A breeze from Arizona? or a breeze from Okinawa?

Mrs. A is from ISOWA America in Phoenix, who is also one of my Facebook friends,

I happened to see her last week's post. "I'm going back to my parents' home in Okinawa on vacation."

She has been working at ISOWA America for several years, and we have had conversations like "Please come to ISOWA once" and "I definitely want to go!"

I originally planned to invite all ISOWA America members to ISOWA in Nagoya for the 100th-anniversary celebration, but the plan didn't come true because of the COVID-19 Pandemic.

So, I contacted her immediately,

"Can you come to ISOWA during your vacation?"

As a result, for the first time, she came to ISOWA for one night and one day from Okinawa during her precious family visit.

The night she arrived, Mr. O, from the Overseas Sales Department, and I took her out for a welcome dinner.

The following day, she had her first visit to ISOWA, which we had longed for.

"Menso-re!", a message in Okinawan dialect, was written on the welcome board by Ms. T from the Overseas Sales Department. 

Great hospitality! Thank you, Ms. T!

Even though Mrs. A has exchanged phone calls or emails with the members of ISOWA Japan before, this was the first time she exchanged face to face greetings with them. I was able to get her to hear members' ISOWA stories during the Discover ISOWA Tour.

She is bilingual, so she is a valuable bridge between ISOWA Japan and ISOWA America.

She helped many ISOWA-bitos.

Mrs. A, who loves factories. She said - 

"It was very fun."

It was her precious homecoming from the United States, and she took her time to visit ISOWA for two days.

The face-to-face encounters during this visit will surely lead to "Speed to Taiwa" - "Quickness and Interaction" between IJ and IA in the future.

Mrs. A, thank you very much for visiting ISOWA. See you again soon!

Heartwarming Project – Another Story of “Take the initiative”

When I was leaving the office, I saw two staff preparing something near the entrance.

“Oh, are you working on the project again?”

“Yes, we are,” Ms. Y answered.

Another staff Ms. S said, “Ms. Y came up with the great idea and I am just helping her.”

The project was for all kids who are related to ISOWA. Employees, business partners, and customers with children are free to take the treats, masks or pocket tissues. They feel happy to give small gifts to children when they return home.

It was Ms. Y and Ms. S’s original project and they voluntarily prepared everything.

Of course, I am always willing to support them. The key point is that it is completely planned and carried out by themselves.

This is exactly “Take the initiative,” one of our important core actions. 

As they completed the same project before, I asked them a question.

“Do you have a special purchase route to get the products, Ms. Y?”

“I do not have any special product sources. So, I buy them at an ordinary supermarket and set them here.”

It is not easy to come up with such an excellent idea. It is even harder to actually take action.

Ms. Y and Ms. S both have two children. Certainly, they are the wonderful mothers.

Thank you, Ms. Y and Ms. S.

Take the initiative

Once again, I would like to introduce ISOWA’s action guidelines:

"Quickness and Interaction”

       　1) Take the Initiative

           　   -  Accepting challenges is the highest of virtues

       　2) Extend a hand

           　   -  Nurturing mutual trust and communication among people

       　3) Brighten the atmosphere

           　   -  Creating a frank and open working environment

Every year, young (and sometimes not so young) players in our assembly, service, and machining departments take the national skills test.

This term, five employees from assembly took up the challenge, and the three (center of the photo) passed the second level of machine assembly and finishing work. 

From the left, K, H, and I.　

The ceremony was postponed due to the Covid situation, but today we finally held the ceremony to present the certificates to them.

As I write the same thing every time, passing or failing is sometimes just a matter of luck.

The important thing is to practice and work hard for the exam. Because what you have practiced and worked hard for will definitely stick with you.

In their acceptance speeches, H-kun and K-kun, both on their third attempt, looked back on the time when they failed twice and said, "I was very discouraged at that time. At first I was going to decline the third attempt as there were new trainees standing by. 

But with the support of my supervisor and colleagues, I managed to pass!"

As the action guideline says, "Take the Initiative-Accepting challenges is the highest of virtues” This is exactly what they put into practice.

This is equally true for the members who unfortunately could not pass the exam.

Passing or failing is sometimes just a matter of luck. 

 Everyone worked hard to take the exam and their colleagues cheered.   Although it is not visible from the outside, every ISOWA-Bito (ISOWA related person) is watching closely.  We understand it.

So,

Thanks for taking on the challenge!

Apart from this, two ISOWA-Bito retired today.

They are Mr. A and Mr. U, who have been involved in assembly and service work for many years.

Mr. A was called a single facer specialist in his younger days.

In recent years, he has been active in the Nagoya service area.

Mr. U was in charge of corrugator installation overseas.  In his later years, he worked in service specializing in overseas customers. They both will turn 70 this month.　

They joined ISOWA at the same time and have been with ISOWA for 52 years.

They declined to have a fancy farewell ceremony so I refrained from introducing them in photos, but I would like to thank them for all their support over the years.　

Thank you very much.　Take care!

Proud moment

I visited Company-K and Company-S, near ISOWA headquarter, to check on the installation work completed during the New Year’s Holiday and express my gratitude to customers.

As I entered the customer’s facility, ISOWA people who worked through New Year’s Holiday made New Year’s greetings, as usual, saying “A Happy New Year to you, Mr. Hideyuki!” with a smile.

