Photo: TPM Awards 2014 Ceremony in Kyoto

Information mail vol.1 (Apr. 2015)

■JIPM-Subscribers service has commenced.

JIPM began a new service called “JIPM-Subscribers” in April, 2015 with the

aim of transmitting accurate information about Monodzukuri including TPM and we have started recruiting

members. Subscribers will receive the latest information from JIPM, interviews and serializations by TPM

Awards Assessors and showcase examples of companies every other month by e-mail.

By not only providing information from JIPM but also receiving information from subscribers, we believe

that we will be able to further enhance this service provided overseas.

■The TPM Awards 2014 ceremony was held.

The TPM Awards 2014 ceremony was held on 18th March, 2015 at Kyoto International Conference Hall. A

total of 460 people including TPM Awards Assessors attended as well as 88 companies who received

awards.

After the conferment of commemorative shields by Assessors at

the ceremony, there was a keynote speech from ARÇELİK

A.Ş.ELECTRICAL MOTOR PLANT (received Advanced Special

Award), Tetra Pak (Kunshan) Co., Ltd (received Advanced Special

Award) and Grupa Żywiec S.A. Browar Żywiec (received Special

Award) who talked about company activities up to the receipt of

this award.

Images of the awards ceremony can be viewed

on YouTube.

(https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJ3cXvF

G4K1KfpKrSVprVQA) In addition, the day after

the ceremony, TPM Seminar was held as titled

“Next Step for Advanced/World Class”. There

was a lecture from Mr Sakaguchi, one of the

TPM Award assessor, and a speech from

Takaoka Chemical Co., Ltd and 44 people including 2014 award-winning companies attended.

■We started the Monodzukuri Test in Thailand. JIPM established the Monodzukuri Test in 2014, a test that recognizes qualifications targeted at overseas

employees. We consider that the spread of knowledge and concepts of Monodzukuri

Photo: Certificate Ceremony in Bangkok

Photo: Mr.Seiichi Nakajima

(manufacturing/craftsmanship) links to support for resolving issues at production sites and we are

developing this test not simply as a means to evaluate knowledge levels through the acquisition of

qualifications but also to create educational materials and build systems in order to achieve this. The 1st test

was held in Thailand in November, 2014 and 397 people from 31 companies took part.

This is JIPM’s first attempt of this kind and it

is being deployed in Thailand first of all but

once the basics are in order, the objective is

to expand to other regions.

For more details see the information on the

JIPM website (mostly in Japanese or Thai).

Monodzukuri Test Website URL >

http://www.jipm.or.jp/business/training/

monodzukuri.html

■We will hold the Karakuri KAIZEN®®®® Exhibition 2015.

We will hold the Karakuri KAIZEN Exhibition 2015 in Nagoya from 1st to 2nd October, 2015. There will be

exhibits of ‘fun work improvements which are superior in creativity without high cost or energy’ at the

production sites of each company and this year will be the 20th anniversary of this exhibition.

Karakuri Kaizen is a technology that supports Monodzukuri and with the recent gathering of focus as an

effective trump card on the path to Low Cost Automation, there is an increase in the number of exhibits and

participants from overseas.

Articles that are references for TPM activities will be serialized. The first series

(6 lectures) will be written by Mr. Seiichi Nakajima, the founder of TPM.

‘TOTAL PRODUCTIVE MAINTENANCE & MANAGEMENT’ –vol.1

Improve results rapidly with self-actualizing/participative management, written by Seiichi Nakajima

Drucker states the following about the roles of management.

All kinds of organizations including companies are institutions in society. The reason why organizations exist

is to fulfil social goals. There are 3 roles that organizations themselves play in contributing to society: 1)

companies achieve economic performance, 2) achieving performance engenders self-actualizing and 3)

processing of the impact on society and social contribution.

(Management – Tasks, Responsibilities, Practices Vol. 1 Pages 44 – 47)

If I was to express these 3 roles in one phrase it would be social contribution. I would like to propose that

giving precedence to a management revolution from traditional command-type autocratic management to

March 1918 � Establishment of Takaoka Electric Manufacturing Co., Ltd. as a company to manufacture transformers

September 1971� Delivery of solid-insulated small-scale opening/closing equipment mounted with a mold

transformer (30 kVA) made of epoxy resin to Tokyo Electric Power Company for the first time in Japan

September 1975 � Commencement of the production of 6 kV medium-sized mold transformers

April 1977 � Development of mold parts for SF6 gas-insulated opening/closing equipment

January 1982 � Establishment of Takaoka Chemical Co., Ltd. with the separation of the mold-related business segment from Takaoka Electric Manufacturing Co., Ltd.

November 1986 � Construction of the second assembly factory followed by a TGM factory and a gas factory, etc.

