The craftsmanship and "field power" of Japanese companies have withstood the test of the financial crisis and proved to be effective. The main body of economic development is enterprises, and only when enterprises continue to grow and develop can China's economy continue to improve
Text | Li Haiyan
With the changes in the international and domestic environment, China's economic development will face more challenges in the future, and enterprises will face more and more hardships. Consumers' requirements for product quality and service quality are constantly improving. Workers' demands on the working environment and their dignity as workers are also rising. This also puts forward new requirements for the operation of Chinese enterprises. In the face of many external requirements, how should Chinese enterprises do? Maybe Japan can give us some valuable inspiration.
There are more than 20,000 companies with a century-old history in Japan, and there are thousands of companies with a history of more than 200 years. In the 30 years of the Heisei era, Japan's average GDP growth rate was only about 1%, but in this environment, there are many companies that maintain stable growth and high profit margins. The author believes that Japanese companies have three points that deserve our serious study. The first is the spirit of craftsmanship. The second is the culture of long-term and stable development of enterprises. The third is a strong "field force".
<h1 class="ql-align-center" > first, craftsmanship</h1>
Here I would like to introduce through a practical small example what is the spirit of craftsmanship in Japan. Located in a shopping street near Kichijoji Station in Tokyo, the company is called Kosasa (pronounced Ozasa), which means kotake in Japanese. The business sells yokan (a dim sum made with red beans) and "mid-range" (rice cakes on the outside and red bean paste in the middle). The storefront is only 1 ping, which is only about 3.3 square meters. But for the past 40 years, the store has been lined up two hours before it opens every day, and some holidays have been queued since 4 o'clock. For 40 years, the team has never stopped. We can look at the trajectory of this company to see what is the spirit of craftsmanship in Japan.
(The reason why there are more than 20,000 longevity companies in Japan, one of the important points is that these companies have adhered to the pursuit of quality, adhered to a high corporate ethics, and with the changes of the times, the companies themselves have continued to develop and change.) Photo/Visual China)
One of the key words: "focus". Founded in 1951, the store didn't even have a storefront at the beginning, just a stall. It was only transferred to its current location in 1954, and the storefront was only about 3.3 square meters. Since 1954, the store has sold only two products, "yokan soup" and "most central". And the number of yokans per day is 150, which has always been so much. In fact, after more than 20 years of hard work, by the mid-1970s, the reputation of this store was already very good. From that time on, before the store opened every morning, there were already queues of customers. After the 90s, the line was longer, and it was repeatedly written in the media. However, this store did not increase the variety and increase the number of stores because there were customers queuing up every day. The reason for not doing so is that the yield increases and the quality is even more difficult to control.
The shop was founded by the father of the current president, Ms. Tokuko Inagaki, and at first the father made it himself, and his daughter was in charge of the counter sales. Since the early 1980s, my daughter has continued to do it. The number of yokan soup is only 150, because there is so much that one person can do well.
The second key word is: "thoroughness and persistence". This can be seen in many small places. Here are a few examples to illustrate. Since its inception, Ms. Inagaki's father has tasted his own yokan every day. After the daughter took over in the 70s, the father and daughter tasted their own yokan every day, and the father would give various opinions. His father died on January 1, 1992, at the age of 90. Until the day before his death, the father and daughter were tasting their own yokan as usual. If you feel that the taste is slightly unsatisfactory, you will throw away the product completely. Ms. Inagaki worked every day until she was in her 80s, making "yokan" and "the most central" raw materials herself.
The thoroughness and persistence of the father and daughter is consistent. When I started my business in 1951, I couldn't even rent a storefront, just an open-air 3-square-meter stall. After making it every day, the daughter took her bicycle to the stall to sell. At that time, the father had two requirements for his daughter. One of them is that every day, even if everything is sold out, it is not until 5 o'clock to close the stall and go home. My father thought about it because we were going to make a store, but we just haven't found a suitable storefront for the time being. If you close the stalls when you're done selling, it's a temporary small trader. So even if everything is sold out, you have to wait until 5 o'clock to go home. The second is that you can't just stand dry even if you don't have guests. Because standing dry will make the atmosphere in the store settle down, making people feel that there is no life in the store. When there are no guests, tidy up the goods or clean up. There are some times when the glass of the cabinet where things are clearly placed is not dirty and must be wiped repeatedly.
