Mechanical Engineering students from the National Institute of Technology (KOSEN), NAGANO College

On November 10, 2021, twenty-two 4th-year students of the Department of Mechanical Engineering, KOSEN NAGANO College, visited NiKKi Fron’s Nagano facilities.

KOSEN NAGANO College’s campus is located near our company, and our President Kasuga serves as a director of KOSEN’s Technology Promotion Association.

Every year, we accept many internships and factory tours from KOSEN Nagano college, and some NiKKi Fron employees are KOSEN graduates.

For this tour, some of our younger employees who graduated from KOSEN guided the students around our factories.

In our presentation, we introduced our business, products, and equipment, as well as our community contributions and SDG initiatives.

 

After the tour, we received comments from the students such as "I was surprised by how clean the factory was," and the environmentally conscious question, "How is the cut fluororesin dust disposed of?"

In the coming era, businesses will need to develop based on SDGs, not just improve efficiency. We hope that young people will join us in working toward the future.

Our exhibit in the “Industrial Fair in Shinshu 2021”

We participated in the “Industrial Fair in Shinshu 2021” held at Big Hat in Nagano City from October 22nd to 23rd, 2021.

Two years ago, we declined to participate in this fair due to the typhoon disaster, and last year the event was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, so we exhibited for the first time in three years.

The number of visitors this time was about 60% of the average year due to the influence of the prolonged pandemic.

 

This year's theme was “-From Heisei to Reiwa, to the future- It's amazing! Development of familiar technologies.”

To match this theme, we exhibited mainly our projects to implement robots and automatic devices, automation using IoT, and our efforts to “DX”―to innovate from the existing manufacturing process that relies on craftsmanship and transition to automation.

Many students came to our booth and were interested in our miniature models that demonstrated the concept of automating the manufacturing process.

We received a variety of feedback from those who came to our booth, and we would like to make use of that to enhance future projects.

Working to innovate existing manufacturing processes towards automation and robotization are themes that we will continue to actively promote in the future. For those who are interested in these fields and students who want to work in them, we hold company tours and seminars anytime, so please feel free to contact us.

Recruit

NiKKi Fron was introduced on the NHK morning news program “Ohayo NIPPON”

On October 18, 2021, during the NHK morning news program “Ohayo NIPPON”, NiKKi Fron Group’s initiatives were introduced by the “OHA Biz corner” as part of a special feature titled “Human Rights Risks Approaching Small and Medium-sized Enterprises”.

With the popularization of SDGs, the introduction of laws and regulations to deal with business and human rights issues is progressing, especially overseas, and large companies are quickly beginning to reform.

It will soon be necessary for SMEs, who often deal with large corporations as their business partners, to take action as well.

NiKKi Fron Group is actively participating in government-sponsored seminars and the like in order to acquire risk information and response know-how for various countries. Sooner rather than later, we will take measures against "human rights risks" with specific action guidelines.　

The NHK segment is also published on the official website, so please have a look.

 

中小企業にも迫る“人権リスク”｜おはBiz キーワード解説｜NHK NEWS WEB

企業にとって強制労働など人権問題への対応を誤ると不買運動にもつながりかねない“人権リスク”… 今や大企業、そして中小企業も対応を迫られていま...

NHK NEWS WEB

 

 

Workplace vaccination against COVID-19

In September and October 2021, we carried out a workplace vaccination program for COVID-19 in collaboration with the National Institute of Technology (KOSEN), NAGANO College. The first session was held for 3 days (September 8th, 9th, and 11th), as was the second session (October 6th, 7th, and 9th), at the facilities of KOSEN NAGANO College. About 1800 people from a total of about 80 companies, schools (students, teachers, and clerical staff), and other groups received shots of the COVID-19 vaccine.

KOSEN NAGANO College oversaw implementation and school management. As one of the central companies in Northern Industrial Park and among related businesses, NiKKi Fron assisted with advance preparations and event operation.

We were able to secure medical personnel thanks to the cooperation of the Nagano City Medical Association, the Nagano City Dental Society, the Sarashina Medical Association, the Sarashina City Dental Society, and the Nagano City Pharmacy Association.

NPFSBA, the Nagano Prefectural Federation of Small Business Associations, coordinated the applicant companies and performed event management. Thanks to this extensive cooperation from our partners, we were able to successfully carry out workplace vaccination.

 

Vaccination in Japan is progressing steadily. However, some people run into difficulty finding and scheduling individual vaccine reservations, and face uncertainty about when they will receive vaccination. Some such people who were otherwise unable to make private reservations came to our workplace vaccination, and we received comments that this program was very helpful to them.

 

In the context of our BCP (Business Continuity Plan), NiKKi Fron regards the COVID-19 pandemic as a natural environmental risk under the category of "infectious disease," and we have a policy to proactively take measures against risk. In addition, we believe that workplace vaccinations contribute to advancing SDGs such as the dissemination of health and welfare and contribution to the community.

As a company affected by the typhoon in 2019, we would like to focus on building a strong BCP and actively promote SDGs in order to contribute widely to the region.

An interview with our Executive President, Takayuki Kasuga, in the US magazine “Newsweek”

An interview with our Executive President, Takayuki Kasuga, was featured in the US magazine “Newsweek”

 

As part of NEWSWEEK INTERNATIONAL’s August 21^st, 2021 Japanese manufacturing special feature (“The hidden yet indispensable value of monozukuri”), the United States-based news and business magazine with about 25 million readers worldwide printed an interview with our company president, Takayuki Kasuga.

 

In this article, titled “NiKKi Fron updates Japan monozukuri with process innovation”, Mr. Kasuga offers insight regarding the potential for manufacturing in Japan, its role in the growing markets of semiconductor manufacturing and medical/pharmaceutical fields, and our efforts toward the coming carbon-neutral era.

 

* The full interview is posted on the website of The Worldfolio, a British news agency.

http://www.theworldfolio.com/interviews/nikki-fron-updates-japan-monozukuri-with-process-innovation/4922/