Kaizen and work analysis helps productivity and engagement of Japanese workers with disabilities

Sunaqua TOTO in Fukuoka Prefecture, Kitakyushu City, Japan employs over 100 disabled or severly disabled workers that manufacture products such as faucets and plumbing parts.

They have been using kaizen to make their work easier and safer. Trash bins were modified to be lower and they added wheels to make them easier to move around with a wheelchair and put back in the right location. Assistive devices and braille were implemented on signs for those with sight impairment to make it easier to reorder supplies and use the copier/printer.

They were also able to implement the use of car jacks to raise and lower the height of their workstations to adjust for different sized wheelchairs.

You can also read a case study about how they utilized a work analysis software to continue their improvements, leading to cost reductions of 70,000 yen/month through the establishment of standard work: https://shinkamanagement.com/otrs-work-analysis-software-toto/

Below is a video showing the improvements mentioned above. You can watch the video below, or go to https://youtu.be/fcBXtwGexNc?si=5rTkbvTgxUnc5UeB&t=139

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