"Quickness and Interaction"

Ron and Kaiser came to Japan from America the other day.

They are a great duo from ISOWA America.

Kaiser joined ISOWA America 15 years ago.

In order to shorten the shipping lead time of the maintenance parts to customers as much as possible, he has been advocating "Quickness and Interaction" to his colleagues.

 

"Quickness and Interaction" is ISOWA's motto I decided to implement when I became president 22 years ago.

Coupled with the steady track record of ISOWA machine deliveries in North and South America, ISOWA America's business has flourished vigorously and firmly supports ISOWA's business today.

At the root of this, "Quickness and Interaction," I established as a motto years ago, contributes greatly.

 

This is the true essence of ISOWA's corporate culture reform, which is the base of the iceberg that supports our business performance.

 

As a commemorative gift, I gave Kaiser a poster of the Japanese version of "Quickness and Interaction." He was very pleased.

 

I wanted them to have in written words what they really want to do.

Never forget it and continue to convey it without wavering.

 

Thank you, Ron and Kaiser!

Sitting in a circle at a place like this

Company X came to ISOWA to see our IBIS Flexo Folder Gluer, which will ship to a customer soon.

 

Two ISOWA members did presentations of their ISOWA story (we call it “Jibun-gatari”.)

 

The first presenter was Mr. H, who works in the customer support department. He often visits Company X for machine maintenance.

 

He repeatedly mentioned to them with sincerity,

“In order to shorten your machine’s downtime, we believe that you should keep our recommended spare parts in your warehouse.”

 

The second presenter was Mr. O, who works in the assembly department (he is in the picture below.)

Company X is using our first IBIS, which was launched in 2009. Mr. O was one of the installation project members. The IBIS had a lot of incomplete points, and it caused trouble.

Not only Mr. O and I, but all ISOWA members remember it. I, of course, and Mr. O sincerely apologized for it.

 

In front of the new IBIS, we did a test run of a big corrugated box, which can be difficult to make with good joint accuracy. After that, we explained about all the differences between the first IBIS and the latest model in detail.

 

Company X asked questions eagerly, and finally, all participants sat in a circle on the floor.

They looked into the Edge Opener. It is our IBIS’s greatest selling point, which can improve the joint accuracy.

 

It was like an off-site meeting in our plant. The atmosphere was very nice.

 

The section manager of Company X, Mr. S, has been using ISOWA machines since he joined the company. He knows a lot about the IBIS. He explained the mechanical characteristics on behalf of us.

 

“I wish Mr. S were a salesperson for ISOWA!”

 

The words came out of my mouth before I knew what I was saying.

Thank you very much for coming all the way. We look forward to the next opportunity.

"ISOWA style" internship

The summer internship program for college students has become an ISOWA tradition.

This year's first program, a five-day session, was held.

 

ISOWA's product is a huge corrugated manufacturing machine.

It is a bit difficult to have students experience this process in just five days. So, the summer internship was positioned as "Level 1," and the students worked on the production of a miniature version of the machine.

Sounds interesting, doesn't it?

Normally, an internship would be a job for the human resource department in charge of recruitment.

However, at ISOWA, young people in the Technical Division take the lead from planning to operation.

 

This is because most of the participants in the summer internship program are technical students.

When they join ISOWA, it will be the technical members working with them, not the human resource members.

Of course, there were also non-technical students, but they told us, "We don't usually have this kind of manufacturing class in our department, so it's a lot of fun!"

 

Whether they are technical students or not, let them get to know the machines that ISOWA makes. ISOWA's way is to have them experience working together with their peers across departmental boundaries.

Group work is not left to the students. ISOWA's staff members are always there to help and give advice.

This is also to give students a realistic experience of ISOWA's style of manufacturing, in which everyone shares their knowledge and wisdom and cooperates together.

This ISOWA-Bito (ISOWA-related person) team changes members little by little every year, adding new hires from each year. The senior members of the ISOWA-Bito team teach the basics of recruiting to the junior members.

 

It has been almost 20 years since ISOWA began to seriously engage in recruiting new graduates as we do today.

 

For the past 20 years, we have been searching for a style that fits the times and the era.

This path we have been on for so long is the ISOWA way, and to see ISOWA's people, who have taken over the baton and are now moving forward with vigor and vitality, makes me most happy and proud.

