Flowers will bloom

One of the customers I visited in Thailand last week is staying in Japan this week for training on the machine they purchased.

He is still young but very eager to learn Japanese and our management style.

Since he was so curious about Japanese culture, I decided to treat him in a Japanese way.

First of all, I invited him to my house and had my wife show him Japanese calligraphy.

The reason we chose this phrase was his name.

His name is Kittisak.

It sounds similar to the phrase “きっと咲くKitto Saku”.

This phrase is translated into English,

　“I am sure flowers will bloom.”

And in Japan, flowers blooming is often likened to “Success”

So this is also a message to him, “I am sure you will be successful!”


Then we went to dinner. I picked a very traditional Japanese restaurant.

The hostesses were so kind that they gave us a detailed explanation of the food and place, and they even showed us a Shamisen performance.

Every time they served a dish, they seemed worried if he would like it.

But in spite of their worries, he kept eating up all the dishes.

We were surprised at how much he likes Japanese food.

According to him, he eats Natto every morning even in Thailand.

I’ve never seen anyone who likes Natto so much!

At the end of dinner, they showed us around their tea room which was built 300 years ago.

He was excited to know that fact.

And he got even more excited when he found a small entrance.

He looked very satisfied after trying getting out and coming in through the door.

During the dinner, I got so many questions from him about my own management philosophy and how I relate to the employees. Our conversation literally never ended.

I hope he enjoyed “Discover ISOWA Tour” and “Discover Japan Tour”.

And I hope our relationship that has just begun will last a long time.

Thank you so much for your visit, Kittisak-san!

Behind the Successful Ones

We commended successful applicants for National Trade Skill Test 2015 in a monthly morning assembly.

Mr. T, Mr. N and Mr. H passed 2nd Grade Machine Assembly Finishing.
Mr. M got a 1st Grade Machining certificate even though he didn’t have a 2nd Grade.

I knew they were working so hard for this every day after everyone else was gone. 
Congratulations to you all. You deserve it.

But I want to remind you that behind this, there are many other people who worked so hard but didn’t get the results they wanted.

“It’s great to pass the test. 
But what matters more is the effort you put into it in the process.
Whether you pass it or not. Sometimes it depends on luck.
Everyone who tried deserves praise.”

That’s what an external trainer who has been coaching our mechanics said to me.

Mr. T has just been transferred to the sales department.
But he was still passionate enough to take this chance.
He must be the first sales man with a Second -Class technical skills license.

I love this aggressive attitude.

I hope more people will be inspired by this to try themselves.

Especially, all the woman workers have a chance to be the first to get a license in the ISOWA’s history. I hope this will happen in the not too distant future, too.

Again, congratulations to the four of you!

And thank you to all who took the test for your effort!

New Plant Unveils

The plant construction is well underway.

Let me show you some pictures from the end of the 2015.

This day we had “truss installation”.

The combination of a number of triangles helps support the roof and strengthen the whole building.

This structure was used widely in the plant design before.

But as computers automatically gives you the optimized design which has the best strength these days, the number of the buildings with this structure has been decreasing.

Those trusses make it possible for the plant to stand without any columns in the middle of it.

That is one of the good things about it, of course.

But, most importantly, it’s beautiful!

When I was seeing the truss being set in place, I found a guy walking on the truss as if he was walking on the ground.

“The project I was working on before this was a 10-story apartment building. That’s why I’m used to be working in high places,” the guy said.

That’s something I will never get used to!

And about 2 months later, it looks totally different now.

With shutters in ISOWA color, now you can imagine the whole picture.

As the construction proceeds, I can feel the excitement in the air at ISOWA.

“When the plant is ready, it is our turn to make the most of it!”

“I can’t wait to work in there.”

“With machines in it, it would look even more majestic.”

The plant is coming to its completion slowly but steadily.

Please look forward to further updates!

Construction Kicks Into High Gear

Our New Plant Project has gotten into one of the most important phases in the whole construction process, “concrete placing”.

But, as you might know, it all depends on weather. If it rains, it has to be canceled.

Besides we hired 120 concrete mixer trucks for this.

Since it’s a lot of trucks, we had to book them a month ago.

Which means if it’s canceled, it’s not certain when we will ever get a booking again. It could be delayed by one month.

Ahead of this important two-day process, I could feel tension in the air.

To make matters worse, Mr. K who is in charge of the construction got an injury in his finger the day before.

When he went to the hospital, he was told that he needed an urgent surgery.

He refused to have a surgery because of the construction, but, in the end, the doctor persuaded him.

So he got a surgery first thing in the morning on the first day and rushed back to the site.

I didn’t think he would show up at first, but when he did, I felt happy we have this responsible person as a supervisor.

I will show you how things were during those two days.

Mixer trucks keep coming one after another.

They came from all over Japan. Literally all over Japan.

They even came from cities in the northernmost prefecture in Japan.

Then transfer the liquid concrete to pumping trucks.

It stretches out the long arms to pour it all over the place.

As the concrete pours, the workers even the ground.

When it begins to solidify, they start using a milling machine like this in interesting shoes!

It went on until late at night.

When it gets dark, the light went up.

It looks like a huge skating rink.

Fortunately, the construction was completed successfully under fine weather.

When I stopped by to see how it was going on the second day, I found out I wasn’t the only one who was too worried to just sit still at home.

Although it was Sunday, there were some people there including ISOWA staff.

Thank you to all involved in it! 

That’s so ISOWA!

We held a gathering for soon-to-be freshmen and their parents today.

 

We have been doing this every year for several years.

Why do we even do that?

