From Germany

There was something unusual going on with the after-hours meeting tonight.

Mr. Takahashi from Scholar Consult was not there, but there was a guest from Germany.

It’s Ms. K from Adept Media GmbH.

Adept Media and Scholar have had a relationship for quite a while.

Adept Media also published a Germany translation of Mr. Shibata’s work.

Some of their customers are interested in Japanese-style management.

That’s why we are planning Japan Study Tour for them.

We have been discussing with Scholar to come up with a plan where they will be able to learn Japanese management in a larger sense.

After all, we got an offer to have them over for a workshop.

And tonight, Ms. K from Adept Media visited us from Germany to see what ISOWA is like.

We decided to get him involved in the meeting. Because we thought just visiting us was not enough to understand ISOWA.

We were discussing the relation between “i Machine” and “ISOWA keeps you going – always on the go!”

We’ve already talked about this so many times.

But it’s interesting how the more we discuss it, the more mature the discussion gets.

This time, Ms. I of Electrical Technology and Mr. E from Nagoya sales took part for the first time. They made it even more exciting.

At the end of the meeting, I was not sure if German people would like it.

But, Ms. K said,

“All kinds of employees coming together to discuss business challenges. It rarely happens in Germany. Especially, in Germany, it has become a stereotype that Japanese firms make a big decision through a top-down approach. So this is exactly what they should experience. They’ll be glad to come.”

After-hours meeting with German guests.

I can’t wait for it to actually happen!

With all our heart

Our first i Machine with a plate of my handwritten ‘i Machine’ on it started running a month ago at a customer’s workshop. The other day, there was a ritual praying for the safety under the fine weather.

As soon as I got there, the president talked to me,

“Everything is going well with the i Machine.”

Then we all gathered at the altar set up in front of the machine. The Shinto ritual began.

And Tamagushi-hoten.

I took a tamagushi from the Shinto priest, stepped forward to the altar, and offered the tamagushi on behalf of the whole company praying that it will be loved and give new value to them.

After that, we went on to see how it was working.

It was the machine sound that first drew our attention.

It might be just a noise for those who don’t work in this industry.

But, for us, it is much more quiet and lighter.

“It is a very good sound. Unlike the other machines before.”

The managing director was saying the exact same thing that I was thinking.

Since the installation, Mr. Y of technology division and Mr. E of electronic technology division have been there making sure that the “i Machine” is settling in well.

This is just the beginning of this project, but I’m glad that we made a good start with so much love from the customer.

I swear here that we will try our best to bring more happiness to the people all over the world.

We Will Miss You

The Vertical Boring & Milling Machine produced by SHIN NIPPON KOKI CO.

It has been missing his master.
Mr. T in charge of this machine has taken a leave of absence for a long now because of his physical conditions.

It’s been a while since a cardboard sign representing his absence was put on the table.

In spite of our wish, there has been no sign of recovery. And finally, he retired today.

He has been working for 47 years just for ISOWA.

We missed him while he was out, and we are really going to miss him even more.

Since it was his last day as our member, he came by to see me. However I had to keep him waiting long because at that time I had a visitor.
If I had known that, I would’ve stepped out for a little while.

He lives in Seki, Gifu prefecture. He commuted 40 km each way for almost 50 years.
He had the longest commute times in ISOWA for a long time.

I asked him to take a photo together, but he was so shy that there’s no photo of us.
So I’ll use this one on the direction board beside the machine instead.

Thank you so much for your hard work and dedication.
We hope you will get better soon!

Thank You To Families!

This week, the major matter of conversation at office has been weather.

“Seems like the weather will hold.”

“They said it’d be raining.”

“Latest forecast says it’s going to be cloudy!”

It’s been a week of the jitters.

We had a good reason.

Today is the day of ISOWA family open house for the first time in 5 years.

This is what the layout looks like.

And this is today’s time table.

80 staffs have been putting a lot of effort into planning and preparing.

Obviously, their passion blew the rain away. Although it was raining in many parts of Japan, by some miracle, here in Nagoya, the sun sometimes even showed itself from behind the clouds.

In such a condition, we had 600 guests in total.

There has been so much for family open house.

I wish I could talk about everything.

The theme this time was “appreciation”.

The project members set this theme in hope we could convey a message of appreciation to our families.

That is so us.

I’ve been looking forward to getting to thank them face to face.

How has his family been doing over past the five years?

What do their partners that they married five years ago look like?

How big have their children got?

With excitement, I welcomed the guests at reception, and walked around to convey a message.

Of course it’s not that easy to thank them enough, but I felt I had to tell their father, mother, husband, wife, children and grandchildren.

“They’ve always supported us even when we had to ask for too much.

I’d like to apologize we’ve taken a lot of their time with their families, and thank you for being cooperative.”