To all of ISOWA-Bito who organized the internship program and to the students who participated in it, thank you.

All the best for the future of these young people!

Encourager, and be encouraged

 

Mr. M who retired from ISOWA upon reachingretirement age this February,

According to Mr. O, Mr. M missed ISOWA so much since he retired.

We decided to hold a motivational party for Mr. M with the same members as the pep rally we had held in February.

The restaurant where we went was the same as last time, the Indian restaurant Griya.

We asked about his life after he retired,

“I had nothing to worry about being alone, as I often went out alone even on overseas business trips, However, I was shocked to receive a notice from ISOWA saying, ‘Your e-mail address is no longer available.’  I retired not because I wanted to quit. So, I felt very depressed for a while. Also, I was surprised to find myself in such a situation.”

 

Then Mr. O said

“When I talk to people who have left ISOWA, they all say, ‘After I left, I realized once again what a good company ISOWA is.’"

 

I'm glad you think so.

 

We all ate this which we missed last time.

 

This is a slightly different kind of naan.　What kind of naan do you think it is?

This is Anko(Sweet Red Bean Paste) naan. What a combination!

 

I tasted it and felt, "this taste like something I know" and then I realized:

It is the flavor and texture of my favorite Nayabashi’s broiled sweet buns.

It doesn’t go very well with curry, but it's great as a dessert.

 

By the way, Mr. H ordered edamame naan with his curry. Isn't this amazing?

The naan was topped with a lot of finely crushed edamame beans.

 

There are so many varieties of naan.

 

Mr. M said,

"It's selfish of me to want to be back with you after having retired once..."

That's not true at all. Everyone is looking forward to working with Mr. M again.

Also, by having Mr. M work that way, it will show future juniors a new career path at ISOWA.

I will never force you to do anything, so let me know whenever you feel like it.

I had to excuse myself to go to a restroom at the end of the meeting, and to my surprise, they had already paid the bill by the time I returned.

I said, "That's not going to happen! I can't have you doing that!" But he would not listen to me at all. On the contrary, he said, "Congratulations on your ruby wedding! This is for you and your wife."

 

I received a magnificent bouquet of flowers from the three of them.

 

I am so sorry they spent so much money,

but my wife was overjoyed with their thoughtfulness. Thank you so much!

 

It was a motivational party for Mr. M, but I felt like I was given a pep talk myself.

I will work even harder!

 

Mr. M, Mr. O, and Mr. H, let's do our best for each other!

Thank you for the wonderful meal. Thank you very much.

The most impressive words

 

Yesterday (7/5/2023) was the first ISOWA Fellowship social gathering of this year.

 

The theme of this year's meeting was "sharing policies with employees," a topic that should be a concern for all managers.

 

The theme was discussed exclusively among management members.

 

What surprised me was the high level of self-disclosure by everyone.

Instead of just saying, "This is how we share (or have shared) our policies," they candidly said, "We are having trouble sharing our policies with our employees.”

I felt a great deal of empathy with their frank opinions.

 

No matter how wonderful a policy is, unless it is shared with employees and they put it into practice, it is nothing more than just an armchair theory.

Sharing policies is an eternal challenge for managers.

 

The tricky part is not knowing if the employees understand the company policies.

I can only guess, so therefore the only way to know the truth is to actually ask them.　

However, even if employees say they really feel empathy with the policies, they only think so, and even they don’t know if they really understand it.

Because the source of the policies is within me, no matter how many times I explain it, I have never been confident that I have successfully completely shared the essence of our company policies to all my employees.

In addition, do the employees see that “our president really wants to implement the policy?”

 

In response to this question, I was most impressed by the words of Mr. H, a member of our staff at the social gathering.

He said, "I decided to join ISOWA because I wanted to work with people like them.　

What I do is important, but who I work with makes a big difference in my motivation.”

 

Perhaps the feeling of "I want to work with this person (the president)" is the best way to share the policies.

 

Who made their world debut?

 

Last December, we were interviewed by International Paperboard Industry, a well-respected trade publication.

 

The article has finally appeared in print.

Apart from the written piece, they included many photos of our company taken during the interview in this issue.

