Initiatives

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01Initiatives for the Future
02Nomula Initiatives

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Initiatives

01Initiatives for the Future

Initiatives for the Future

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Looking Beyond 100 Years as a Company

Nomula, Inc. celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2020.
Over these 100 years, we have seen a dramatic change in the environment and society,
and the pace of that change continues to escalate annually.

To continue to innovate and grow with the times, we have been implementing various initiatives based on our corporate philosophy and management vision.

As we look to the next 100 years, we will continue our efforts toward further development and to contribute to our customers and society.

02Initiatives

Organization

0105

Reducing paperwork

We have been working to reduce the amount of paperwork at our three offices over the years to enable our staff to work more efficiently. Since its establishment in 2012, our Design Department has relied solely on computers and has built a system to enable all sales operations be handled using digital data, from customer ordering to delivery, without the use of books, forms, or other paper. We have achieved 100% digital operations, and we are working on the visualization of quality, cost, and delivery as well as lead time management.

New product development

While it is said that tools for marine electrical work are handmade on site, the potential need of craftsmen led Nomula to produce tools for binding electric wires to electric circuits, which is how the company began developing new products. We have been praised for developing products that are both lightweight and strong so work can be performed even in tight spaces, and recently, our customers have even asked how they can get their hands on our tools in the prototype stage. Please feel free to contact us about our tools for electrical work.

Smile

As the social environment rapidly becomes more sophisticated, the improvement activities of our company are indispensable. At Nomula, we implement business improvement meetings called “Smile” with the purpose of always keeping our employees smiling.
Each year, we divide the company into three or four teams, which meet regularly, submit monthly activity reports, and continually work to implement improvements. The teams are comprised of employees from different departments, who work together while freely and openly sharing their opinions.

Public relations

In 2020, Nomula, Inc. celebrated its 100th anniversary since the company was founded as Nomula Shoten.
To better publicize the company, we started a public relations team in 2018, and continue to introduce new products and develop marketing campaigns. We also started a Facebook page, where our mascot Hama-chan communicates the appeal of the company in a Nagasaki dialect and we post videos on how to use our products.

Business continuity plan (BCP)

After witnessing the devastation of the Great Tohoku Earthquake on March 11, 2011, we put into place a business continuity plan (BCP) in 2014. With the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, we took the opportunity to review our BCP provisions according to the current social environment, and we are working to update our plan to ensure that our business continues to keep with the times, such as by adding the Shonan Office.

Innovative creation

0106

Robotic process automation (RPA)

As our first step to advancing digital transformation in the company, we implemented robotic process automation (RPA) in 2018. We mainly use RPA for administrative work and input/output of production information, and it contributes to the 3S & 3M models (see below) by not only reducing administrative costs associated with simple daily work but also reducing operation errors. RPA programs are defined in-house, and we use RPA to flexibly improve our operations and change the way we work while reviewing the work process.

Enterprise resource planning (ERP)

Reducing manufacturing lead time is a constant challenge in the manufacturing industry. Our management bottleneck used to lie in trying to understand the status of the entire project across each department system. In 2020, we developed an in-house ERP system over four months and consolidated all project information onto one screen. Visualization of plans and results led to timely improvements and significant cost reductions.

ISO 9001:2008 certification

Based on the corporate philosophy of sharing information and technology with our customers, meeting customers' concerns with a spirit of humility, and maintaining a desire for self-improvement so that we may grow continually, we received ISO 9001:2008 certification in May 2012. Beginning in August 2020, we reviewed our operations together with ISO and aim to improve our quality management based on our motto of keeping things simple, creating patterned designs, and maintaining consistent quality to satisfy our customers.

Production Robots

As society continues to age, industrial robots are expected to play a more active role in the marine engineering industry. We first introduced production robot arms in 2018, and they continue to produce 180,000 band buckles each year. By having robots do simple tasks, systematic production is possible, thereby improving efficiency to meet customer expectations. Our band buckles manufactured by robots are given a special sticker.

Fabless Manufacturing

Our customers are located throughout Japan in the Kanto, Kansai, Shikoku, and Kyushu regions, and it is not easy to meet the short delivery times for processed products that can take four to six weeks to complete. To meet customer demand, instead of owning a plant for manufacturing made-to-order products, we can outsource manufacture to subcontractors in Osaka, Nagasaki, and the Kanto region, and control quality, cost, and delivery through our Production Control Department in a “fabless” management system.

3S & 3M Models

The 3S model of the manufacturing industry not only helps keep our company organized, tidy, and clean, but it also keeps our workers safe, secure, and comfortable. Likewise, the 3M model helps improve productivity by eliminating waste, fatigue, and inconsistency. We use a check sheet to regularly review the 3Ss to make sure nothing is out of place and the work place is productive, and we are reducing paperwork through the 3Ms to save time, minimize errors, and ensure transparency of operations.

Individuality

0104

Learning English

All Nomula employees began learning English with an eye toward international cooperation such as by volunteering at the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics. Our instructor is Peter from Australia. The casual classes filled with laughter allow students to gradually increase their vocabulary and grammar as we prepare for potential overseas expansion in the future.

3-minute Speeches

We offer all of our employees the opportunity to give a 3-minute speech once every two months. While it is difficult to organize what you want to say and clearly convey it in three minutes, it helps improve the abilities to think, communicate, and listen.
Topics cover a wide range of subjects, including items studied in e-learning, something that has happened recently, something you have noticed, or something that has moved you. The nervousness that existed before speaking is replaced with a sense of personal growth afterward, and it provides an opportunity for employees to communicate smoothly with each other.

Team Cleaning

Each workday starts with morning cleaning. All employees spend 10 minutes cleaning each morning, rotating on a weekly schedule that includes the entryway, work tables, and warehouse. Daily cleaning gives workers the opportunity to think about preparations for replenishing and replacing daily supplies and makes them attentive to helping out if another worker is absent. Because these tasks are something that anyone can complete, it is important to follow the rules, stay organized, and work efficiently. In addition, we do a deep cleaning three times a year including the end of the year. The accumulation of simple things can help us realize what is important.

e-learning

Growth is essential for any company, and employee training is the foundation of the company, so it goes without saying that it is a key issue for management. We use e-learning to solve issues with our business content and the varying individual levels and to balance time and cost. Especially in these days when face-to-face employee education is difficult due to the pandemic, e-learning is possible for adult education and computer learning, and this can help improve the human skills of our employees and ensure that all employees gain correct knowledge by learning the same content.

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