Founder Interview - Richard Kung
My name is Richard Kung and I’m the Founder of ergoBe. If you are an organization or individual who wants to double productivity, eliminate pain in 1 week and prevent injuries, MSDs; you are about to love my services! That’s because ergoBe makes ergonomics simple to understand and implement in your daily life.
How did I decide to become an ergonomic specialist? Here’s my story:I was born and raised in the United States to Taiwanese immigrants. My father has a PhD in mechanical engineering and my mother studied business. Naturally they wanted the best for me and started me from an early age learning the piano at the age of 5. Even though I had perfect pitch, I hated it and so ditched the piano (only to pick it back up 10 years later) and picked up the violin at the age of 9 when listeners would claim that I would be the next Itzhak Pearlman. It was a perfect fit as only 3 years later at the age of 12, I was performing and managing the first and most successful amateur string quartet (my first business) in the city and accepted to participate in the Fischoff National Chamber Music Association. Our group remained together for 5 years until we all graduated from high school.
While music was tempting, I decided to take the path of the Engineer and in 4 years was awarded a B.S. & M.S. in Civil & Environmental Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University. Prior to graduating, I developed a strange and rare disease known as Ossification of the Posterior Longitudinal Ligament, otherwise known as OPLL. In short, calcium was building up in my spinal canal putting pressure on the spinal cord. Statistically, I was told at the time that it occurs in 0.3% of asian males and 0.03% of caucasian males. After 3 months of interviews with Orthopedic Surgeons and Neurologists and extensive self research into the nerves of the body and the spine and spinal cord underwent spinal surgery to clean out and remove the portion of the ligament causing the problem. 6 hours later, 3 spinal discs replaced with bone graft, and 8 screws into a titanium plate supporting my spine I was cured. Removing the ligament would prevent the problem from recurring in the future.
However, I would now need to be very careful about bending my neck excessively as this would add extra pressure to the adjacent vertebrae and would cause soreness more quickly. At the time I didn’t even know of the word ‘ergonomics’ and little did I know how important this experience would be to me later. After graduation, I moved to New Jersey to start my professional career as an Environmental Engineer. 6 months later, I quit my job, got married and moved to Houston, TX to start my second job in the Oil & Gas Industry.
For the next 3.5 years, I learned, developed, and managed corporate safety programs and was given the role as Ergonomic Lead for the Company. Once again, it was a perfect fit as I quickly became known as an Ergonomics Specialist and a Global Subject Matter Expert (in locations including Houston, Anchorage, St John’s, Calgary, Lagos, Jakarta, and Shanghai).
Drawing upon my technical background and personal experience, I created and implemented ergonomic programs from scratch, linking all aspects of the business (e.g. IT, Facilities Management, Medical, Vendors) to efficiently mitigate problems. I designed and implemented a global ergonomic assessment database tool that saves $2M annually on increased efficiency and providing management with the ability to accurately track and mitigate trends in MSD (muscular skeletal disorder) injuries in their workplace. I also conducted 450hrs+ of training worldwide (1,000+ general awareness, 150+ ergo contacts, 250+ supervisors/managers).
Applying my engineering skills to ergonomics and seeing the positive results with my customers (decreased ergonomic injuries from 6 (’08) to 1(’09)) was extremely gratifying. But found being a dedicated employee to any organization to be restrictive, if I were to reach out to as many as possible. So after 2.5 years and prompting from my wife (co-founder; entrepreneur from childhood), I continued to grow my skills with the ultimate goal of starting my own ergonomics consulting business.
In June, 2011 just after receiving my certification as a behavioral-based ergonomic specialist, the perfect opportunity came and ergoBe was open to service ALL. Within 2 months, the business is thriving with 2 contracts full-time. This is well and good, but the problem is scale. Due to only so many hours in a work day, I am limited to only a few clients per year. But there are so many corporations, individuals & kids (my 2.5 year old son included) to be helped!
My goal is to empower through increased awareness and effective implementation of ergonomic tips to reduce injuries, decrease costs, and increase productivity in workplace and life. As a result, I have created video e-learning training to aid with self-mitigation. For those with larger & immediate concerns, I offer a range of on-site &remote services.