The third key word is: "unique product positioning". Kosasa's yokan soup has a unique taste. There are many kinds of yokan in Japan, there are sweet potato yokan, there are ordinary red bean yokan, there is jade soup, there is water goat soup. The characteristic of the yokan in Kosasa is that the taste of yokan is the intersection of the above four yokan flavors. That is, there are good places with yokan all around at the same time, but the taste is different from some kind of yokan.
Keyword four: "accumulation of experience over the years and the ability to dialogue with products". The basic raw material of yokan is red beans plus white sugar and agar. The red beans should be boiled first, the outer skin removed, and then repeatedly stirred and mixed. After adding the agar, it is put on the night and naturally solidifies into yokan. In this process, boiling red beans and mixing red bean paste requires long-term experience accumulation.
The first thing to pay attention to is the raw materials, and the store has always used red adzuki beans from Hokkaido. Even the red adzuki beans from Hokkaido are different from the year of the farmhouse, and the quality is also subtly different. Japan has four distinct seasons throughout the year, and the temperature and humidity are different. The time it takes to cook the red beans and stir the mixed red bean paste is different every day. What time is just right, it takes a lot of experience to judge. Especially when it comes to mixing and blending red bean paste. According to Ms. Inagaki, she talks to the red bean sand every day, and uses her facial features to carefully perceive the subtle signals from the red bean sofa. Listen to the sound of stirring red bean paste, observe the change of color, and feel the force on your hand when stirring. Ms. Inagaki said that the red bean paste will change color to purple at a certain moment, which means that it has been stirred and mixed. The force and angle of stirring also take years of hard work to accurately grasp. Ms. Inagaki's saying is to leave half the thickness of a piece of paper at the bottom of the pot. Because this is not left, the red bean paste directly touches the bottom of the pot, which often has a burnt taste and affects the taste.
Key word no. 5: "Respect for guests". Japanese society as a whole is very polite and respectful to guests. Here's a small example of how thorough Kosasa's shop is. Since the 1970s, customers have lined up every day to buy yokan. Of course, the Inagaki family also has relatives and friends, and many times they also want to send their relatives and friends some yokan to taste. Inagaki's father and daughter saw that many customers were queuing up every day, and felt that they were sorry for taking things directly from the store. Ms. Inagaki is currently the president of the company, and her husband wants to send some yokan soup to relatives and friends, so he has to queue up at the entrance of the store to buy it. The president himself is like this, and you can imagine that other employees are the same.
And such a shop, which has customers queuing up every day, has not raised the price of goods because of its popularity. Now a yokan is 580 yen, and a "most central" is 54 yen, unchanged for many years. Prices have also risen several times in the past few decades, all of which have been slightly adjusted according to the actual situation of rising raw materials and labor costs, and have never increased prices because of the queues of guests at the door every day.
As mentioned above, the Inagaki family has never compromised on quality, and it is three pots of red beans every day, and only 150 yokan can be made. Don't do one more. Once, Inagaki's father was not satisfied with the taste of "the middle", so he simply threw away 2,000 items, or about 100,000 yen.
Key word six: "social contribution". The shop currently employs 30 people. Since the end of the 1980s, there have been attempts to hire children with intellectual disabilities. After the 1990s, long-term employment began. In Japan, where people with disabilities are employed for more than three years, the government will grant companies a subsidy. However, Ms. Inagaki deliberately did not apply for these subsidies. Her basic idea is to let these children get a salary through their own labor, so that they can also feel the dignity of self-supporting workers. Salaries are borne by the small sasa company. In this way, we give back to society and customers.
