KOMATSU
Komatsu’s Genba Philosophy Underpins a Tradition of Product Support

As a means of finding customer solutions, Komatsu has been using an approach that places emphasis on the genba, or workplace where the customer actually operates the equipment, to steadily solve each issue. Especially in the early days, when our business centered on exports from Japan, many of our Japanese engineers were assigned around the world to provide product support. In order to carry on this tradition throughout the Komatsu Group Network, including our distributors, we have been making concerted efforts to provide training.

Mr. Takashi Hirano at timber storage yard
Extraordinary Measures to Provide Exceptional Service
One of Komatsu’s specialists, Mr. Takashi Hirano, has been providing product support for over 20 years, mainly in Africa. Initially posted in Algeria, he encountered numerous challenges including the language barrier and lack of a distributor. Nonetheless, he worked with a staff of around 20 Komatsu specialists to provide support. He was then assigned to Nigeria, where he acted as the sole service provider since the office had only four employees. But even here he expertly provided support based on Komatsu’s genba philosophy in order to satisfy customer requirements. As an example, if a customer needed a special bulldozer blade for logging, he worked with the distributor to select exactly what was required.

Experience and ingenuity are indispensable in providing support that suits the conditions of the genba. Mr. Hirano recalls an incident that occurred around 20 years ago when a machine caught fire on site. “Since we were working in a remote part of a mountain, once we used up our fire extinguishers it was not easy to replace them. As a last resort, we improvised a makeshift structure so that water collected on the roof of the cab instead.” Such a measure is inconceivable nowadays, and was only used as an emergency measure to prevent the total loss of the machine in the fire. Unexpectedly, this makeshift structure turned out to be useful, and such incidents never occurred again. What’s more, local operators were pleased because the structure could double as a shower. However, it is a prime example of going to the actual genba to accurately understand what is happening.

Global Training Institute program participants
Komatsu Support Extends to Managerial Training
Komatsu has been hosting Global Training Institute (GTI), an 11-week program to strengthen and promote the professional development of middle management staff of product support divisions at its subsidiaries and distributors. Besides business strategies in the mining and construction and utilities businesses, the GTI program focuses on quality assurance activities, the KOMATSU Way as exemplified by the concept of a Win-Win-Win (beneficial for customers, distributors and Komatsu as a manufacturer) relationship and Kaizen activities, as well as various programs for the execution of business operations. Training is provided at optimal genbas, mainly at Komatsu bases in Europe and the United States in addition to Japan, in order for participants to learn about respective business fields. Lecturers are primarily from within Komatsu, including members of top management, directors and managers. Thanks to this training program, Kaizen activities, which have been formulated during the program period and brought back to participants’ home countries, have contributed to producing tangible results.