Because our motto is “Work for your loving family”, and it’s essential for our families to understand what kind of company we are working for.

Honestly, every time I make a prayer in front of our guardian, the first thing that come into my mind is my own family. But employees and their families always come next.

That’s how important they are to me.

And there’s another reason.

I want to make them feel like,

“I didn’t know much of the company, but it obviously looks like a good one to work in!”

I wonder how that one went.

 

At the plant, we ran the machine so they could see it in action.

During the company tour, this year’s freshmen took turn in speaking a little about themselves.

 

They all did great. I’m truly proud of them.

Then we had a lunch break.

I talked to all of them during the break.

Like I have heard, the mother of Ms. Ko is such a huge fan of this blog.

She remembers the dumpling I introduced on this blog before and said she even gave it a try herself.

The parents of Mr. I whose older brother used to want to work in ISOWA told me that he is still jealous his brother get to be a member of us.

The mother of Mr. Im who was born and raised near ISOWA.

“I’ve known ISOWA for a long time now. I have seen the plant getting bigger and bigger.”

Seemed like Mr. Y’s parents who are engaged in the equipment business have some things in common with ISOWA.

“We always work on weekends and holidays for equipment installation. Just like ISOWA, I assume.”

The mother of Ms. K who, from what I’ve heard, drinks a lot.

“Word is that your daughter is such a drinker.”

“Oh my goodness. That is embarrassing!”

But she never denied that. She might’ve gotten that from her mother.

After the break, I asked the parents how they felt about ISOWA.

“The plant was beautiful.”

“I was overwhelmed by those huge machines”

“I could feel the good atmosphere.”

“I don’t think our son will be able to speak in front of audience like them.”

Don’t worry about a thing!

We all started off like your son and daughter.

During the event, I told them a story about one young employee.

He has done some amazing things for ISOWA, but he was just like today’s participants when he joined us.

I’m sure, in a few years, the stories of your son or daughter will be told.  

After we took a photo for the blog, I found out that two mothers’ faces were blocked by others.

 

“I feel bad for you. Why don’t we take it again with the three of us?”

As it turned out, one of them was just trying to keep a low profile on purpose.

But she ended up being high-profile like this!

 

Thanks for your cooperation!

I hope this will be an opportunity for them to get to know us and be ISOWA fans!

Something That Won’t Be Forgotten

Let me introduce some comments from the customers who just came to see our printer “Ibis” recently.

“I have seen Ibis 3 times now.

First time was more than 5 years ago. The gap accuracy wasn’t good enough.

And then, on the second time, a certain amount of improvement could be seen.

But this time, not to mention further improvement of the gap accuracy, presentation was well thought-out and really helped us understand the Ibis’ newest features.”

 “Ibis was more than I had expected.

I’m excited for what you will bring into the corrugated industry in the future.”

“I could feel the power and energy from the young generation. Every time I visit here, you never fail to impress me. ”

I think we are getting closer to the point where we can give customers more than “just machines”.

And today we had two other customers over.

It was the first time to ISOWA for one of them.

After the plant tour, they were wondering about our training system.

Then, timely, Ms. T who joined the company six months ago came into the room to serve tea to them.

“Who is your trainer?”

“I never felt like someone is training me. The atmosphere here makes me want to learn.”

“That’s why you all look energetic. That makes sense.”

“That’s how I like it.”

We had a conversation like that.

As long as we are a machine manufacturer, our priority should be “better quality” and “better service” for customers. If it isn’t, customers won’t choose us.

I have been believing that nurturing the corporate culture will grow employee’s independence and autonomy, which will help us create machines and service systems that others couldn’t even imagine.

This process will take a long period of time.

But this is what we have to get over to be able to offer our original value to customers.

I can’t do it by myself. I need everyone to follow me.

I’ve been trying for 17 years now.

It might be impossible to be completed by the time I retire.

I don’t even know where we will end up with this.

All we can do is keep believing and stick to it.

Through the recent developments of Ibis or new singlefacer, I get the feeling that we are on the right track.

We will keep the faith and keep going!

Minglefacer

After visiting one of our customers, I headed to Osaka.

That’s where annual Corrugated Case Association Meeting is held.

At the meeting, Mr. M from Corrugator Section made a presentation about our very first i-Machine “Minglefacer (Mingle + Singlefacer)” in front of more than 300 customers.

Right before it started, he looked so nervous backstage.

So I came up to him for encouragement,

“It’s okay being nervous. Who wouldn’t be?”

I don’t know if I can call it “encouragement”. But, after all, the way he spoke was powerful and magnificent.

I’m sure you could tell he did great when you see the picture above.

The lights went down for the presentation, by the way, which made it really hard for me to take pictures.

I needed to position myself in the front row and give it all my techniques.

Thanks to my effort, he looks much better than he actually is!

It’s way better than the one Mr. I that I was there with took.

I raised the brightness level to make him look clear, which made the “i-Machine” logo too bright to see.

I had to photoshopped it in later.

I think I did a good job here.

Now I will tell you the key to take a perfect picture in dark places like this.

Of course, you can’t do it in the darkness. You have to be patient.

You wait until the presentation is over.

When it’s finished, the lights all come back up.

But that’s not the timing. There are still too many people there.

Then when is it?

The best moment is when everyone is gone.

You make the presenter go up to the stage again, pose him as if it’s right in the middle of the presentation.

Now all you have to do is take your time and find the best angle.

Do you understand?

　　It's real magic!

Well, all joking aside, we got a lot of inquiries on “Minglefacer” after the presentation.

I hope this machine will be the i-Machine (loved-machine) for many customers.

Thank you Mr. M!