I aim for 40 or 50 years of service, so…

 

In July, we held a morning meeting that included a long-service award ceremony.

The photo at the beginning shows me with the six members of the 40-year service group who joined the company in the same year I did.

 

They are Mr. S, Mr. O, Mr. M, and Mr. K.   The two (Mr. K and Mr. W) are based in Tokyo and participated online via video call.  To reiterate, we all started working at ISOWA the same year.

Those celebrating 30 years of service are Mr. H and Mr. A.

And the one celebrating 20 years of service is Mr. A from the Sendai branch office.

 

Congratulations to everyone.  Above all, thank you for your years of contribution. 

 

 

In the afternoon, I attended a test for new product development at the factory. 

Many employees gathered and discussed the test in a friendly atmosphere.

When it came to deciding the conditions for the next test, differing opinions arose between Mr. M, the project initiator, and Mr. S, the group leader.

 

Mr. A (the one on the left in the photo above), who had just received the 30-year service award this morning and is responsible for coordinating the team, followed Mr. S's instructions without hesitation. 

 

“The project initiator is Mr. M!” everyone teased, but Mr. A jokingly replied, “I am aiming for 40 or 50 years of service, so I will follow the instructions of my superior, Mr. S!”

 

I realized once again that this is one of ISOWA's strengths, being able to maintain this kind of relaxed atmosphere, even during such an important product development test.

Although Mr. A has only been with the company for 30 years, his witty reply was impressive enough to make me want to give him the 40-year service award (laughs).

 

The tests will continue for a while, so let's all work hard and have fun!

Just like ten years ago

At today's monthly company-wide morning meeting, once all the scheduled items were completed, there was an announcement:

“There’s a surprise !”

It wasn’t déjà vu—it actually closely resembled a scene I had witnessed quite a while ago.

To be precise, it was ten years ago, in this same office. That was...

It was a surprise celebration for my 60th birthday. And that means...

This time was a surprise celebration for turning 70!

The gift I received was also a surprise!

In Japan, everyone knows that red is the color for one’s 60th birthday, but did you know what color represents 70? I learned when my family celebrated the occasion: plum purple is the color for one’s 70th birthday.

So—inspired by that—

They had made a special ISOWA uniform for my 70th, swapping the usual ISOWA blue for purple! They even prepared a bouquet based around purple.

In the first group photo, T‑kun was the only one not photographed—because he was behind the camera as our photographer.

So T‑kun and I took a photo together.

And —

—there was also a purple ISOWA polo shirt for my 70th!

Ms. W from Employee Support, who organized today’s surprise, wore the uniform, and I joined her for a two-shot with the polo shirt.

Wearing the one of a kind uniform felt a bit like being Shohei Ohtani after winning MVP and getting a special gold MLB‑logo uniform—just awesome!

Thanks so much to the entire ISOWA team for the wonderful 70th birthday celebration!

I’m going to proudly show it off to everyone!

My life is like a tightrope walk

 

My wife's friend, Ms. Y, came from Shizuoka to visit our house recently.

 

She used to visit us when we were newlyweds in our small apartment in Sangenjaya, Tokyo.

At that time, an English newspaper was on the wall of our house.

This is from when I was a student and working in the U.S.  I drove with my brother, who came to the U.S. for his summer vacation, all the way to Niagara Falls from my place in Baltimore and showed him around.

Everyone put on rain jackets, boarded the cruise ship, and headed for the Falls. We were soaking wet.

This is what it looks like now.

 

The newspaper article was from “The Niagara Falls Gleaner,” about me walking on a tightrope over the big river flowing out of the basin.  It was like this at the time, too.

 

When Ms. Y saw this, she was so shocked that she went home and told her mother,

“My friend married a tightrope walker.”  Her mother said,

“Well, she must have married a very tough person,” she said.

 

Many years later, when she went to Disneyland with her kids, she found a similar type of newspaper for sale and realized that the person her friend married was "an ordinary person.” Three of us laughed hysterically!

Well, my whole life has been like a tightrope walk, so I guess I'm not too far off the mark.

Obrigado!

Artivinco – Our Longest-Standing Customer in Brazil

At the end of January, the installation of the Ibis began at Artivinco.

Then they went into full-scale operation in February.

 

A group photo featuring the Ibis team from Artivinco, together with members of ISOWA Japan and ISOWA America who were involved in the installation, was proudly posted on the company’s social media channels.

After completing the training and returning to Japan, our team was handed a special gift from the customer with the message: “Please pass this on to Hideyuki-san and Hikaru-san.”

It was a commemorative polo shirt celebrating the 2025 installation of the Ibis, embroidered with both the Artivinco and ISOWA logos. The design—featuring the flags of Brazil and Japan joined together—was so cool.

Accompanying the gift was a heartfelt letter signed by Mr. Grandão, President of Artivinco.

From his father and my father, to Grandão and me, and now to the next generation—

We will continue striving to ensure that ISOWA's name remains an integral part of Artivinco’s proud history.

 

Thank you so much, Mr. Grandão!

Good luck!!

A total of 15 recent graduates from the Philippines majoring in mechanical and electrical engineering visited ISOWA over a two-day period. 

They participated in a full-day program that ran from 8:30 am to 5 pm.

First thing in the morning, we started with self-introductions. 

Hitomi introduced ISOWA, and we went on ISOWA's factory tour.

We enjoyed lunch at the three-star ISOWA restaurant, then we tackled technical issues and reflected on the day.

They managed their very packed schedule.

They were selected from a document screening of 1,700 applicants and were the best candidates who had a strong desire to work in Japan. 

They passed several months of intensive Japanese language study in the Philippines and were able to speak a little Japanese, or even more than a little in some cases. 

