―Which enterprises areas have you had the most success in, and what are common problems your clients face?

Our target clients are manufacturing industry companies looking to improve quality and productivity with annual sales of between 10 million and 100 million dollars and between 30 and 300 employees.Companies with at least 10 million dollars in sales can expect to adequately derive effects commensurate with costs.
For even larger scale companies, QMI focuses on improving quality and productivity for specific products or processes.In terms of which industries QMI caters to, the common theories (such as investigating the root cause of problems and eliminating waste) can be applied to improving quality and productivity in terms of manufacturing, so one could say that any industry is not out of the realm of possibilities.
Various companies throughout the world have adopted QMI’s services for improving quality and production, from food manufacturers in Cambodia and Mongolia to sugar factories, shoe factories, and garment factories in Ethiopia.For domestic companies, on the other hand, our services can help evaluate international suppliers and improve quality.For a majority of companies, the desire is to increase sales.To increase sales, companies provide not only functionality that meets the needs of clients but also quality products at an appropriate price.
At the same time, consideration must also be given for how to increase production capacity due to increased sales.In short, the services QMI provides are meant to produce appropriate profits at an appropriate price through measures that reduce wasteful costs and increase production capacity without the need to add facilitates or increase personnel.

―What points do you try to keep in mind when providing Kaizen services?

When thinking about problems with production equipment, for example, although the loss in manufacturing is clearly greater when considering implications down the road, more often than not manufacturing companies in developing countries fail to see the bigger picture and rely instead on short-term money (repair costs).When implementing Kaizen in such situations, QMI has to carefully explain the facts that increase profitability while using quantitative data to indicate losses.That is why accumulating data and being able to present it clearly is an important factor.
QMI also encounters many situations where on-site leaders do not fully understand the necessary standards and criteria of manufacturing, and the company instead operates on a simple "I’m the boss" mentality. As such, teaching operators about the standards and criteria they should be following, and helping them incorporate those points correctly in on-site operations is also important.

―What are some things you encourage in contact with clients?

It all begins first and foremost with listening properly to what the client is looking for. From there it is possible to determine whether the current corporate direction is appropriate for that desire. QMI emphasizes proposing and executing countermeasures that are truly effective instead of fixes that are only skin-deep.QMI also strives to work together with promotional officers within the company to try and show how the company can proceed with improvement even after our job is done, ensuring clients have the necessary tools to continue improving on their own. In an ideal situation, the goal is to help clients acquire the necessary know-how in a lasting manner, which they can then use to implement improvement activities as needed.