JITCO

Case 4: Training with an Eye on the Future (Yutaka Giken)

Yutaka Giken enthusiastically accepts trainees and technical interns from Thailand, which occupies only 2.4% of the total demographic of the program.


Yutaka Giken is an auto parts manufacturer that focuses on safety and comfort while pursuing the development of environmentally friendly products. The Hamamatsu-based company just celebrated its 20th Anniversary excelling globally in 9 different countries. The company began accepting Thai trainees from the primary accepting organization, the Association for International Manpower Development for Medium and Small Enterprises based in Japan. The trainees are men in their 20's and come from the area where the subsidiary is located. They have been selected through the strict selection process set up by the subsidiary. The company established the subsidiary in Thailand, and to attract more promising candidates to work there, it requested the primary organization to provide trainees. Currently, the second generation trainees are involved in on-the-job training in Japan acquiring new skills.

Mr. Suzuki who is in charge of the program, is popular among the technical interns as the "big brother in Japan". He says, "We joined the program as the secondary accepting organization because we hadn't gained enough understanding of the training system. We hope that the trainees return to Thailand to work for us in our subsidiary. Human resource development is an important element in the globalization in the field of manufacturing, just like in other industries. At the moment, the subsidiary is less than 4 years old, and barely keeping up with production goals. And there is no way of training people effectively there! In this early stage of our effort in the program, we still have issues concerning the employment of our trainees after training, but we are willing to engage ourselves in trial and error here so the trainees develop a deeper understanding of Japanese business and management."

[Mr. Suzuki Creating the "Guide to Living" for the Technical Interns]

[The "Guide to Living"]

The training venue is in Hamamatsu City, where the head office is located. In the facility, training for metal stamping and welding is provided. Most of the instructors have been overseas to train the people there, and are knowledgeable in cross-cultural instruction making it possible to set up long-term individual instruction on manual skills such as hand welding.

The technical interns are full of enthusiasm and are able to keep up with the advanced instruction. No one has failed the program so far. Thanks to the years of experience of the company's global strategy, employees at Yutaka Giken have not only shown an understanding of the trainees situation, but also the training system.

Although no issues have arisen with training and internship, living in Japan and the language barrier were challenging at first. Mr. Suzuki points out that the focus of the instruction on living in Japan are learning about the culture and customs, and the Japanese language.

In order to help assist the entry into a Japanese lifestyle, Mr. Suzuki has developed an original guidebook. "It was especially difficult to explain how to separate refuse. The Japanese way might not be relevant in Thailand, but I hope that the guidebook helps them understand the way Japanese organizations approach safety, production, and quality controls by learning about Japanese culture." The company provides Japanese lessons with a Japanese instructor hired by the company each Friday. The current interns, who have all passed Level 3 on the Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT), study hard to pass Level 2 this year. They actively assumed the role of guides when the officials from Thailand's subsidiary came to visit their factory. They were eager to show the officials how to do things the Japanese way.

[Trainees Learning from An Instructor]

The technical interns can feel the progress they are making through the enthusiastic instruction and organized living environment. The second year trainees said, "I had trouble understanding the basic rules, such as separating refuse when I first came here, but now I feel confident. There are some similarities in lifestyles between Japan and Thailand. I want to go back and pursue my career in sheet metal stamping, which I am currently training in. The training has gone so well!" Other technical interns have the goal of obtaining crane operator licenses once they go home. They are shy and do not initiate conversations, but their positive attitude clearly showed through their expressions. Concerning spare time, "We play soccer together on our days off. We sometimes play against other employees," said an intern. Their happiness expressed in their words proves how fulfilled their lives were, and how successful the training has been.


[Thai trainees]

Yutaka Giken's training for the program has only begun, but the company is already looking ahead to the promotion of human resources development and skills acquisition structured around the interns' post-training careers.