It has been five years since “30% culture” was introduced to our company. At first, many staff members used 30% of their working hours to engage in the development of new medical equipment, which was connected to our main business. Now, the culture inspired the new factory project and various fields that are connected to a larger field which is the healthcare business.
30% Culture
It allows staff members to use 30% of their work time on challenges. These challenges do not necessarily have to be connected with the staff members’ main work.
I interviewed Ms. Takayama, who is the leader of the skincare product development project, which is one of the projects that arose from the 30% culture.
-Could you explain the abstract of the project?
Takayama: It has been 5 years since this project started with the aim to develop human resources. The project began with the construction of the product’s concept. Although members had interests in skincare products, they were specialists in developing and manufacturing medical devices, not in skincare products. So at first, we did not have the confidence to succeed. On the other hand, the skincare project seemed to be a good theme to gain new knowledge from different business fields from our unconventional point of view.
-So you were moved by the company’s vision to “cultivate staffs capable of business management.”
Takayama: Yes. Our project team went through the developing and marketing process of targeting: considering the product ingredients and promotional plans and following the concept of our product. Although we have faced several difficulties, the experience helped us learn how to run a new project.
-What are some characteristics of your team’s product?
Takayama: Our current product is not the perfect form; we are still developing it. We have several concepts for our product. First, as a product of a medical equipment manufacturer, our product aims to contribute to the mental and physical health of our customers. Second, our product aims to contribute to the healthcare industry, which leads us to create high-value-added products that allow us to give back a portion of sales to the industry.
MOTEKI PLUS is our product, made by the concept of a “product that our body accepts without stress,” which is an idea close to “less invasive” that Kono Seisakusho Co., Ltd. has been pursuing in the manufacturing of medical equipment.
Aiming the use of people with various skin conditions, we chose plant-derived EGF as a key ingredient for MOTEKI PLUS which is becoming famous for enhancing the reformation of cells.
-I heard that you are opening a pop-up store for the first time.
Takayama: We have been spreading MOTEKI PLUS to our colleagues and their friends and our business partners. Pop up store has the aim promote MOTEKI PLUS and to promote our company’s name.
By communicating with our customers face-to-face, we expect to receive feedback and comments. As we have been doing, we would like to manufacture and develop products by listening to the voices of our customers.
-Could you describe what your preparation for the pop-up store was like?
Takayama: We had to select and design display goods and create our promotion plans and goods by ourselves, so we were quite busy. We also had to consider the location and the date for the pop-up store. That is different from the promotion of medical equipment, which is often held in academic meetings.
We are going to open the store inside the stations of the Tsukuba Express. Since the train stations are near our Tsukuba Plant, we are expecting staff members from our factory to visit our store.
Visiting the Pop Up Store
I interviewed Ms. Takayama at the pop-up store in Kashiwanoha-campus station.
-The display’s color, green, which is the image color of the MOTEKI PLUS, is beautiful.
Takayama: As one of the initiatives to address sustainability, we paid attention to our display goods. Our booth is made of thinned wood of Oitsu Mokkou. We took time to search for what to use as display items.
-Were there any feedback and comments from customers?
Takayama: There were many good responses. Some customers applied to become the testers of MOTEKI PLUS, and some customers even came to our pop-up store twice: the first time to receive the free trial, and the second time to buy our product. There were also some questions about our company. We had some responses such as “It absorbs with my skin well, and it is comfortable.” By communicating with our customers, we could find the points that we can improve.
The skincare development project carried out alongside the members’ regular duties, has finally produced a prototype. But this is not the end; having received feedback from customers during our first pop-up, the project is expected to have further evolution.
We opened our pop-up stores in:
July 18-19 11:30AM-7:30PM Kitasenju station
July 30-31 11:30AM-7:30PM Nagareyama-Otakanomori station
Thanks to our customers and colleagues for visiting!