Many people, including some economists, are dismissive of these small shops in Japan. Their basic understanding is how much GDP can such a small shop create? But what I want to emphasize here is that these little shops not only create huge GDP, but also create a lot of value beyond GDP.
First, each of these little shops is really small. Kosasa's annual sales are more than 300 million yen, or more than 20 million yuan. But don't underestimate the role of these stores. These shops are the benchmark of the Japanese industry and a model for everyone to learn from. There are many such small shops in the catering industry, and the existence of such shops has raised the level of the entire Japanese catering industry. The first book on Sushi's god Jiro Sushi came out 20 years ago, and the content on how to deal with fish and shrimp and how to hold sushi was a hit in Japan. Many chefs learn from the reference, which plays a role in improving the overall level of the Japanese sushi industry. Tokyo now has more Michelin restaurants than New York and Paris, and is the largest city in the world. Japanese cuisine became an important part of Japan's soft power. The quality stability of Japanese industrial products and agricultural products is well-known all over the world, and the quality stability of Japanese industrial products reached the top of the world around the mid-1980s.
Rome was not built in a day. Japan's road to quality has been going on for centuries. The existence of many of these small shops has played a great role in the formation of a culture of excellence in Japanese society as a whole.
Second, the role these small shops play outside of GDP is also immeasurable. From 1951 to the present, Kosasa has consistently made good products for more than 60 years. There has never been any compromise on quality, and it has won the high trust of customers. Because there are such stores, some companies that compromise on quality or do not serve customers well will slowly be eliminated. It has played a very important role in increasing the cohesion of the community and increasing the trust of the society. Think of it, the hundreds of thousands of people living near Kichijoji may have eaten the food of this shop, which is the common memory of the residents of the community. Japan's more than 20,000 century-old shops and countless small shops such as Kosasa have created Japan's national brand of high quality and high trust.
<h1 class="ql-align-center" > second, a long-term and stable development of culture</h1>
There are many reasons why there are more than 20,000 longevity companies in Japan. One of the important points is that these companies have adhered to the "not easy to popular" and "first righteousness and later profit". That is to say, adhere to the pursuit of quality, adhere to the high corporate ethics, with the changes of the times, the enterprise itself is also constantly developing and changing. The entire Japanese society has a culture that values long-term and stable development.
Fujifilm became a company that attracted worldwide attention since 2010. The company has successfully evolved and metamorphosed itself since 2000, and its development has become a story that is more exciting than business textbooks. Fujifilm Was Founded in 1934 to imitate and learn from kodak in the United States and to realize the localization of photo film. In the field of film Fujifilm surpassed its own teacher, Kodak Corporation, in 2001. However, after 2000, with the development and popularization of digital cameras, the intelligence of mobile phones, the sales volume of traditional photo film plummeted, and the annual market size fell by about 20%. In 2011, the market size fell to one-twentieth of its peak. The film business, which accounted for about 20% of the Group's sales revenue at its peak, fell to about 1% of the Group's operating income in 2011. The changes in this external environment can only be said to be incomparably enormous.
But Fujifilm has never given up in a difficult external environment and has never reduced the company's research and development expenses. The company has redefined the core competitiveness of the company under the great changes in the external environment. The thickness of the photographic film is only one-fiftieth of that of 1 millimeter, and a lot of collagen is used in the film. Collagen is an important substance that maintains the elasticity of human skin. Fujifilm defines the company's core competency as "the ability to perform high-quality fine processing on ultra-thin films." The company applies the technology accumulated in the past to the development of new cosmetics and medical products. In 2007, Fujifilm achieved its best performance since its inception. It should be noted here that because Fujifilm uses the technology accumulated by the past company, the technicians of the past can still play a role in the company, rather than being simply laid off.
Although Fujifilm made two layoffs in 2002 and 2008, each time it was around 5,000 people. The company survived, and more than 70,000 of the Group's employees around the world retained their jobs. In 2012, Kodak filed for bankruptcy protection. Fujifilm has also developed steadily since 2007.
