Celebrating the 20th Anniversary of ISOWA-Bito

 

 Following celebrating 50, 40, and 30 years of anniversaries, this month we celebrated four ISOWA-Bitos for their 20th anniversary on the job. 

I had actually planned to have them speak in front of everyone about how they felt about their 20 years, but due to the deteriorating situation in COVID, we had to postpone the company-wide morning meeting and celebrate with a few members of the Employees Support G. and me.

Mr. S (back row, center)

　Since no personnel could adjust hydraulic equipment at the time, he was given the opportunity to follow his seniors to become a specialist in hydraulics. He studied hard and indeed became a specialist in hydraulic equipment. From there, he further developed his skills and became an assembly leader. He is now in a position to nurture his successor. So, I hope he will talk a little more. And before that, a 'smile'! He was smiling when he was giving his speech, but in the picture, he is back to his usual Mr. S self... (haha)

Mr. Ni (back row, left)

As soon as he joined ISOWA, he became the ace of ISOWA's baseball team, surpassing all of his seniors who were the aces of the team at the time. 

Now he is the ace of ISOWA corporation.　

And next, I’m expecting he will become “a big ace” of us.

Ms. K (front row, left)

Aims to be the first female coach!

The speed and precision of your work is perfect.　The only thing left to do is to put on a smile.

Yes, just like in the picture.

Mr. No (back row, right)

After working seven years as a TASUKE-Bito, he switched to work as an ISOWA-Bito.

So he actually has been working at ISOWA for 27 years.　

So, in 3 years, I will celebrate him with an award for his 30th anniversary on the job. 

I’m expecting he will become a representative of the support department in the future.

Actually, there is one more person, but his family member has been sick since last night, so he had to cancel his participation in this celebration. I will write about this later.

All of them were new graduates hired person at the time except for Mr. No, who transferred from TASUKE-Bito.

They were the first members hired when I rebuilt the struggling recruitment process after I became the president.

I hope they will continue to exert themselves and become the driving force of ISOWA.

I have great expectations for them.

Thank you for 20 years!

Newcomers!

New ISOWA-bito (new-hire) who joined ISOWA in April had training until the end of June in each department.

In the sales department, they had presentations with the theme “what is waku-waku(which means exciting) business in ISOWA like?”.

Here’s the digest of their presentations.

 

Mr. I

Mr. I said “I love crafting. When I saw the test sheets and cases that would be thrown away, I thought that there are opportunities to make them into another craft.”

It’s wonderful if they can be up-cycled (not recycled) like Mr. Shimazu, the corrugated board artist from the movie ”Tabisuru Danboru (Traveling to find Corrugated boxes -2019)”.   I asked him to make this happen while I am still alive.

 

Mr.Sa

Mr.Sa. found that “waku-waku” has two opposite meanings.

Then he listed the favorable points and unfavorable points of the sales department and integrated them.  What an advanced idea he has!

Mr. M

Mr. M always makes a clear response to each question and idea from the audience.

It’s great!

He summarized the features of the ISOWA Web Store and gathered them into a catalog.

It was quite elaborate.

 

Mr. K

“I listed more concrete images of the abstract word ‘waku-waku’,” said Mr. K.

“I divided the list into two groups and extracted a common denominator from each group.”

He converted the abstract word to concrete images and abstracted their common factors from them.

It’s not easy to reconvert an abstract word to another abstract image through concrete images of the original abstract word.

Mr. Se

Mr.Se compared the interesting features of the sales department to “onsen” (Japanese hot spring).

I asked him “why do you think so?”

He answered, “even though they may all look alike, you can find differences in each when you enter”.

Such a unique perspective. I guess he has a high ability to think in the abstract.

Mr. C

“Whether you can win the order from the customer or not is a result.  You can feel ‘waku-waku’ in the process of receiving the order.  Even if you fail to win the order, you can feel another waku-waku by thinking about what you can do for the next opportunity,” he said.

I was impressed by his idea. It is splendid to have such a way of thinking at the time of new employee probation.

I appreciate each ISOWA-bito who completed this new-hire three-month training in each department. Thank you so much.

New ISOWA-bito, don’t forget the following guiding principle:

First, brighten the atmosphere.

Then, extend a hand.

And, take the initiative as much as you can.

Above all, safety first.

Go for it!

Nice story on the way to a business trip to the Kansai!

I’ll introduce you to two nice stories during a business trip in the Kansai area.

The first is the Osaka Domestic Sales Department of ISOWA.

I stopped in the Osaka Domestic Sales Department for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic had gone around.

Although it was established in 2011, more than 10 years ago, it has been kept clean, and I felt like it was a newly built house.

The blog at that time is here↓↓

https://blog.goo.ne.jp/h_isowa/e/e5721e5a9d857e4a672604a22331db8e

Now is here↓↓

When I told this to the members of the department, they said “Thanks to Mr. I, it has always been kept clean.”

Thank you for the nice work, Mr. I!

The other is something our customers told me.

When I visited M corporation on the way to the business trip, Mr. S, their president, said that “Mr. A, who is the service technician from ISOWA and who is responsible for them, is most excellent !!”

“Mr. S trust him more than us! (ha-ha)”, Mr. M, their chief, also said.

Then, I visited T corporation, Mr. T, their president, said that “Mr. O, who is the service technician from ISOWA and who is responsible for them, is doing very well!”

I was very glad that our service technicians, who have always served our customers in the front lines, were praised by two customers.

I felt as if I were over the moon!

I think it is the company with the best corporate culture in the world that our customers praise, not only our service technicians, but also all ISOWA people.

We aim that will be able to hear our good reputation from our customers, even if it takes many years!

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!