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  Kousei Imamura

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^*"Kaizen" is the word for the Japanese production concept centered on continuous improvement.

KAIZEN in communication has influence on resolving labor shortages.

Imamura Fureai Farm was established in 1960 in Kurume City, Fukuoka Prefecture. Currently, the farm is run by a total of 11 staff, including five Japanese staff, four Indonesian technical intern trainees, and two Cambodian staff with specified skills. The farm has approximately 350 dairy cows, including 220 milking cows. Generally, cows are milked twice a day. However, the farm increased milking frequency to three times a day and milk production to 45kg per cow, 10 tons entire farm per a day.

Currently, half of the staff are foreign nationals, and the staffing structure is capable of milking three times a day. However, a major challenge was the lack of manpower until this structure was put in place. Dairy farms across the country have problem of difficulty in recruiting and high turnover rate. Imamura Fureai Farm began hiring foreign staff 20 years ago. "A few years ago, we had three or four foreign staff working here, but now we have six. When we were struggling with how to communicate with our Japanese staff and others, we heard about MDA. This is how we got all started," says President Imamura.

The inclusion of the MDA as a third party led to the entire staff sharing time to get together inevitably. We are also using translation software to create PowerPoint presentations in Indonesian and Khmer for foreign staff who do not understand Japanese. Foreign staff smile when they see the scrips in their mother languages. Also, we can see their willingness to communicate with us, even though could not understand Japanese language," says the MDA team.

Until now, there have been few opportunities to speak directly with foreign staff and President Imamura himself, and it has been difficult to find opportunities for communication. After six months since participating in MDA, KAIZEN has progressed to the point where foreign staff members can report back to us about detailed changes on the farm and how the caws are doing. Staff who used to focus only on their own tasks have become more interested in the tasks of other staff members, and they are now sharing even small insights.

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  Material that includes the native language of each international staff member

"BE HAPPY", a corporate philosophy that incorporates various thoughts.

When renewing the farm's website in 2017, President Imamura decided that the corporate philosophy should be "BE HAPPY".
President Imamura explains, "In order to maintain a high-performing farm, the cows have to work hard. And I would like the staff working here and their families to be happy."
This time, "BE HAPPY" was very helpful in creating opportunities for communication at MDA.

I had seen "BE HAPPY" on T-shirts at the farm, on the website, and in many other places, and I asked the farm staff, "Do you know about it?" This was the beginning of our interaction with the MDA team.
"In accordance with the times, form of dairy farming is shifting family form to corporate form. The number of farmers who have established the philosophy and vision is increasing, but many do not seem to realize the importance of disseminating them to their staff. The MDA team is playing a role in helping farmers to share their ideas and awareness of the transition from family farming to corporate farming," says MDA team.
Think about one question with everyone - -.
As a result, they have been able to time for meetings where everyone can get together, and they have been able to catch glimpses of other side of the colleagues that they could not see only at work.

• "We have monthly MDA meeting. At the meeting, 'homework assignment' for the following meeting is given. Both foreign and Japanese staff come up with ideas and opinions. It is good to see that they are trying to communicate with each other," says President Imamura.
  Through our conversations, we are also getting a sense of the openness of the farm.

  Mr. Norikazu Akaike, who has worked at Imamura Fureai Farm for many years, says, "When we had MDA meeting, we heard that other farms have held morning and end-of-day meetings, so we started holding them the next day at Imamura Fureai Farm as well. Each staff member had their own perspective, came up with ideas for improvement, and realized many things."
  "Furthermore, expressing 'BE HAPPY' in own words made us possible to share common understanding what the farm is aiming for. 'BE HAPPY' has been really permeated both myself and the staff around me." says Akaike.
  "I am very HAPPY to be here. Everyone is so kind," says Chin, a foreign staff member.
  Even though we have different nationalities and language barriers, we are thinking about the future of the farm together.

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  MDA representative explains to foreign staff with multilingual material.

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  Staff present their own opinions.

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  "Every day is HAPPY," Chin says with a smile.

According to President Imamura, there was a high turnover rate, and one of the reasons for this was "lack of communication" in the past.
Nowadays, the staff of diverse nationalities at Imamura Fureai Farm recognize "BE HAPPY" as a common language of communication.
The environment where "BE HAPPY" can be discussed beyond the barriers between Japanese and foreigners should continue to stimulate communication at the farm.