Moreover, it should be emphasized here that Fujifilm did not begin to transform its business after entering the Heisei era. The company has been sowing new seeds since the 1960s. In the 1960s, Fuji Xerox was established in the United States of Xerox corporation to carry out photocopy-related business in Japan. Fujifilm began to study digital imaging technology in the 1970s, and produced digital cameras around 1988, and the introduction of digital cameras is leading the world. As early as the 1960s, it was the production of polarizer protective films used in liquid crystal displays. Fujifilm currently has a market share of about 80% in this field (worldwide), and some of its products currently occupy 100% of the market share. Fujinon Corporation, a subsidiary of Fujifilm Corporation, introduced the world's first transnasal endoscope in 2001. At that time, the mouth-to-mouth endoscope of the Japanese Olympus company dominated the world.
It should be said that Fujifilm is a typical example of a company that has successfully transformed and developed in the past 20 years. In the past 100 years of Japan's development history, there are thousands of companies similar to Fujifilm. In the face of great changes in the international and domestic environment, many Japanese companies have transformed the pressure of the external environment into a driving force for the upgrading and development of enterprises through arduous research and development and the transformation of business development. These Japanese companies tend to harvest a field, cultivate a field, and start cultivating a field. Constantly explore new business or new markets. The result is the long-term stable development of the enterprise.
Many people don't understand the value of longevity businesses. Longevity enterprise is the result of a long and stable enterprise to provide customers with quality products and quality services. It is the result of continuous innovation and self-development along with changes in the external environment. Longevity enterprises allow capitalists, customers, employees, and communities to benefit stably, and make social relations more harmonious. The existence of a large number of longevity companies can significantly increase the trust level of the whole society.
<h1 class="ql-align-center" > third, the "field power" of Japanese companies</h1>
The word "field" is an abstract word in Japan, and in Japanese business literature, places other than the decision-making function of the head office can be called "field". The so-called "field force" is the ability of each site to play the greatest role and provide customers with the best products and the best service. All Japanese companies attach great importance to the construction of "field power". All high-quality companies in Japan, without exception, have a strong field force.
Railway Kokushi Co., Ltd., or TESSEI for short, was established in 1952 as a subsidiary of Japan National Railways. Later, it became a subsidiary of JR East Corporation, a company specializing in shinkansen vehicle cleaning. There are currently more than 800 employees with an average age of 52 years. After 2010, the company became a well-known company in Japan, and almost all TV stations and economic media reported on the company. Television stations in Germany and the United States have done special programs for the company, and MBA students at Stanford University have visited the company. The company's employees are known in Japan as the "Shinkansen Sweeping Angels," and their stories have even been adapted into musicals.
The cleaning company is not a tall existence in any country and society. It is often dirty and tired, and the salary is not high. For the most part, the employees of the cleaning company are more or less discriminated against by others. But Japan's TRSSEI has been unanimously praised and respected by the people of Japan, and even received the attention of developed countries such as the United States and Germany. Before 2010, TESSEI was also an ordinary cleaning company. The company began to change in July 2005 when a man named Keio Yabe moved to work at TESSEI. With Yabe as the center, the company has worked hard for about six years to transform TEESEI from an ordinary cleaning company into one of the most beautiful scenery of Japanese stations.
TESEI was transformed from an ordinary cleaning company into an integrated services company. The original TESSEI was just an ordinary cleaning company that completed the basic cleaning task step by step, but after years of effort, it was transformed into a multi-faceted service company at the station. The company's slogan and goal is "Refreshing, Safe, Warm". That is, to make the Shinkansen train interior and station a refreshing, safe and warm place. The company has also begun to undertake part of the business of inquiry guidance on the site. Employees actively help passengers who have difficulties (such as passengers with small children).
