Tokyo, May 23, 2014
Hello everyone,
Today is the sixth and last day of « JAPAN TOUR 2014 » with the Shingo Institute. We start the day at 7:15 am with the following program:
- Visit of the SANDEN factory a plant that produces vending machines (30% global market share), refrigerating equipments for supermarkets (25% global market share) and of air conditioning systems for car and home (30% global market share), located in AKAGI.
(Left Photo: arrival at the Sanden factory)
What is remarkable in this plant is the willingness of leaders to a factory that makes one with nature. It is also the mark of great respect for people: the CEO of Sanden has located the canteen at the best area of the plant where the view is the most beautiful of the valley, this plant being located atop a hill 700 meters high! Sanden applies the methods TPM (Total Productive Maintenance) and STQM (Sanden Total Quality Management) and Kaizen (improvement) and its values are: Challenge, Create, Contribute. Sanden explains Excellence by the top of a mountain to which you climb continuously.
- In the afternoon, Seminar with Mr. Hiromitsu Hayashida Consultant and former Manager of Toyota Motor Corporation in Japan presenting us the « Toyota Production System »
(Left Pictured: Mr. Hiromitsu Hayashida and myself)
What I learned today:
- Respect for human operators in all the visited companies (unlike a priori ideas that we have in Europe, the japanese companies take care of their employees and not the reverse)
- Management must constantly improve employee satisfaction and employee work
- Always treat the following process as a customer
- Doing what is written, by the book without any possible deviation (discipline)
- Always his best to lower production costs
This is the last day of my trip to Japan and I am so happy by what I learned and saw there. I recommend you the trip. This is really great discovery and learning in situ of the « Toyota Production System » from a cultural point of view.
Franck Strub
[contact-form][contact-field label=’Nom’ type=’name’ required=’1’/][contact-field label=’E-mail’ type=’email’ required=’1’/][contact-field label=’Commentaire’ type=’textarea’ required=’1’/][/contact-form]
