Hello everyone! I’m Shohei.
This column is about what I felt and experienced at a plant factory in Japan.
When you’ve been in the field for over 10 years, a lot of things happen. I write freely about what I remember.
Please feel free to read it while thinking, “Wow, that’s how Japanese plant factories work.”
“You keep telling us to improve our business, but does that mean we’re slow?”
In a plant factory’s production site, I was struck by these words.
For many plant factories, improving profitability is an urgent issue, and there is a constant demand to reduce labor costs by increasing work speed and reducing working hours.
As a result, employees on the factory floor are under pressure to “work faster and harder.”
It is no wonder that distrust and resistance to improvement efforts have begun to grow.
However, the true purpose of improvement activities is to reduce the burden on the factory floor and create an environment where employees can work more easily and efficiently.
The problem is that the true nature of such improvement activities is difficult to convey to the factory floor.
Causes for this include a lack of communication and inadequate explanations of the purpose and effects of improvement activities.
It is necessary to sincerely answer questions such as “Why is improvement necessary?” and “What effects will it have?”
For example, “By implementing this improvement activity, work efficiency will increase, leading to an annual reduction of ◯◯ yen.”
By presenting objective data like this about current working hours and target productivity, the significance of improvement can be understood.
It is important to sincerely listen to the voices of the factory floor, rather than imposing a top-down approach.
Repeated dialogue with the factory floor and attentively answering employee concerns and questions are essential for gaining understanding and cooperation for improvement activities.
Furthermore, ongoing improvement activities are essential, not temporary improvements.
Since the on-site situation is constantly changing, it is necessary to continuously engage in improvement activities and maintain communication with the factory floor.
Improvement activities truly demonstrate their effect when carried out together with the factory floor. Listening to the voices of the factory floor and working together is the key to successful improvement activities.
This column was published in a collection of know-how to improve on-site skills.
This column is included in the Plant Factory Know-How Collection below.
This know-how collection is packed with useful tips to help you increase profitability, regardless of the specifications or equipment on-site.
This is a must-read for those operating plant factories or indoor farms. Implement the know-how to increase profitability.
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