --> 00:51:56,200
Speaker 1: a black and white set, it was still a huge

793
00:51:56,280 --> 00:51:58,960
Speaker 1: hit in the Korean marketplace, and by nineteen seventy six,

794
00:51:59,680 --> 00:52:03,200
Speaker 1: Samsung had sold its one millionth black and white TV set,

795
00:52:04,040 --> 00:52:08,200
Speaker 1: so a pretty big hit. Samsung also produced washing machines

796
00:52:08,280 --> 00:52:11,239
Speaker 1: starting in the early nineteen seventies they still do to

797
00:52:11,280 --> 00:52:14,759
Speaker 1: this day. The company also incorporated a few more subsidiaries,

798
00:52:14,800 --> 00:52:17,239
Speaker 1: because you know that has to happen every couple of

799
00:52:17,280 --> 00:52:20,480
Speaker 1: paragraphs in my notes. At this point, Samsung really is

800
00:52:20,520 --> 00:52:25,480
Speaker 1: a company of companies. They included Samsung petro Chemical and

801
00:52:25,560 --> 00:52:29,920
Speaker 1: Samsung Heavy Industries in nineteen seventy four, and then Samsung

802
00:52:30,120 --> 00:52:35,120
Speaker 1: Construction and Samsung Fine Chemicals by nineteen seventy seven. Also

803
00:52:35,200 --> 00:52:39,359
Speaker 1: by nineteen seventy seven, the company began to export color televisions.

804
00:52:39,600 --> 00:52:42,320
Speaker 1: And now we're finally getting into the realm of Samsung

805
00:52:42,400 --> 00:52:46,320
Speaker 1: becoming a player on the international consumer electronics stage.

806
00:52:47,280 --> 00:52:50,400
Speaker 2: Well, that wraps up Part one of the Samsung Story.

807
00:52:50,480 --> 00:52:54,640
Speaker 2: Next week the classic episode will be the Samsung Story

808
00:52:54,680 --> 00:52:57,600
Speaker 2: Part two, because that's how numbers work. So I hope

809
00:52:57,600 --> 00:53:00,000
Speaker 2: you are all well and I'll talk to you again

810
00:53:00,520 --> 00:53:01,080
Speaker 2: really soon.

811
00:53:07,640 --> 00:53:12,280
Speaker 1: Tech Stuff is an iHeartRadio production. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio,

812
00:53:12,640 --> 00:53:16,360
Speaker 1: visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen

813
00:53:16,360 --> 00:53:17,440
Speaker 1: to your favorite shows.