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Supplier Interview
This overseas supplier is responsible for the manufacture of many ofNITORI’s products, especially “N Polda”, NITORI’s suspension wallstorage, and has been a supplier to us for more than 10 years. Thecompany is highly conscious of quality and has been participating inNITORI Group’s NWC activities since 2015, with “zero defect rate” as its
ultimate target. They are a company that is always actively improving andevolving in quality control and environmental considerations.

Please tell us how your company has grown through the relationship with NITORI Group.
NITORI has high awareness of quality and a strong desire for development, and through our partnership, we have also been able tofurther enhance our awareness and level of quality control and improve our production technology. In particular, our main product,
NITORI’s “N Polda” series, has given us opportunities to propose peripheral products, improve quality, research and upgrade
manufacturing facilities and improve production efficiency, which led to enhanced competitiveness by embodying our management
philosophy of “Quality + Delivery Date = Trust, Trust + Innovation = Development” which led to improvement of our competitiveness.
What do you emphasize in manufacturing?
In product development, we strive to address environmental and social issues as well as safety. In our efforts to reduce
environmental impact, we strive to reduce waste in the manufacturing process, convert to natural gas which leads to CO2 reduction,and utilize recycled raw materials. In addition, to ensure that our employees can work with peace of mind, we pay attention to thestability of their lives and strive to create a safe work environment. As a result, our retention rate has improved, with more than 80% of
our employees having been with us for more than 10 years, and 30% of them for more than 20 years. We believe that it is an
important social responsibility to maintain a high level of engagement and cohesion, and to be a company where the company and its
employees can mutually strive and grow.
What prompted you to participate in NWC?
We have been in business for more than 30 years, and we joined NWC in 2015 because we thought we should always be exposed
to new ideas and example cases for further growth in the future. I learned the importance of continuing these steps.
Please tell us about the changes you have made through your participation in NWC.
The first is a change in employee awareness. Management has taken the initiative in visiting manufacturing sites to discuss andverify improvement measures with on-site employees, thereby raising each employee’s awareness and sense of responsibility forquality. Second, analytical skills were improved. By conducting daily analysis, summarizing it weekly, checking it monthly andconstantly repeating the PDCA cycle, on-site employees improved their accuracy in identifying issues and considering solutions in themanufacturing process. As a result, both production efficiency and sales improved significantly, and the company won the Gold Awardat the NWC in 2022. Employees are now more confident in their quality improvement activities, leading to a revitalization of theworksite. Currently, we are taking on the challenge of further improvement of quality control by spreading the learning from the NWC
to all of our suppliers.

Nitori World Circle (NWC) activities
NITORI Group members of both Japan and overseas, form groups of like-minded
individuals to identify problems in day-to-day operations and promote improvements andreforms which can be directly delivered to the management. In fiscal year 2022, a total of 371
teams participated, 33 of which were from overseas suppliers and many cases of supplierled improvement and reform activities were presented.

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