HIDAJournal 2013 AUTUMN No.3

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No.3 AUTUMN 2013 5What prompted you to use HIDA’s experts dispatch program?We started using HIDA’s experts dispatch program in 2007. At that time, we were doing business with a metal processing company in Indonesia funded by local capital, where a former employee of a major home appliance manufacturer whom we had known in Japan was working. In those days, there were only a very few companies in Indonesia, including our Indonesian metal-processing partner, that had “shibo” processing skills. So, we were consulted by the Indonesian company, which was repeatedly requested by local Japanese bicycle and automobile manufacturers to start full-scale “shibo” processing. We were still wondering what to do, when we happened to come across HIDA’s experts dispatch program. Consequently, we decided to send our engineers to Indonesia as HIDA experts. Considering the financial burden, we might not have sent our engineers to the processing company if it had not been for HIDA’s experts dispatch program that provided financial support from the government.What were the benefits of the experts dispatch program?There is no textbook available for specialized technical training in technologies such as “shibo” processing. Therefore, it is essential to conduct on-the-job training by experts. As a result of training by experts, we could cultivate leaders capable of guiding other workers and deliver “shibo”-processed products, a first in Indonesia, to Japanese bicycle and automobile manufacturers.This Indonesian company also collaborated with the aforementioned former employee of a home appliance manufacturer to establish a new company in Indonesia that specialized in “shibo” processing. The newly established company requested us last year to provide advice on quality and production management to cope with an increase in production by Japanese, European and American automobile manufacturers in Indonesia. Responding to its request, we used the experts dispatch program once again and sent our engineers to the newly established company as experts in order to cultivate leaders, to shorten the delivery period for customers and to reduce the number of defective products.HIDA’s experts dispatch program offers a variety of advantages. In addition to financial support, which of course is a great advantage, there is also the advantage that there is a well-established safety management system for experts, which allows us to send our engineers with a sense of security. If there is another opportunity, we would like to use the experts dispatch program again.You also plan to use the training program in Japan for the first time this year.We heard about HIDA’s training program in Japan from other Japanese mold manufacturers. And since we were informed that the program was very effective in training local personnel, we applied for the program for the first time. This year, we plan to host two trainees from our subsidiary in Thailand.It has been seven years since we established our subsidiary in Thailand and we believe there is a need to implement measures to further meet local needs. In order to manufacture products of the same quality as in Japan, we need to establish the same strict quality and delivery standards as in Japan. However, since our Thai factory is located in Thailand, it is difficult to maintain the same standards as in Japan, no matter how hard Japanese engineers tried to train local personnel. We believe the only way to make up for the difference in standards is to get Thai employees to experience the Japanese system first-hand. Therefore, we decided to host two trainees this year. This is an advantage not available in the experts dispatch program.One of our two trainees has received training in Japan in the past. Providing training to these two employees together will enable them to help each other, thereby producing synergistic effects. We expect these two employees to lead other Thai workers in the subsidiary after returning to Thailand.How is the performance of your subsidiary in Thailand?At present, 20 employees are working with our subsidiary in Thailand. Fortunately, the job retention rate of our subsidiary seems to be higher than in other Japanese companies in Thailand. Although the wage rate of our company is not particularly high compared to other companies, we provide a generous welfare program. For example, we take care so that employees can use insurance when they are sick or in need of help. We also believe that using HIDA’s program to provide training in Japan for the two trainees will increase the motivation of all employees by offering them the hope of visiting Japan for training next year. We therefore look forward to using the training program in Japan next year as well.Could you tell us about your hopes for the future?There is no need to install precision equipment or large machines for “shibo” processing, our major business operation. Instead, however, we need to spend time and energy in training employees so that they can continue to improve their skills. For this reason, we often use the expression, “employees are our precision equipment and large machines.” This expression was invented by our company to highlight the importance of human resource development.We hope to continue to proceed with our overseas human resource development plan through the effective use of HIDA’s experts dispatch program and training program in Japan.Thank you for your time for this interview.Interview respondents (from the left: Mr. Fujino (Managing Director), Mr. Aota (Senior Managing Director), Mr. Katsuya (Director), Mr. Suemine (Nagoya Branch Manager), and Mr. Sasaki (Nagoya Branch Representative in charge of hosting trainees))

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