Co-creation @ Shigiya Machinery Works – Industrial Manufacturing

Norikazu Shigitani, President of SHIGIYA MACHINERY WORKS LTD. Talks of hos the company pioneered the utilization of co-creation concept to meet various customer needs, in different sectors like the automobile, electronics, IT or other businesses. He discusses the role played by the ‘co-creation’ concept in Japanese industry for providing an excellent product quality and quality of service.

In a an interview to worldfolio,  Norikazu Shigitani explains,” For example, in our production of cylindrical grinders, our sales teams will listen to the needs of our customers. This information will then be relayed to our design department where our staff will model products according to the exact requirements of our customers. Our assembly team is then in charge of putting components together to obtain a final product that can then be delivered to our clients. In this way, we have highly qualified employees who oversee every single step of the development and production processes so that we can provide our customers with equipment of the highest quality. It is this collaborative system, this ‘co-creation’ that we and other Japanese companies have adopted that allows us to thrive. This ‘co-creation’ extends past the collaborative approach undertaken by teams within individual companies – Japanese companies actively work with one another in order to better our products and stay relevant. We believe it is important to work together and think together and the Japanese manufacturing system excels in this endeavor.”

He also explained another instance When Honda was expanding its operations overseas, particularly to the US, they were looking into the production a novel type of engine (CVCC engines) for their cars. For this engine, they required very specific components that they asked us to develop and provide for them. The job was demanding and proved to be a challenge for our company, but it was one we accepted and successfully delivered on. That event was significant in Shigiya Machinery Works’ path towards technological improvement.

Source: http://www.theworldfolio.com/interviews/shigiya-machinery-works-the-art-of-cocreation/4545/