Give full play to the subjective initiative of all employees, so that every small act of kindness and progress of each employee is encouraged and praised. The company's cleaning business team is basically a vehicle of 22 people. It takes only 7 minutes to complete the cleaning of a Shinkansen vehicle. A carriage is basically a person. In just 7 minutes, all the seats are cleaned, the garbage is collected, and the toilets are cleaned. This requires everyone's movements to be very accurate and fast. Tokyo Station has more than 3 million passengers per day, and various things may happen and various guests may be encountered. This requires each employee to be able to do a good job on the fly.
In 2010, the company started the "angelreport" system. Every employee can write an article about their work experience and work gains. Every month, the company selects excellent reports for recognition and rewards 1,000 yen. At the end of each year, a year-long evaluation is held and a reward of 5,000 yen is given. Employees are also encouraged to submit various rationalization proposals for improvement. Of course, companies don't just ask employees to make efforts. The company improved the working environment of employees and installed air conditioning in the waiting rooms of employees. Through various efforts, TESSEI has become a company where employees complete basic tasks step by step, and transformed into a company where employees spontaneously strive to do better work.
It begins with a ritual and ends with a ritual. The reason why TESSEI has become a beautiful scenery of Tokyo Station is inseparable from this. Three minutes before the Shinkansen train enters the station, the sweeping team waits at the platform, and when the train enters the station, it bows and salutes. Passengers get off the bus for 2 minutes. Cleaning is 7 minutes. It takes 3 minutes for passengers to get on the bus. These two rituals have a very important significance. The gift of welcoming the Shinkansen into the station actually includes a reminder to all passengers that shinkansen vehicles are about to enter the station. Do not get too close to the dock to avoid accidents. The gift at the end of the cleaning is a thank you for the cooperation of the passengers and a blessing for the safety of the passengers who are going to leave.
After years of hard work, the employees who work at TESSEI are full of pride in their work. The company's employees are not highly educated elites, but they have gained a respect from the whole society in ordinary jobs.
<h1 class="ql-align-center" > four, learning Japanese craftsmanship and "field power" starts with cultivating people and 5S</h1>
So, how chinese companies should learn from Japan's craftsmanship and "field power", the answer is to start from the basics. This is basically from the cultivation of people and 5S. In addition, the subjective initiative of employees requires the support of a good company culture and system.
The following is an example of Hiraoka Alloy Tools Co., Ltd.:
5S is a basic method that almost all Japanese companies have introduced to varying degrees since the 1950s. The so-called 5S refers to the following five Japanese words: Seiri, Seiton, Seisou, Seiketsu, and Shitsuke. "躾" means politeness.
The so-called finishing is to distinguish between various things, first distinguish between what is needed and what is not needed, and what is needed can also distinguish the frequency of use. Rectification is about putting things in the right place. Cleaning is cleaning to keep it clean and tidy. Cleanliness is all about hygiene and sanitation. Politeness is being polite to people and things.
Hiraoka Alloy Tools is a small business that produces abrasives based in Higashi-Osaka City and employs only 12 people. It was a small business with just a dozen people that became famous throughout Japan after 2005. It was reported on by several television stations, and more than 1,000 companies visited and studied, including the famous Panasonic Appliances. The reason why this enterprise has attracted attention is because this enterprise began to seriously and thoroughly implement 3S around 2000, that is, to sort out and clean up. After several years of persistence, it achieved obvious results in all aspects, and the company turned a profit as a result. The reason why 5S was not implemented was because it was a small company that did a good job of 3S, and it was natural that the other two Ss would also do well.
Hiroka Corporation was founded in 1949 by the father of current president Hoji Kushiba, who succeeded him in 1996. Such small companies in Japan belong to the category of 3K, and the so-called 3K means dirty, tired, and dangerous.
To give an example, you will know the position of such companies in Japanese society. From its inception to 2000, the company has not recruited a fresh high school graduate in 50 years, let alone a fresh college graduate. After the bubble economy burst, it became increasingly difficult to operate, and in 1997, the company fell into a deficit. The path that Hoji Kushige explored in the midst of suffering was the thorough implementation of 3S. The president held high the banner of the "Zero Garbage Movement" and implemented 3S. In the first two years, more than a dozen employees were also resistant, because the boss said to do it, and had to reluctantly implement it. There is no heartfelt love for this activity.
