At Fuji Furniture, we are working to prepare the environment for efficient work.
All employees, from new employees to the president, participate in this activity for 30 minutes every morning during working hours.
From thorough implementation of the 5S (Seiri, Seiton, Seiketsu, Seiketsu, Seiketsu, Shitsuke) to visualization of work. This is not just a cleaning activity, but an activity to help employees develop the ability to notice and think.
The photo below shows the floor of our office. The framed area is the floor before we started our “environmental improvement” efforts… If you compare it to the current floor, you can see how dirty it is. However, since the entire floor was dirty at that time, no one thought this was an abnormal situation.
Other items such as metal fittings used for products, tools for processing, office supplies, cleaning tools, etc. were also in a disorganized.
In 2010, we launched a company-wide improvement initiative.
In the improvement activities, we will improve the way we make our products, but we also need to change the mindset of our employees, who are the makers of the products, as well as the manufacturing methods.
We started by cleaning the floor of the office, and then expanded our activities to the inside of the factory, the green zone, and so on. As we cleaned up one area, we began to notice the areas that were not yet in order.
We believe that when people take it for granted that things are in order, their ability to notice and think about things such as whether or not the floor is clean, whether or not there are any problems with the finish of the product, or whether or not there are any problems with the way they do their work will improve.
In order to make our efforts stick, we also conduct a monthly check called “Environmental Maintenance Inspection.
Currently, “environmental improvement” is evolving further. Rather than following instructions from superiors, employees are discovering issues themselves in their daily work and setting goals for the next activities. By actively creating a comfortable working environment for themselves through these activities, employees are able to discover new things about themselves and improve their motivation.
One step for 100 people rather than 100 steps for one person. What started out as an attempt to increase the sense of unity among employees has now taken root as a company value.
We will continue to evolve our “environment improvement” and as a result, we aim to become a brand that inspires our customers to discover a new self through better products and services.