Thanks to them, several of our employees were able to make their world debut, and I would like to introduce them to you.

In the photo above, behind me on the right are, from the front, sales staff members Mr. H, Mr. S, and Mr. N, and on the left is Mr. K, who is in charge of overseas sales.

Covid-19 was still prevalent, and everyone was wearing masks, so even I could not tell who was who in the following photos of the ISOWA-bito wearing a helmet in the factory.

If you know who they are, please let me know in the comments.

I will give you a copy of the article.

Now let me show you the rest of the photos.

Here is the ad that accompanied the article.

It's a catchphrase that means "Over 100 years in business."

 

Following the ISOWA article, there was an article on the WaterDeck of our partner Kohler Coating Inc. in the US.

At the top of the article appeared Mr. Mike Kohler, Vice President of Kohler Coating.

Since the last year, WaterDeck's performance has gradually been recognized in Japan, and orders have been increasing.  "SORI-反り" ("warpage" in English) - has been a forever challenge in the corrugated board industry. But now we can choose the WaterDeck as the best SORIution(solution) for "SORI"- warpage (sounds good, doesn't it?).

The WaterDeck also contributes to reducing opportunity loss in corrugated board factories!

 

Thank you for the excellent article, Mr. David!

We aim to prosper together with everyone!!

The other day, we held the ISOWA social gathering.

 

It is an annual event in which our subcontractors, we call “TASUKE-bito”, participate.

 

In recent years, it was held online because of the COVID-19 pandemic, but we were able to meet face-to-face for the first time in four years!

 

80 people participated, including ISOWA-bito.

 

We first explained our strategy which we are working very hard on and the status of orders we received this fiscal year.

 

Afterwards, we held a get-together with lunch.

 

(With everyone at the same table at lunch.)

I expressed determination, “We have set the goal of “coexisting and prospering with everyone in TASUKE-bito” and have been working on it.

Although we haven’t been able to take steps yet, we really want to realize the goal to prosper together with everyone!!”

 

After that, we gave letters of thanks and monetary awards to three corporations, which contributed to us during the previous fiscal year, K, D, and Y corporation.

 

In addition, we introduced five corporation, which celebrated their anniversaries this year, M corporation (90^th anniversary), Se corporation (70^th anniversary), K and D corporation (both 60^th anniversary), and Si corporation (50^th anniversary).

 

Thank you all for your participation, and please come to the ISOWA social gathering from now on!

 

We aim to prosper together with everyone!!

New World Record

Company M is a Canadian customer of ISOWA's Falcon (made in 2014).

It is located at the eastern end of Canada, the opposite shore of Prince Edward Island, the setting of "Anne of Green Gables."

I visited there 8 years ago, a little after we installed the machine. (Japanese site)

 

It was a heavenly place where "ISOWA would love to open its summer office."

This time, Company M informed us of the production record of last May 25, in one shift (12 hours).

Total running time: 11 hours 37 minutes

Downtime: 5 minutes

Number of orders: 15

Average set time: 1 minute 31 seconds

Total production：240,736 boxes

Average production speed：344 sheets/min.

Falcon's maximum production speed is 350 sheets/minute, so an average speed of 344 sheets/minute means that the machine has been running at its maximum speed for almost all hours of the shift.

This is a world record for the ISOWA Falcon.   

Congratulations!     

To celebrate, ISOWA America members planned to visit them and their Falcon several times, but the visit was postponed three times to be sure everyone could attend. 

Finally, it happened this March!

We were able to give them a gift of the world record plaque and take a commemorative photo with the managers and operators.

"This is a great example of what a great staff, a great machine, and great discipline can accomplish.

Even eight years after installation, a feat like this is still possible with proper maintenance.

Thank you, Company M.

Please continue to love Falcon as your "Ai-ki" (favorite machine in Japanese) for a long time.

ISOWA will also contribute to the reduction of opportunity loss for Company M!

Farewell to Mr. M. His Fans will miss him.

Mr. M had been working as an overseas engineer for several decades. He haｄ a lot of fans in many places in the world. I was one of them.

He retired and left ISOWA at the age of sixty. His many fans and ISOWA people miss him.