First of all, the company implements a tidying activity, that is, to distinguish between what is often used and what is not used often. Divide things into "life, rest, half-death, and death", and the things that will be used once in four hours are "life", which means the living things. Something that is used once in less than five days is a "hugh". Something that is used once in half a year is "half dead". Something that has not been used once in more than half a year is "dead". Anything that has not been used once in more than half a year is disposed of. These include computers that cost 10 million yen and lathes that cost millions of yen.
This is followed by a reorganization. Rectification is often combined with visualization. Rectification is divided into five steps, the first step is to set the position, all items, including a ballpoint pen must have a clear fixed position. The second step is quantification, that is, to make it clear at a glance whether things are present or not and how much. The third step is to set the direction, that is, the direction of the placement of things must have clear regulations. The fourth step is for all items to have a clear name. The fifth step is for all tools to have a fixed storage position.
The so-called cleaning is that all the places in the company do not leave dead corners, carry out thorough cleaning, even the dust on the ceiling can not be let go. The thoroughness of the company can be seen in a small example. There are various kinds of aromatics for toilets in Japan that can be placed in toilets. However, The company resolutely does not use such products, and must be cleaned to the toilet without any odor. Long-term adherence to thorough cleaning also has a great effect on changing the mentality of employees. That is, employees will have an attitude of excellence and pursuit of perfection in any work.
Three years after the implementation of 3S, The Company turned a profit. After the thorough implementation of 3S, there is a significant reduction in costs and ineffective labor. After the reorganization, the company found that all kinds of stationery and supplies scattered in various parts of the company could not be used up for ten years. Prior to the implementation of 3S, the time each employee spent looking for various tools and materials per day was 30 minutes. After the implementation of 3S, this time was shortened to less than 3 minutes. That is to say, each employee can spend an extra 30 minutes a day to produce various products, and the labor efficiency is greatly improved. As a result of careful cleaning every day, various machines and equipment are well maintained. After the thorough implementation of 3S, the company's product defect rate was reduced to less than half of the original. The failure rate of machinery has also decreased significantly.
Companies like Hiraoka are 3K companies in Japan, and employees have little pride in their work. After the implementation of 3S, the factory has become clean and beautiful, the mood of employees has improved, the communication between employees has increased, and the atmosphere within the company has become more harmonious than before. Especially after the visit of external companies, the enthusiasm and pride of employees have increased significantly. The result is an increase in work efficiency and product quality. The rectification is not only limited to the specific objects within the company, the company has also classified and screened various businesses. Rejected orders with extremely low profit margins.
Why can 5S reduce various accidents in the factory? The reason is also very simple. In the workplace, things are thrown around, and accidents such as bumps are easy to form. In addition, it is prone to fire. Moreover, the thorough implementation of 5S can expose some hidden dangers of accidents in advance and solve them in advance. For example, every day carefully wipe the equipment, the screws on the equipment are loose, and the wear of some parts will be found in time.
The examples I have given in this article are examples of well-known companies that have been in Japan since 2000 and are even in the world. Both experienced the most difficult decade of the Japanese economy in the 1990s. The craftsmanship and "field power" of Japanese companies have withstood the test of the financial crisis and proved to be effective. The main body of economic development is enterprises. Only when enterprises continue to grow and develop can China's economy continue to improve.
The author believes that there is a main line running through the above enterprise examples, that is, respecting people and exerting people's subjective initiative. Perseverance and perseverance will eventually be able to gain the support and trust of customers. We learn from Japan's craftsman spirit and longevity company, and this is the most important thing we cannot forget.
(The author is a visiting scholar in Japan; editor: Su Qi)
(This article was first published in Caijing magazine on June 3, 2019)