Three Generations in One Place

I took the first Shinkansen in the morning to the Kansai area.

I visited the customer where we just installed our machine.

They invited me to the start-up ceremony.

“You have done a great job for us. Thanks to your effort, the installation was finished one day earlier than planned,” the customer said.

Thank you all who worked hard and made that happen.

After the ceremony, the machine started running without any trouble.

While I was checking on the machine in the plant, Mr. Y from Osaka sales came up to me,

“They have three generations here.”

At first, I didn’t quite understand what he was talking about.

According to him,

It was about them.

They are all nameplates we paste on our machines.

I got to see all these nameplates at the same time in one machine line because they purchased our machines in three different time periods.

We started using the first one in the 70’s, then the second one took its place in early 90’s, and the last one is brand-new which you could only see on newly-installed machines.

Three of them in one place doesn’t happen often.

See if you can find them in the above picture.

Anyway, this story tells you how long one machine can be used, and that’s why we have to be responsible for the maintenance over generations to support the world’s physical distribution.

When ISOWA stops, the world stops.

That’s why “ISOWA keeps you going - always on the go!”

Jichin-sai

As some of you may know, our plant reconstruction project is now underway.

Prior to the construction of the new plant, we had Jichin-sai today (ground-breaking ceremony held before the construction of a new building).

The weather hasn’t been good lately but, fortunately, the heavy rain let up right before it started.

In spite of the continuous rain, the tent had been set up neatly, and every path to it was perfectly leveled.

We walked around the site (45m width x 56m length) and purified everywhere.

“It is definitely going to be a great plant.”

Thank you to Mr. Uenoyama, an architect designing the plant, for always being understanding and supportive.

Since it was Jichin-sai, in addition to the normal ceremony, there were some special rituals.

Unexpectedly, my role entailed a sickle!

I have never done anything like this before.

Besides nobody taught me how it was supposed to be done.

I tried, but obviously it wasn’t my cup of tea.

I apologize for my awkward, disturbing moves.

Joking aside, thank you to Mr. Chiba who has arranged everything for us.

This is where we will be creating new values for the corrugated industry.

I can’t wait to announce the completion of the construction.

Please look forward to it!

E-mail from the Site

Yesterday I attended anzen-kigan-sai (ritual to pray for the safety) and the machine launching ceremony at one of the customers where ISOWA’s machine had just been installed.

Then this morning I woke up to find that I got a message from one of the ISOWA’s staff who have been working hard there.

I’d like to share it with you.

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Good morning.

First of all, I’d like to say thank you for joining us at the ceremony.

I am so relieved that we could successfully run the machine at the highest speed for demonstration.

And I’d also like to thank you for your warm encouragement.

Although there’s still a lot of work left to do, we had dinner together after work today.

I have attached a photo.

We all desperately want this project to succeed.

“I have never been more nervous than I was seeing the machine test run.

But I felt even more rewarded when it went well. And that gave me a huge sense of achievement. It was the best feeling ever.”

That’s what F said in the middle of the dinner.

And I believe all of us feel the same way.

I’m very lucky to get to work with these amazing people and to be part of this big project.

But then again, we still have a long way to go. We will work even harder to get satisfying results.

It would be great if you could visit again when it’s all completed.

Thank you again,

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The above picture is the one he’s talking about.

A big thank you to everyone!

Actually, I’m the one who has to consider himself lucky to have you all.

And we will also try our best to make the customers feel lucky to have ISOWA!