Kato Spring is pursuing the creation of a flat organization through the associates system. The same is true for the relationship between Kato Spring and its Japanese and overseas subsidiaries.
  I have perceived the head office to be a support center rather than a control center. How do I define support? Can we really gain the "first class" level for our group that we truly expect? In pursuing these themes, I began to notice that the pursuit of "synergistic effects" among all parties is important.
  Kato Spring places great importance on the concept of synergy. This is the creation of a system that doesn't equate to 1+1=2, but that generates a synergy that can make this equal 3 or 4. This is where the role of a head office lies in a global corporation.

  In fact, there were cases that occurred one after the other that specifically formulated this thought process. In this era of intense competition throughout the world, the international quality assurance standard ISO9002 is said to be a qualification required of manufacturers. In 1994, our Fukushima Factory obtained certification and the Kashiwazaki Factory obtained the same certification the following year. We were the first Japanese company in our industry to accomplish this feat. The first company in the Kato Group to obtain ISO9000 series certification was Kato Precision in England. Based on this know-how, Kato Spring Singapore and then Kato Spring of Georgia (USA) obtained certification. The chain effect from those achievements swept to Fukushima and Kashiwazaki. This is a series of events that truly shows the effects of synergy.
  At the start up of the Georgia Factory (USA) in 1982, our technicians that implemented the factory operations in Singapore in 1978 traveled to Georgia to provide instruction.
  As indicated earlier, our customers are spread over a variety of businesses. We handle over 10,000 parts. The question of how we will create a flexible production organization for these diverse products is a keen problem common to all of our group companies regardless of the country that has caused everybody headaches.
  The Georgia Factory took the lead in handling this organization. Under the leadership of the Georgia Factory, our California Factory introduced the system. They were followed by all of the group factories introducing the system, and this led to the operation of lines with high levels of production efficiency.
The introduction of using e-mail between group companies was also started by the Georgia Factory and has developed into the current network we have.

  Through these series of synergistic effects, it has become possible to develop, make prototypes and mass-produce products in any region, whether it be Asia, North America, Europe or Japan.
  I used the phrase "made in network" earlier in this book. My confidence is even greater that this flat implementation will become a strong force in the era of borderless and time-based competition. Simply put, our organizational relationship is not one in which the parent company is superior in all matters and teaches its children how to do things. In our system, our children also teach their special technologies and know-how to the parent. The true strength of globalization is the construction of an organization that can draw out such strengths.