Even though they couldn’t enjoy New Year’s Holiday with their family, they warmly welcomed me. How kind they are!

In the morning, I visited Company-K first.

A factory manager Mr. K from Company-K told us about the performance of the ISOWA people.

He said, “Every crew from ISOWA always listens and meets our requirements rapidly and certainly more than our expectations.”

I went to Company-S in the afternoon.

Managing director Mr. F from Company-S said, “I call ISOWA crew ‘friends’ though they are 20 or more years younger than I am. I’m really impressed by their work, like cleaning up the machine or fixing fine scratches with paint at the end of the installation work.”

I’m proud of their work.  Thank you so much, my fellow ISOWA people.

 

As I felt relieved (Phew), I enjoyed my Pho for lunch!

Simple is best!!

Happy New Year, 2022!

I look forward to your continued good will in the coming year.

One of our customers, M corporation, where ISOWA’s singlefacer was just installed during the New Year holidays, visited ISOWA for the first-time last month prior to its installation.

 

Mr. I, who is in charge of their account for our sales team did a presentation of his ISOWA story, (We call this “Jibun-gatari).

During the conversation after Mr. I’s Jibun-gatari, our customer also complimented Mr. F., who was Mr. I’s immediate predecessor.

I felt as if I had been praised as well because Mr. F is about the same age as I am.

In our factory, Jibun-gatari was also presented by two of our production staff.

The first was Mr. K, who is responsible for installing the machine, and the other was Mr. H, who is in charge of the electrical system.

We made a test run of their machine after the presentation.

They said at sight, “The mechanism is simple and good.”

When I heard their comment, I remembered what my deceased father used to say, “Simple is best.”

 

“Simple is best, but simple is very hard”, I took his word to my heart again.

After the test run, they also commented,

“We were surprised that the staff in ISOWA was very young.”

"It is wonderful to see not only your new factory, but your older factory has been well maintained.”

At last, we were able to satisfy our customer with the quality of sheet bonding and the speed of their machine.

We swear to take the action continuously as hard as we can!

 

Thank you for your kind words, Justin.

One of the most important companies in America for us, the company L, was featured on an American trade magazine (the article spanned 9 pages!).

The company was founded in 1882 by the current president, Justin’s great-grandfather. And it means they have a 130 year history. America is the country of origin of cardboard, so that its history is different from that of Japan. And now, they have 3 factories in the Midwestern United States.

The article introduces the company’s history, the scale expansion and capital investment flow of the last 10 years. Also the relationship between the company and ISOWA was written in detail.

They had purchased our printing machine “Falcon” in 2009 (it was the first installation in the North American market), from then, an Ibis, a single facer and a second Falcon were installed on one after another.

More than that, the company L is the one of the American showcase customers of ISOWA because many other customers from not only America but also South America had visited them and seen how our machine works. Thankfully company L’s members use our machine so well, nearly every customer purchased an ISOWA machine after visiting them. 

A network of cardboard companies centered on company L’s achievements, and word of mouth from there has outstanding reliability in the industry. The success of ISOWA in the American market today cannot be said without Justin and the company L.

Here is an excerpt from the article. 

Thank you again for a wonderful recommendation through the article, Justin! Let’s keep building good relationships.

After all, it's "dialogue" ！

The annual meeting with ISOWA America was held yesterday.

Previously, Ron, the company's president, came to ISOWA in Japan from the United States. However, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, we held an online meeting again this year as we did last year.

 

It was an online meeting in English, so I was more careful than our regular meetings. We tried a new style this year to not interrupt the flow of conversations and our thoughts.

We decided to gather view-only attendees in one room and place an interpreter to translate point by point during the meeting.

Ms. T, our overseas sales representative, had a significant impact there.

She was on the front left.

 

The role of interpreting is challenging, but I thought it would be more of a learning opportunity for her, so I appointed Ms. T. 

After the meeting, I said to Ms. T, "Thank you for your hard work."

"I learned a lot in many ways!"

Mr. T responded me with a very positive reaction.

The meeting participants also said, "Thanks to Mr. T, we were able to understand the contents."

It was a tough job that required paying lots of attention and focusing, but she did a great job. 

Thank you, Ms. T.

After the meeting, I talk with Ron, the president of ISOWA America.

That's right; we had a dialogue.

ISOWA's action guideline is 『スピードと対話』- "Speedo to Taiwa."

When I started this motto, I thought about how to express it in English. 

I was thinking "Speed and Dialogue." 

But after consulting with ISOWA America, it was translated as 

"Quickness and Interaction."

In other words, "Taiwa" is "interaction."

But now, I wonder if "Dialogue" was better. There is also the term "Interactive Dialogue."

The conversation I had with Ron was precisely a "dialogue."

Ron is a pretty deep thinker, so I think I would be a perfect dialogue partner if I spoke English more fluently.  I wish we could have done better. 

 

Even so, I was able to have a good "dialogue" with him because at the end he said, "I've been thinking about this problem lately, and it has given me a headache, but this has helped."

I gave him a quote (my creation), similar to the well-known quote, "Necessity is the mother of invention."   "Ron, Headache is the mother of chance.”

After all, “Dialogue” is a good thing.

P.S.

Ron lost his voice the next day, probably because he made such an impassioned speech.