I told him that I wanted to have a farewell dinner when I saw him on his final day. He requested to go to an Indian restaurant. Indian cuisine is my favorite. So, I had no reason to turn it down. Haha!

I invited Mr. H, who had joined ISOWA at the same time as Mr. M. I also invited Mr. O, who had been working hard together for the overseas sales department. 

We talked a lot about our past stories. 

The customer in Thailand really wanted to work with Mr. M one more time. So, he went on a business trip to Thailand just before his retirement day.

Mr. M said,

“It was a little bit hard to say goodbye when I was leaving.”

“Just completing the tasks is not enough. By maintaining a good relationship with the customers, I can get them involved.”

“Even though the customers and I did not have a common language, I spent break time with them. Then, they were willing to help me. If Japanese people go abroad with other Japanese, they rely on each other. It prevents their growth. I know it is challenging, but young people should go overseas on a business trip alone.”

Wow! I really want young ISOWA people to inherit Mr. M’s wonderful spirit. 

His coworker Mr. O told me a secret story about Mr. M.

This is the hand wash counter in our machinery assembly factory.

Since it is made of tiles, the tiles and grout get dirty. Mr. M always cleaned it.

Like above (This is a sample photo. Haha.)

Mr. M said, “I did not do a special thing. I just poured a chemical, and the counter became clean automatically.” (I forgot the name of the chemical.)

His act was awesome.

Mr. O added, “One day, Mr. M found that there was no soap dish at the counter. Then, he paid for three soap dishes out of his own pocket. He also refilled the detergent bottle. He always did these things when no one was around him.”

He was not only the popular overseas engineer but also very helpful in the office. As the ISOWA president, I felt very sorry that I didn’t realize that he was doing so much for the office and staff.  

Mr. O! Why did you wait to tell me about these important stories until the final day of Mr. M!? It was too late. I wanted you to tell me earlier!

When it comes to “out of his pocket,” I would like to mention the original hats for ISOWA’s 100th anniversary.

When he went to Thailand for business purposes, he ordered 100 hats and presented to the ISOWA people. I really loved the nice design, and Mr. M presented two for me. They are still my favorite.

I told Mr. M repeatedly, “If you get bored after retirement, please come back. I always welcome you even if it is tomorrow! Haha.”

Seriously, I really look forward to it.

Until then, please take a break and take good care of your lower back pain. Please visit ISOWA sometime and show me your cheerful face.

Mr. M., thank you very much for your 42 years as a wonderful ISOWA-bito!

A spirit of never giving up despite failure

January company-wide morning meeting.

We presented awards to those who passed the 2022 National Technical Skills Test (first half of the year).

Mr. F and Mr. H both passed Grade 1 of Machinery Assembly and Finishing Work, and Mr. Nn, Mr. I, and Mr.Nk passed Grade 2 of the same class.

However, Mr. F is currently on an overseas business trip, so the other four members received awards on this day.

Each of the four gave a speech, and they all said, "I was able to pass the certification test thanks to my seniors, my supervisor, and Mr. K of the proficiency test office, who continued to guide me even after the work hours."

 

It is not just an event for ISOWA employees who take the exam; the whole company's support has taken root as a corporate culture.

 

The best part was the speech by Mr. H, who passed Grade 1.

 

He said, "I first took the test when Covid-19 was just starting to catch on. At the time, I never dreamed that either my exam studies or the Covid-19 craze would last for three years."

 

Even though he did not pass the exam the last two years in a row, he tried again for the third time this year and finally passed the exam.

I was impressed by his gentlemanly spirit that never gave up, kept trying, even when he failed, and still could talk about his efforts with a sense of humor.

That's just what you'd expect from someone who's passed the 1st grade of the Proficiency Test!　Well done!　

Another machinist, Mr. M, also passed the Numerical Control Lathe Operation Grade 1 course.

The efforts of each and every one of these individuals are the very essences of ISOWA's technical assets.

I hope that many more ISOWA employees will take on this challenge in the future.

After the morning assembly, I tried to take a commemorative photo, but I couldn't find Mr. K from the office.

Then, everyone said, 

　"Mr. K is the star of the show, so we really want to take a picture with him."

So I returned to the site and called Mr. K back, and he agreed to be photographed, although he seemed reluctant and embarrassed.

This was another typical ISOWA moment.