There are many excellent students in Japan, but at the same time, there are also students who lose sight of their own abilities in this job applicants' market.

In that respect, their enthusiasm was completely different. The serious look in their eyes and the enthusiastic questions they asked during the factory tour were wonderful.

Moreover, the ISOWA engineers who welcomed them were also incredible.

I thought the ISOWA culture was evident.

Among the ISOWA People, some were able to fully demonstrate the results of their regular English studies, while others realized their own lack of study, which I thought was a good stimulus for them.

One of them, Mr. N (second from the left in the front row), from the Philippines, who has been working at ISOWA for two and a half years, also attended to us fully.

He is close in age to them and can communicate in Tagalog and, of course, in English... but he said, "I haven't used English in a long time, so I was nervous."

But he did a great job and seemed to have a lot of fun spending two days with his motivated compatriots.

So, how many ISOWA people will be born from them?

We also want to take their passion seriously and carefully select our future colleagues.

Thank you to all 15 of you. Good luck!!

Congratulations and thank you

Continuing from the last issue, I introduce more about the Porter Prize.

Last year's Porter Prize is featured on pages 32-33 of the January 24, 2025 morning edition of the Nihon Keizai Shimbun.

ISOWA is one of the four awarded companies. 

This is not an article but an advertisement for Hitotsubashi Business School.

However, it is a double full-page spread.

When I woke up in the morning, I received a congratulatory message from Mr. I, who was my senior at the boarding house during my college days and a former vice president of “S” bank.

After that, I received more emails from several customers and classmates.

Although it was an advertisement, it was not one that we paid for ourselves, and I think this is the only time, ever, that we have been featured on both sides of a spread in the national edition of the Nihon Keizai Shimbun.　It is a great honor.

In the interview with Professor Kusunoki introduced in the article, he said “it is not only strategy but also great management.”

There are two points about this.

One was Professor Kusunoki told the ISOWA-bito who attended the ceremony on the day of the award ceremony,

“You are all very lucky to work for a really good company.

There is not such a good company, but may be about 30 companies. (laugh)”

Rather than simply saying, “There is no other company,” it is more realistic to be told, we are “One of 30 companies.”

The other is what Professor Kusunoki says “excellent management,” while Professor Noma, describes it as “ISOWA has a unique strategy...” as per the lower left corner of the article.

That is right.

I have come to believe more and more that the “excellent management” that Professor Kusunoki mentioned through the judging of the Porter Prize, is a part of “strategy,” as Professor Noma said.

Professor Nawa's keynote speech introduced in the upper left corner.

The two concepts of compliance which are “not doing wrong” and ethics which are “doing right and good.”

The “fairness and justice” that ISOWA is trying to have at the heart of its strategy is precisely “doing what is right and good.”

“It is necessary to foster a corporate culture in which each employee makes what is most important to each company his or her own,” which is exactly the kind of 'Jibun-gatari(ISOWA story)' we are doing at ISOWA.

The “decision-making axis based on belief” is nothing other than what ISOWA has been working on for 25 year, since we started working on corporate culture reform.　So, to think, ISOWA is a quarter of a century ahead of its time in this point. Isn't that right? (laugh)

Mission, Vision, Values, Purpose, Principle...　

With the times, words and books appear that are much hyped, but I feel they are not particularly new, but only replacing the packaging and labels of the same ideas.

ISOWA is NOT wavering.

That is what Professor Nawa says “the decision-making axis based on belief”.

Thank you, Porter Prize Screening Committee members, for choosing ISOWA.

Receiving the prize is the “goal” so far, but it is also the “start” for the future.

By working together as one team (it is my role to unite ISOWA-bito as one) and increasing the value we provide to our customers, we will achieve the happiness of TASUKE-bito and ISOWA-bito.

After 4 days…

Since we all won the Porter Prize together, let's rejoice together!　That's why we held a “party to celebrate the prize together” in the factory after regular business hours,

I have been president for 24 years,　I honestly wish I could have come up with such a strategy earlier anyway.

However, when the professors interviewed said, “The difficulty of imitating ISOWA's strategy lies in ISOWA-bito,” I think it is precisely because we have been reforming our corporate culture for more than 25 years that we were able to come up with and realize this strategy.　

It is exactly “Slow and steady wins the race.”

Since I have a certificate of commendation that I received at the ceremony last December, I showed it in front of all employees this time and had Mr. N of the Support Department receive it on behalf of all employees.

Why was Mr. N the representative?

That is the point of ISOWA's strategy that received the prize,

　　Repositioning machine sales, which was the goal, as the start.

　　And, taking the maintenance seriously after the machine sale.

Therefore, the strategy up to now, and only 'up to now', has been mainly on the service side and

Mr. Nomura of the Support Department was my partner in the strategic planning dialogue.

My new goal is to make our existing strategy story longer, thicker, and stronger.

The longer, thicker, and stronger it gets, that is reason why the more difficult it will be to imitate.

For this purpose, we will spread our strategy to the rest of the departments now more than ever, so I ask all in Manufacturing, Engineering, Sales, and Administration department help us.　

I want ISOWA-bito in various departments to be my dialogue partners.　

Otherwise, the strategy will not expand.

Then, Hikaru said, “Everyone, it's not a bad story to hear, so listen up for a minute,” and he then informed us of the special bonus for the Porter Prize, and we toasted!

And once again, we invited seven kitchen cars and everyone enjoyed the delicious food.

We carefully selected seven kitchen cars that were well-received at the ISOWA Family Open House a year ago.

Well, all of ISOWA-bito have made my longtime dream come true.

Once again, congratulations on the Porter Prize! And thank you for the Porter Prize!

Next time, I want you all to be employee representatives and receive the next Porter Prize certificates.

I look forward to it!