Etsuyo Hatanaka
Manufacturing department

-What is your role here at Kawai Corporation
I was promoted six months ago to this department so I have a lot to learn. All my work relates to manufacturing. I have 4 main roles. First part is quality control: inspection. I check the products for any problems and then pack the product for shipping. Lastly, I create the shipping bill for the product. I am also create process charts which shows how each product is created and assembled.

-What is your attitude towards challenges? What are some challenges you face?
I want to improve my skills and grow as a person as well as team. By going through challenges we grow together and become more productive. People are most important so I want to improve the working environment. This means creating conversation with my coworkers in order to develop trust. Out of all the challenges, changing someone’s embedded actions is most important. I want to increase productivity by managing people. I was promoted to be a “Junshain (specialist)” from a part-timer. Challenges and things I want to accomplish come with this. I want to know more details about the heaters and study management.

-What is your favorite aspect of working at Kawai
I like how Kawai gives everyone a chance. In many companies, part-timers do not get a chance to advance in the workplace. Another aspect I love are the people. I work with people from all departments and like working with hard workers who are kind to others. They all make a good atmosphere in this company. Every heater is handmade and we cannot make great work by ourselves so teamwork is very important. Such heaters take a long time to make and takes serious commitment to make them every day. Everyone is committed to quality and wants to make better heaters. I feel like every heater that we make together is one of a kind because of the collective work everyone contributes. Sometimes I don’t want to let the heater go after making because I worked so hard to make it.