One hot summer day, a customer came all the way to our Tokyo head office (near Tabata Station on the Yamanote Train Line) to visit me. I took him to our reception room. From this point, the common scenario would be that a company member soon brings the customer a beverage. On a summer day, this would likely be cold barley tea, ice tea or...? However, this is not the scenario at Kato Spring. Katoites first give customers a menu. The selection includes green tea, oolong tea, barley tea, coffee, black tea, orange juice, coke and so on. The customer can also choose between hot and cold beverages. After a choice is made, the beverage is provided. This is one aspect of the Kato Way.
  If one is to provide satisfactory service, green tea is probably sufficient. The customer won't complain either, but total satisfaction has not been obtained. The question then becomes, "What is this service for?"
  What does the seated customer like? The customer may want a cup of hot tea even if it is a hot day. The customer may not like hot coffee. If that is the case, one should let customers choose their own beverages from a menu. We want the customer to experience even the slightest of comfort or joy providing something they truly want. Although this takes a little effort, the amount is minuscule. Cost verses effect? Such a figure is also nonsense. Although this may be only a small service, you can see a glimpse of our concept of option management in this type of situation, too.

  Earlier I queried how many companies who are talking about the diversification of market needs are actually changing their corporate actions to adapt. If the mind frame is that green tea is sufficient for the customer, then fine-tuned service is impossible. I have the opportunity to travel to Britain several times a year, and when I travel, I go out of my way to use Virgin Atlantic Airways. The service system is unique and this enables me to enjoy the lengthy flight.
  On most airlines, the meal is first provided and then a movie is broadcast on a screen on the bulkhead in front of you or in the back of each seat right when passengers get sleepy. This is okay if it is a movie you are interested in, but occasionally it is something you aren't interested in or have already seen. Even if you are interested in the movie, you may fall asleep before it is shown and wake up to find that it is already over. Things tend to not go the way you would like them to. Although the airline probably feels it is providing a service, the passenger is often unable to enjoy it.
  However, from its inception, Virgin Atlantic Airways has provided a unique service. A common image is shown on the screens or monitors to all the passengers. However, in addition to this, each passenger can borrow a video Walkman and select a video they want to see from a stock of over 100 titles. Passengers can select as many videos as they want, watch them when they want to and sleep when they are sleepy. If they want to go to the bathroom, they can stop the video and then continue watching it when they return. They can decide what they want to see and when they want to see it, all at their own discretion. Being provided a selection means that people can choose something that matches their needs.
  Virgin Atlantic also provides six menus to choose from and a selection of four commemorative boarding gifts. Once you have experienced this service, it is hard to forget the wonderful feel of personal care. But there are now more and more airlines copying this type of service.

  The office of Kato Spring has an atmosphere that is quite different from other companies. Although the design of the uniforms for female Katoites working in the clerical section is the same, it is available in four colors, pink, yellow, green and blue. Each female Katoite selects two colors they like and that they feel looks good on them, and decides which uniform they will wear depending on their mood of that day. The contrast among the colors and the harmony created as a whole among the Katoites is not only beautiful but also enjoyable. Another option that was given is that the female Katoites don't have to wear a uniform. Each woman has a different personality, and I have come to realize that the beauty of their personalities is shown through their distinct differences and their energetic work.
  Although Japanese management appears to be less strict today, it basically still has the tendency of trying to organize everything, not only uniforms, into a single pattern. Work starts at 9:00a.m. Summer vacation, including the Obon period (early August) is so many days and so on. The examples are endless. There are rules that have been established and unwritten customs, and company members must follow these.
  The fact is company members are not given the opportunity to make choices nor provided with a work environment that creates fun. Although I repeat myself, I am amazed by this feudalistic system.

  The factory flex-time and flexible holiday systems introduced by Kato Spring early on are a single means for helping to realize option management and are not unrelated measures. Above all, our concept dramatically differs from the concept of doing something because others are doing it. There is definitely no risk if there are other examples; it is considered a trend of society or something of the sort. However, the individuality of Kato Spring will not be born if all we do is continue copying the measures of others even though each has a different nature.
  We are also in the process of introducing color into our factory uniforms. It is fun to express each factory in different tones.
  The only slogan that can be used with factories that are made of gray buildings, where workers work in gray uniforms and where slogans are painted across gray walls is "ganbaro" (Let's do our best). In such a factory, everybody loses their vigor. Until now, cost reduction measures were generated by wringing and wringing, and then wringing an already dry cloth. This is the opposite side of the same coin as the spirit of ganbaro, and has been interpreted as a specialty of Japan for a long time.
  The reduction of business expenses is important no matter the era. In particular, management absolutely cannot waste anything in an era where one must respect the environment. However, no prospects will be generated within a management that recklessly wrings a dry rag.
  What kind of workplace environment needs to be formed to generate optimal performance in a situation where work is very fun for the workers? There is a need for a revolution in management that moves in the direction of answering this question.