Shinwa Kinzoku, Co., Ltd.Hiroshima for Global Peace

Shinwa Kinzoku, Co., Ltd.

“From FACTORY to WACTORY”
Cherishing harmony, removing boundaries, and creating an exciting society

Targets

8.6　By 2020, substantially reduce the proportion of youth not in employment, education or training

10.2　By 2030, empower and promote the social, economic and political inclusion of all, irrespective of age, sex, disability, race, ethnicity, origin, religion or economic or other status

11.7　By 2030, provide universal access to safe, inclusive and accessible, green and public spaces, in particular for women and children, older persons and persons with disabilities

Initiative details

We are a SME in Hiroshima with about 90 staff members, celebrating 62 years in business this year. Our main business is the plating of automobile-related parts and similar products. In 2017, we established a three-year plan, and on the occasion of our 60th anniversary in 2019, we set the slogan “From FACTORY to WACTORY,” under which we have been reforming the company.
The WA in WACTORY stands for three Japanese words starting with WA.
(1) WA for “Harmony,” representing our founder’s wish for staff to get along with each other
(2) WA for “Removing Boundaries”
The president’s own values, which were also important to the founder’s wife, were to treat people the same way regardless of their gender, age, disability, etc. and to take advantage of their strengths without looking at their weaknesses.
(3) WA for “Excitement,” which is necessary to change the perception in the industry that work is not fun
First, we redesigned our uniforms to remove boundaries and create a sense of excitement. We also undertook a series of renovations, including painting the exterior of our head office building in our corporate colors and turning the interior into a WACTORY community space and lab space.
The personnel evaluation system has also undergone a major overhaul to evaluate the ability to come up with and implement plans based on the WACTORY approach. For example, there have been various projects such as growing vegetables and rice on vacant company land and abandoned farmland, making soap using waste oil from the cafeteria, and participating in community cleanup activities with the Community Assistance Team. In addition, more and more people with disabilities or special needs are being hired, and members of the community are referring people to us.
Despite the fact that the COVID-19 pandemic has prevented us from conducting the activities we hoped to, we are using the WACTORY community space as a place for housemakers and retired engineers in Fuchu with various skills, such as tidying experts and calligraphy instructors, to work together, as a place for socially withdrawn youth to get out and as a place to exchange opinions on what kind of place we want the WACTORY space to be for the next generation.

Exchanging views with local housemakers with skills

Going forward, we plan to use our community space and lab space to create new value regarding social issues and to help people who share the WACTORY way of thinking, including our staff, reach their goals by matching individuals and corporations facing problems with individuals and corporations who have the ability to resolve them.

Key Points

To build a framework and collaborate with stakeholders, we have established an internal branding committee that meets once a week. We collaborate with the Fuchu-cho Social Welfare Conference, the Fuchu International Relations Association, employment support offices, correspondence high schools, individual business owners, etc. and use Facebook and Instagram to share information once a week, both as a company and as individuals.
The president himself takes the initiative to engage with all kinds of people without prejudice and increase the number of exciting initiatives. He is also promoting SDGs initiatives by meeting with all employees once every three months to provide feedback on the personnel evaluation system and by having an external coordinator visit the company twice a week to provide support, especially for executives, including evaluation interviews and consultation on their concerns.
In addition to tours of the plant, there are also discussions with people with disabilities (such as what difficulties they face when working) and group work on topics such as the importance of focusing on strengths.