See what services we can offer you. Learn More ➤
How did I decide to become an ergonomic specialist? Here’s my story:I was born and raised in the United States to Taiwanese immigrants. My father has a PhD in mechanical engineering and my mother studied business. Naturally they wanted the best for me and started me from an early age learning the piano at the age of 5. Even though I had perfect pitch, I hated it and so ditched the piano (only to pick it back up 10 years later) and picked up the violin at the age of 9 when listeners would claim that I would be the next Itzhak Pearlman. It was a perfect fit as only 3 years later at the age of 12, I was performing and managing the first and most successful amateur string quartet (my first business) in the city and accepted to participate in the Fischoff National Chamber Music Association. Our group remained together for 5 years until we all graduated from high school.
While music was tempting, I decided to take the path of the Engineer and in 4 years was awarded a B.S. & M.S. in Civil & Environmental Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University. Prior to graduating, I developed a strange and rare disease known as Ossification of the Posterior Longitudinal Ligament, otherwise known as OPLL. In short, calcium was building up in my spinal canal putting pressure on the spinal cord. Statistically, I was told at the time that it occurs in 0.3% of asian males and 0.03% of caucasian males. After 3 months of interviews with Orthopedic Surgeons and Neurologists and extensive self research into the nerves of the body and the spine and spinal cord underwent spinal surgery to clean out and remove the portion of the ligament causing the problem. 6 hours later, 3 spinal discs replaced with bone graft, and 8 screws into a titanium plate supporting my spine I was cured. Removing the ligament would prevent the problem from recurring in the future.
However, I would now need to be very careful about bending my neck excessively as this would add extra pressure to the adjacent vertebrae and would cause soreness more quickly. At the time I didn’t even know of the word ‘ergonomics’ and little did I know how important this experience would be to me later. After graduation, I moved to New Jersey to start my professional career as an Environmental Engineer. 6 months later, I quit my job, got married and moved to Houston, TX to start my second job in the Oil & Gas Industry.
For the next 3.5 years, I learned, developed, and managed corporate safety programs and was given the role as Ergonomic Lead for the Company. Once again, it was a perfect fit as I quickly became known as an Ergonomics Specialist and a Global Subject Matter Expert (in locations including Houston, Anchorage, St John’s, Calgary, Lagos, Jakarta, and Shanghai).
Drawing upon my technical background and personal experience, I created and implemented ergonomic programs from scratch, linking all aspects of the business (e.g. IT, Facilities Management, Medical, Vendors) to efficiently mitigate problems. I designed and implemented a global ergonomic assessment database tool that saves $2M annually on increased efficiency and providing management with the ability to accurately track and mitigate trends in MSD (muscular skeletal disorder) injuries in their workplace. I also conducted 450hrs+ of training worldwide (1,000+ general awareness, 150+ ergo contacts, 250+ supervisors/managers).
Applying my engineering skills to ergonomics and seeing the positive results with my customers (decreased ergonomic injuries from 6 (’08) to 1(’09)) was extremely gratifying. But found being a dedicated employee to any organization to be restrictive, if I were to reach out to as many as possible. So after 2.5 years and prompting from my wife (co-founder; entrepreneur from childhood), I continued to grow my skills with the ultimate goal of starting my own ergonomics consulting business.
In June, 2011 just after receiving my certification as a behavioral-based ergonomic specialist, the perfect opportunity came and ergoBe was open to service ALL. Within 2 months, the business is thriving with 2 contracts full-time. This is well and good, but the problem is scale. Due to only so many hours in a work day, I am limited to only a few clients per year. But there are so many corporations, individuals & kids (my 2.5 year old son included) to be helped!
My goal is to empower through increased awareness and effective implementation of ergonomic tips to reduce injuries, decrease costs, and increase productivity in workplace and life. As a result, I have created video e-learning training to aid with self-mitigation. For those with larger & immediate concerns, I offer a range of on-site &remote services.
See what services we can offer you. Learn More ➤