Thanks to the popular State policy Korea has a lot of pharmaceutical manufacturers that contribute to improvement of public health. Among them is the Mannyon Pharmaceutical Factory well known to Korea and different foreign countries.

O Phil Ju, general manager of the factory, says, “My factory began operation some thirty years ago. Our typical products are insam tea, insam essence, natural insam in honey, ginkgo leaf tea and tiger-bone alcoholic remedy for arthritis. They are popular at home and abroad because they have Kaesong Koryo insam as the main ingredient.”

From olden times insam cultivated in the Kaesong area was renowned as important medicinal material—it makes human organs strong, activates immune functions and removes physical and mental tiredness. The general manager explained that the factory is mass-producing over 80 kinds of Koryo medicines using Kaesong Koryo insam and other natural materials richly available in Korea, and that thirty kinds of them are exported to foreign countries.

Kim Chol, chief engineer of the factory, says, “Foreigners who used our medicines say that they are very effective in treating endemic diseases and obesity. Now they are in great demand. My factory is encouraging all the employees to join the campaign of introducing latest sci-tech achievements into Koryo medicine production.” Then, he told me the following story.

Some years ago the general manager, on his return from a conference of health workers called by the Ministry of Public Health, fell into deep thought. The conference had decided targets of production of Koryo medicines and development of new products. He knew it was difficult for the factory to reach the targets with the existing capacity and technical forces. Soon he organized a meeting where he made a detailed arrangement for launching a mass-based movement of technical innovation.

First of all, a scrupulous plan was made to put the operation of the sci-tech learning space on a regular routine. Technical study sessions were organized twice a month, and technical officers were appointed as teachers to give lessons on shop floor problems. The active development of the workers’ creativity went along with the popular technical innovation movement aimed at technical remoulding of the production process. As a result main equipment including an air purifier was newly developed or reconstructed.

Meanwhile, the factory pushed ahead with the work to update existing products and introduce processes of new products. It held sci-tech exhibitions, prize contests for medicine-making techniques and discussions of new techniques so as to develop the technicians’ and workers’ creativity and ability steadily. At the same time it launched a competitive emulation of swapping experience, learning from one another and overtaking others between workshops while combining production closely with technical innovation. This led to an increased content of Koryo medicine extracts, ultrafine processing, and thorough sterilization. Thanks to the policy of encouraging the workers to the full while attaching importance to science and technology, the factory overfulfilled its targets year after year.

The Vitamin B17 Injection and the Hwanggumayon Anti-bronchitis Capsule developed by the factory were awarded patents of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. Last year celery extract, anti-hepatitis celery tablet, protoporphyrin injection, protoporphyrin capsule and other medicines were developed, thus contributing to improvement of the people’s health.