And I also want to tell those who weren’t there today.

Every single word you give us is treasure for ISOWA to go on.

“Work for myself and for my beloved family.”

I promise we will do our utmost to realize this belief.

Please walk with us.

And finally, I would like to say a thank you from the heart to all of our staff who has spent a lot of their time and energy to make it successful. Thank you very much.

Shape Our Dream

Last Friday, 21st was an unforgettable day.

I’m going to tell you what happened that day.

We decided to have a morning assembly that was not scheduled.

That’s because, the day before, “i Machine” that we’ve been working on for 2 years was finally completed, and the customer who bought it came to our factory for pre-delivery inspection. 

What I really wanted everyone to know was something that happened during their visit.

Our conventional machine sometimes have to put operators in danger.

Although most of them are minor injuries so that they didn’t even have to go to hospital, the frequency of injuries always bothers operators and manegement. 

Mr. H, one of the ‘i Machine’ project members, has been developing with a dream to reduce the risk. 

There were a lot of technical and cost issues to overcome.

He’s invested a lot of energy and passion with this machine.

It was highly valued by the customer.

We want to create a machine that won’t suddenly break down or stop.

We’d like to offer safety, relief, productivity, quality, reliability, and someday happiness.

We’ve been trying to complete “i machine” that embodies our belief and will be loved by customers.

We could finally realized our belief, and, most importantly, it satisfied the customer.

I wanted those who were not there to know that story.

Then Mr. M started speaking about the same episode, of course without any prior consultation.

Moreover, Mr. H, another project member picked up that subject at the group gathering, too.

“It was the happiest moment for me, too.”

This is exactly what I’m talking about.

Speak to the employees.

E-mail them.

Make a slogan and hang it on the wall.

A company does a lot of things to infiltrate their policy through the whole company.

What really matters is not taking many actions, but sharing thoughts and moving towards the same direction together.

I don’t like the word, “infiltration”. It sounds one-sided.

Or rather I want to feel and act together with my workmates, which is essential to be as one.

That’s what a team is all about.

If we hadn’t had togetherness, the three of us couldn’t have felt the same way.

But we did and so did the customer.

This is the very first step of ISOWA’s i Machine.

We will creat real value to cutomers as we reform our corporate culture.

Our change is now underway.

Thank you for working for ISOWA!

We commended our long time employees at today’s morning assembly.

First of all, Mr. F and Mr. I in the above picture, Mr. K who’s away on business and Mrs. U of Tokyo office.They’ve been working for us for 40 years.

They are all the same age as me.

Until the last year, 40 year-employees had been older thanI was.

But finally we’re all of an age.

Mr. H, Mr. Y and Mrs. F from ISOWA HOOPERSWIFT, 30 year-employees.

20 year- employees make me look like someone who just got drafted.

Mr. U, Mr. Ko, Mr. T, Mr. M and Mr. Ka.

Mrs. K who’s in her 10th year here.

In spite of the fact that she has worked for 10 years, she still looks young…

Mr. H and Mr. O who just turned 20.

I look like a short man between them.

Mr. Y was commended not as a long time employee but for advanced suggestions for improvement.

We gave them time to say a few words.

“Without my family and colleagues, I wouldn’t be here.”

“For talent training, I’ll give my knowledge to only two people in order of arrival.”

“I’m so glad to be a part of this warm company.”

　

“There is much more I want to do.”

“Tomorrow I’ll be bigger than who I am today.”

Everyone was amazing. I hope more staffs tell their storyto us like this.

I thought “just for today...” and decided to make them do it, which eventually left no time for my speech.

But I believe those stories were worthier listening to than my speech.

I want to say a big thank you to everyone who has been a part of ISOWA.

And I hope ISOWA will have more long time employees in the future.

Shining Brightly

ISOWA staffs are starting to get back from installation during the year change period.
However, the door to the workshop is locked and I can’t go in there.
And even if I can, access is allowed only in a restricted area by the barricades.

Although the floor painting at the assembly area had been finished by the end of the last
year, the passage painting is now in progress before things get busy at the peak of the next
shipment.

It’s done in a very primitive way. They paint using a stick with a roller on the tip little by little,
over and over again.
You probably don’t know this, but the floor is wearing heavy make-up.

The front side has just been painted, and beyond the pylons, not yet.
You can see how different they look.

One thing I worry about is that they will forget themselves painting the floor and when they
come to senses, all sides around them are painted and they will never be able to get out.

Don’t worry. There are bridges like this here and there, just in case.

But those bridges are narrow and shaky.
I hope anyone doesn’t lose balance and fall on the floor.
I almost did..


Regular maintenance is essential for a factory to last for a long time
Remodel of the workshop into the showroom.
Let’s just stay focused.