It's a busy Saturday. Today, the workers are at work again, devoting themselves to manufacturing. To thank them for their hard work, the Kochi Furniture Factory is having a yakiniku lunch! As everyone approaches their late 30s, it seems that leaner meat is better for them.
This year, we are planning to focus on creating new playground equipment. We have introduced furniture and playground equipment rentals in various locations, and we have noticed that wooden playground equipment that gets people moving and active is extremely popular, and people spend a lot of time there! We also hear that, perhaps as a sign of the times, wooden playgrounds and kids' rooms are being renovated all over the country using local materials. In line with this trend, we have been gradually working on creating indoor playground equipment since last year! We would like to introduce to you a staircase slide.
Well, it's just a drawing. (Sorry, I haven't been able to keep up with the production yet.)
Not only can you slide down the stairs, but you can also climb the slide, and if you remove the sliding part, it also has a bouldering function. We want infants and toddlers to play with this equipment when they are still in the stage where they love climbing stairs, so we will be introducing it to the kids' room at our Kobe store first. Please look forward to it.
And today, we are releasing the [Get moving indoors! Climbing platform + slide]. Until now, we have been making these to order, but due to their popularity, we have made them into a product. What do you think, shareholders? It's a chance to use your 20% discount!
This week, we started by introducing our products. This year, we are also focusing on developing playground equipment. I would be very happy if you could give us information such as "It would be nice if there was such a product." I'm running out of ideas, so please give me some (lol). Now, on to the main topic.
Collaboration with other companies creates new jobs
We are now in our 16th fiscal year and have begun new challenges. We will announce a detailed business report after the May holidays. It will be around that time that we will announce our overall company policy, which we were unable to do last year due to COVID-19. Today, I will just give you a taste of what we are doing.
The logo mark for the Amagasaki LEXUS store has been created.
The wooden tapestry that will be installed in the kids' room of the new LEXUS store that we introduced previously is now complete. The LEXUS logo on a kumiko background. At first I thought black would look good, but it overlapped with the black of the back and looked dull, so I changed it to silver. It's a great finish. We will show you the whole picture when it is delivered in mid-April, so please wait (^^♪
Now, Mr. Iwamoto of Tosa Kumiko, who made this, is one of the few young Kumiko craftsmen left today. Recently, we have been asking him to make more and more jobs that we don't have the technical skills to do on our own.
Once you work with someone, you will understand their quality and their dedication to their work, so if you feel like "I want to make something good together with this person!", I think you can continue working together in the future. Of course, I believe that because we are both serious, we can create good products and new things. *Yes, I want to be like that too*
Collaborating with other companies broadens the range of proposals we can make to our customers. Another company I would like to introduce is Hirayama Mokko, a building materials manufacturing company in the prefecture.
Hirayama Mokko is probably the largest manufacturer of building materials in the prefecture. They have a lot of cutting-edge equipment that allows for mass production. Although their sales channels and products are completely different from ours, they excel at mass-producing fixed shapes such as lockers.
When we receive consultations for new nursery school construction, we often cannot accept the job due to deadlines or manufacturing issues , so it was a great help to have Hirayama-san help with production. I think working with partner companies allows us to bring out the best in each other. Hirayama-san says, "Leave the sales to Nakayoshi Library and the manufacturing to us!" By taking the best parts of each, we are exploring ways to make our customers happy in the end.
By the way, starting this year, we will work hard to get involved in the design stage of these nurseries . We would like to gradually enter the field of custom furniture , which we have not been able to do until now. That is what I really want to do. (*Custom furniture is furniture that is fixed to the wall during construction, or furniture that is made together with plumbing, electricity, and other water-related facilities, such as kitchens and washbasins.)
Up until now, I thought that doing everything in-house was good for stable quality. However, even if our company is doing well, if other companies are not doing well, the industry will decline. So I feel that cooperation with other companies is very important.
Also, when we meet with other companies, we often look closely at their products and think, "Wow, that's the finishing touch!" or "They've introduced machines and systems that I want to emulate," so it's a lot to learn. By looking at other companies, we can see the current level of our product quality and feel more positive, thinking, "We can still improve." There are many things to review within the factory, the manufacturing process, and cooperation with other companies. There is a long way to go.
Kubo-san, who has been with the company for 8 years and is in charge of contacting nurseries and corporations, is also full of enthusiasm. She is particular about the poses she takes in photos. So, today we talked about the cooperating companies that support Nakayoshi Library. Next week we will also introduce the toys and Kobe store ♪
Dear shareholders, have a great weekend. See you soon!