The international expansion of Kato Spring that began in 1971 could be compared to the well-known phrase, "I climb mountains because they are there." We did not start overseas operations because the appreciation of the yen made it difficult to export or because other major manufacturers established overseas operations. We started overseas operations because demand was there and we wanted to provide our customers with the best possible services.
  Utilizing our present product lineup, I would like to set up five production bases in America, and open plants in Germany, France, Italy and Spain with operations centering on Kato Precision UK, which currently exists. In Asia, I would like to add to our three production centers of Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand by adding factories in China, Indonesia, the Philippines and Taiwan, and their surrounding areas. My overall vision is that these advancements will cooperate together and heighten our synergy as a team. I am beginning to feel stronger and stronger that the day will soon come when I can realize "made in network." Yet it is amazing to think that only 53 years have passed since my father set out walking through the ruins of Tokyo selling springs from his backpack. I am sometimes overwhelmed by the extent to which we have changed. Kato Spring is just a single company, but its corporate transformation is a true epitome of the changes experienced by Japanese industry and the Japanese economy. It was an era of a growing economy in which the pie itself swelled, an era when both mass production and mass sales became enormous gears and rotated with great momentum, and an era where both production and manufacturing technologies endlessly renewed themselves.
  Today, we find ourselves in the midst of an information society. Therefore, we have entered an era in which it is possible to build an advanced yet simple administrative system that effectively applies information technology; for example, computerized order placement and receiving systems between customers and the company that utilize computers. Is it not possible to bring this electronic data interchange (EDI) into the production site in the form of a POS or such?
  Machines make one product at a time in line with orders. Those are then automatically inputted and the conveyer started while controlling product types and quantities. A system that promptly conveys the orders of clients to the line, whether it be regarding the introduction of materials or shipping products, I believe is now possible.

  An example as small as this reveals to us that we are at the forefront of a period of amazing change. From smokestack industries to electronic industries, it is clear that eventually the swelling of the pie decelerated and that the Japanese economy has entered a period of major faults that will last ten or maybe even 15 years. However, the question then becomes how many companies are there that can handle these big changes? In the beginning of this chapter, I wrote that business scenario and operations scenario are two sides of the same coin. The concepts of diversification and small quantities of several types of products basically do not change regardless of the industrial or service sector. The captain is earnestly trying to right the ship. However, no matter how hard he tries to control the helm, the direction of the vessel won't change if the crew obeys only its former orders.
  If the KFS of an era is the building of many products that are high in quality, the abilities sought of company members will correlate to experience. The KFS for process innovation was a system that concentrated and applied the accumulated information and knowledge gained in the same workplace and through the same tasks. However, as I have repeatedly stated, this has greatly diverted from the demands of the era. Consequently, the requirements for success up until this point in time have now become the cause of stagnation and failure. It is my own theory that "a culture that formed before we knew it has many weak points, whether it be the case of a single corporation or the case of a single society."
  The Kato Spring culture, as a reflection of Japan's industrial society culture, also has many weak points. Option management is a method that attempts to dramatically reform these. Although I will describe this in more detail later, the overall picture is still unclear. This is because each Katoite and each team, organization and company are breathing, changing.

  Some time ago I was talking with one of our executives and he asked, "What shape will the organization take when adopting option management?" and I jokingly responded, "Probably an organization that undergoes metamorphosis freely." However, I would like this to be taken as a "non-serious" concept. This is because my concept is not a "serious" one weighted down by accepted practices, nor a "lazy" one that rebels against accepted practices. This is instead a "non-serious" one that is free from the definitions and restraints of both. It is a term that holds a sense of balance as important.
  I picture a certain image concerning this. The image is drawn from a section in "Lifetide," written by Lyall Watson, who gives us a fresh understanding from the perspectives of amazing fields such as anthropology, trend-based behavioral science, medicine and psychology. In his book, he is trying to establish a completely new concept called a "contingency system." He places this contingent at the core of a magnificent hypothesis: "Our lives must be supported by another system in addition to the genetic information in our DNA."

He also states, "For convenience sake, let us try to give this a name. It is something peripheral in essence, but also something that we cannot do without. While being independent, it is also dependent. While being a part that constructs a larger structure, it also forms its own exclusive area. Although it appears to be there, its presence lacks definition."
  There is only one word in the English language that can express all of this, "contingent." Let us call this alternative that isn't a nucleus and isn't a gene, but is a set of several influences a "contingency system," and if this has a functional area, let us call it a "contingent." The root word in Latin is "contingere," which means "to touch all aspects."

  This word always conveys a sense of freshness to me.