December 1994 � Acquisition of ISO9001 certification

April 1996 � Acquisition of ISO14001 certification

August 1997 � Commencement of the production of ceramic capacitors

April 2001 � Commencement of the production of arrestors

September 2001 � Commercialization of mold product for extra-high voltage cable connection

April 2002 � Development of insulation parts for the world’s highest system voltage (800 kV) and commencement of production

September 2003 � Development of FRP product for GIS and the commencement of production

November 2004 � Commencement of the production and sales of water filters (hydrogen generation equipment) for home use

October 2009 � Commencement of the production and sales of mold transformers for PDU boards

September 2010 � Technical cooperation for mold transformers with Nan Ya Plastic Corporation and Nan Ya Electric Corporation

May 2012 � Commencement of sales of boron measuring equipment (for water quality measurement)

April 2014 � Merger of Takaoka Electric Manufacturing Co., Ltd. and Toko Electric Construction Co., Ltd. to form Takaoka Toko Co., Ltd. and its incorporation into Takaoka Toko Group

May 2014 � Construction of a new factory and consolidation of four operation sections, including the mold transformer sectionFigure 1 History of Takaoka

Figure 2 Leading Products of Takaoka Chemical Co., Ltd.

Activity case studies will be presented from various angles not

limited to TPM but also including Kaizen (Improvement), Hozen

(Maintenance) and Training & Education. The first of these is an activity case study on Takaoka Chemical Co., Ltd.

which won the 2014 Domestic TPM Merit Award Category A and gave a lecture at the TPM Seminar of 19th

March. We deliver their article in 3 separate times.

[Title] Transformation into a Profit-Creation-Oriented Company through the Introduction of TPM

written by Takashi Higashihara / President and Representative Director Takaoka Chemical Co., Ltd.

1. Introduction

Takaoka Chemical Co., Ltd. was established in 1918 as a business segment in charge of manufacturing

transformers within the former Takaoka Electric Manufacturing Co., Ltd. and demerged from it in 1982 to

focus thoroughly on epoxy molded products. Our work has included research, development, product design,

manufacturing and quality assurance. Presently, we are focusing on expansion through the promotion of

original operating activities.

The progress of our company and the characteristic products that we have produced are shown in Figure 1.

We developed and delivered the nation’s first flame-resistant oil less mold transformer 43 years ago, in

1971. In 1997, we expanded into the ceramic product field, with offerings such as ceramic condensers and

zinc oxide element arrestors. In

2002, we commercialized insulating

parts applicable to 800 kV, the

world highest system voltage at the

time. Currently we are the only

manufacturer in Japan able to

produce extra-high voltage FRP

insulating rods applicable to 1,100

kV. Also, in 2004, we started the

production of hydrogen generators,

which are environment-related

products targeting general

customers.

Our main products are largely classified into transformers, insulating parts and environment-related

products, as shown in Figure 2. Among them, our mold transformers (MTRs) are the products upon which

we have focused the most. Our MTRs are flame-resistant and can withstand fire because they do not use

electrical insulation oil. They also have the merit of being maintenance-free. Owing to these characteristics,

the use of our MTRs has expanded to high rise buildings, hospitals, subways, data centers and

semiconductor factories. We have increased our share in the MTR market over the years by developing

products with new specifications catering to our customers’ needs. Thus, our MTRs are the products that

Photo: “White efu” and “Red efu”

Attaching / Detaching tags on non-conformities

(in Japanese エフづけエフづけエフづけエフづけ”Efu-dzuke”・エフどり・エフどり・エフどり・エフどり”Efu-dori”)

Tags are attached, to the points of nonconformity found during cleaning or inspection, “efu” (tag) indicating

the content of conformity. The tags attached are removed only after improvement steps are completed.

Applying tags, designed to mark the points of nonconformity detected, also helps remind people of making

improvement and prevent it from going unattended for a long time.

There are two kinds of “efu”: white and red. White efu is used as the mark calling for rectification by

operators by themselves in “Jishu-Hozen”, while red

efu is an indication of the need to call on specialists,

such as maintenance men for correction.

Removed efu should be retained and sorted out. It is

suggested that a record should be kept of the

number of nonconformities and improvement cases,

and what kind of nonconformities were corrected by

how much and of how many failures and defects

could be prevented in advance.

*Reference Information

JIPM sells Efu / Tag in English, Spanish and Portuguese and Thai. If you are interested, please contact the

secretariat.

©2014 Japan Institute of Plant Maintenance ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

No part of this handout may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical,

including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrievals system, without written permission by

JIPM, except where permitted by law.

TPM and the TPM logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Japan Institute of Plant Maintenance in

Japan and other countries.

Contact

Secretariat of JIPM-Subscribers

Japan Institute of Plant Maintenance

E-mail: GLOBAL@jipm.or.jp