Surprise Gifts

We had a monthly morning assembly this morning.

I spoke about the feedbacks we got from the customer to whom we just proposed something we’ve been working on and the conversations I had with Mr. Shibata from Scholar.

Following my speech, Mr. S came forward out of the blue.

I had no idea what was going on.

But as soon as he started speaking, I found out it was about my kanreki (60^th birthday)

I’ve been wrapped up in coming up with ideas for my speech recently.

I totally forgot about my own birthday.

It took me by complete surprise!

Mr. M who joined ISOWA the year I was born gave me an appreciation letter.

What surprised me most was that it was written by my wife.

I’m wondering how she did this without letting me know at home.

Mr. A presented me with an album that has messages from all the ISOWA employees.

All the employees. From the oldest one over 70 to the freshmen who just joined us three months ago.

Those messages are neatly filed in order of age.

I read all of the messages right after the assembly.

I was too happy to wait.

The gift from Mr. F who will have his kanreki this year as well was “kanreki newspaper”.

It is a book made of newspaper that was published on my birthday over the past 60 years.

There was even more.

It’s from ISOWA Europe. It’s a deformed drawing of Duren’s landmarks.

Duren is where the ISOWA Europe office is located.

I never saw all of this coming.

I guess I was too surprised to understand what was happening.

I had to ask Mr. S what happened again afterwards.

I honestly think I’m the luckiest president in the whole world.

I’m so lucky that I’m working with all these amazing people.

I would like to say thank you to all who arranged everything for me.

Someone even sent me 60 roses.

Thank you so much, Mr. T!

Actually, I wasn’t very happy about turning 60.

But you all made me change my mind. It wasn’t bad at all.

Thanks again to everyone who’s always supported me.

Happy Belated Birthday

I visited the customer plant where we installed our printer 'Ibis' earlier this month.

Thanks to all our efforts, we got many positive feedbacks about the machine.

And I found Mr. X there who was in charge of the installation.

When I saw his face yesterday, I somehow remembered that he just had his birthday last week.

I apologized to him for making him spend his birthday far away from home.

But he looked like he didn't care at all.

"That has been happening to me for years now."

That made me feel even more guilty.

"I hope at least you will have a good time celebrating your birthday with your wife when you get back."

That was all I could say.

And he has finally finished all his work and come back.


Now that he's back, I assume he's having a wonderful moment with his family tonight.

ISOWA wouldn't be where we are right now without dedicated, selfless employees like him.

I couldn't even thank you all enough!

Another Story of 3.11

That is a book that Mr. H, one of my blog readers, told me about before.

The story is about a Japanese company named Nippon Paper Industries Co. where Mr. H used to work and how one of their factories recovered from the huge earthquake that hit Japan on March 11th, 2011.

It’s located in Ishinomaki city that was one of the hardest hit areas.


The book had many facts that I never knew.

How serious the tsunami really was

That each publishing paper has different colors.

And that about 40% of the whole publishing papers in Japan is produced by Nippon Paper and Ishinomaki factory was their main one.

After stricken by the tsunami, they didn’t even know where the factory was with the enormous amount of debris.

They didn’t even know what to do. 
Then the factory chief told them that all they had to do was to start operating one of the machines again within six months

Everyone else thought it was impossible.


But, in the end, that was what made it possible for the Ishinomaki factory and Ishinomaki city to pick up from the damage.



I know a lot about cardboard because that’s the industry we’re in. 
But I knew little about printing papers.

It’s always nice learning something new.

I’d like to say thank you to Mr. H for giving me an opportunity to do that.

Glad I Did It

One-on-one meeting with the executives after the multisource evaluation.

 Finished it all as scheduled. 23 people, an hour per person. Which means I spent almost one whole day on this.

 But I'm really glad I did it.

It wasn't just about something related to work. It was something much deeper.
We usually don't get to talk this much.

 As for Mr. S who I talked with today, to be honest, I've hardly ever talked to him before.

 It's not like I haven't talked to them all but that doesn't change the fact I should have done this a long time ago.


 It might be late, but it's much better doing something than not doing it.
 I'm glad they all opened up to me and we got to talk about something honest.


 Even though sometimes I had to give them harsh feedback, they accepted it and were even thankful for that.


 One of them even wanted to do it again next year.


 I also shook hands with each employee I interviewed, which turned out a great idea.

 It helped us get even closer.


 With the foundation we've built this time, we'll work towards a better future for us and the world in 2015.

Two Passionate Feelings

Today was a monthly meeting day.

Normally I speak for half an hour but this time instead I asked Mr. U and Mr. S to do it.

Mr. U made a speech a few days ago when we had some visitors over, which really was a good one.
That’s why I wanted everyone else to get to hear that.

He is in charge of parts procurement. He found out something about our slogan “ISOWA keeps you going – always on the go!”

“People always think on their own terms. 
When they say it’s almost ready, you interpret with your own standard.
But the point is, our standards are never the same.

I’d come to subcontract factories every day and talk to get a mutual understanding. That’s how I built my relations with them.

ISOWA keeps you going – always on the go!
This is something that will take us a long time to achieve.

But if you understand each subcontract factory and customer well and have a good bond with them, it will be easier.
And since our machines are used in a long term, we need to set up a firm foundation with them that won’t change with time.”
 　　　
This is the part that impressed me a few days ago.
It’s amazing how he works based on our big strategy.


Mr. S was next.

He delivered a presentation about the IBIS and the film I mentioned in the last entry the other day.
This presentation was also great.

So I had him come to Nagoya.

“One of the customers told me that ever since they had the IBIS, the work place’s been lit up and the operators have been working vigorously.

The customers have the same passion that ISOWA put into the IBIS. 
And the IBIS is starting to affect more and more people.


My wish is to be there when they renew the machine 20 years from now."

By making them happy, he got a huge joy. I’m sure this experience will always mean something to him in his life. 


Their passion and energy have sure reached our hearts.
Thank you so much to both of them.

Amazing Film

There is a film I would like to talk about.

The film was made by the customer of ours that bought our printer “IBIS” last year and showed to their customers at the completion ceremony of their new factory.


Thanks to their effort, the IBIS is working well and has made a great contribution to their productivity and the quality.

We already got another order from the customer nearby that actually went to go see it.  


Our staff who were at the ceremony were really moved by the film and asked them to borrow it so we could all see it.


Our machine brought smile back to them, and it became one great film.

Give benefits and happiness to our customers’ businesses.
That’s what we’re trying to do. And the movie made it clear that we are going in the right direction.

Customer satisfaction is what makes us happy.

Any great films can’t beat this one for us.

I’d like to say big thank you to company K.

Komaki Factory

We’ve been looking for a land for our new factory.
Fortunately, we found property 15-minute drive from our office.

Its location is good and the factory perfectly meets our condition.
It’s been under repair ever since we bought it this summer.

The place hasn’t been taken care of in a long time and had a lot to be repaired, which made the repairing work harder.
Now that it’s all done, we held a completion ceremony.

It cost a lot of money, but seeing how it’s been reborn makes me sure that it was worth it.
There’s another factory on the right side of the one in the picture.
Right outside of the factories we also have a nice stockyard with a crane.

In the office, we have a shower and restrooms on each floor. It’s more like a little apartment.

It’s located on a hill where the pleasant wind blows.
There’s a bamboo forest behind the factory, which makes you feel like you’re in Kyoto.

Lastly, I’d like to say thanks to Mr. Chiba for supporting us during this.

This is the first step of the renovation of our production system leading to the reconstruction of the main factory next year.
　
Let the Komaki factory begin!