Hironori Shirai, a member of the Osaka Plant Technology Department, received the Osaka Prefecture Outstanding Skilled Worker Award (Naniwa’s Master Craftsman) in fiscal year 2022.
Recognized for his “high skills” as a leather upholsterer for special chairs for barbering, beauty, dental, and medical use.
TAKARA BELMONT Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Chuo-ku, Osaka; Representative Director, Chairman and President: Hidetaka Yoshikawa) is a company in which Hironori Shirai, a member of the Engineering Department at our Osaka Plant, has developed special products for hairdressing salons and medical clinics. His chair upholstery skills were recognized, and on Monday, November 21, 2022, he was awarded the Osaka Prefecture Excellent Technician Award (Naniwa Master Craftsman) at the Reiwa 4th Osaka Prefecture Vocational Ability Development Promotion Convention (hereinafter referred to as "Naniwa Master Craftsman"). We would like to inform you that we have received the award.
"Naniwa's Master Craftsman" This award is given once a year to outstanding technicians with the aim of improving the status and skill level of technicians in Osaka Prefecture. ``A person who has extremely excellent skills and is recognized as a leading expert within the prefecture'', ``A person who is 35 years of age or older and has 15 years or more of work experience and is engaged in the relevant occupation.'' ”In addition to the condition that "Contributed to the development of skilled workers by being involved in the guidance, education, and training of junior skilled workers through one's occupation." The governor listens to the opinions of experts and makes a decision from among the skilled workers who meet all five criteria. The youngest of this year's "Naniwa Master Craftsmen" was selected.
This award is related to patents such as the first barber chair equipped with technology to raise and lower the backrest, as well as numerous achievements in both product development that takes advantage of the characteristics of over 140 types of synthetic leather and on-site guidance. In addition to this, we were recognized for our activities as a core member of the "Re:bonis" project, an initiative to upcycle discarded leather products, which is a factory-based SDGs initiative that started in 2021.
Regarding this award, Shirai said, ``I was really surprised because I didn't think I would win this award.This was also possible because of the support of many seniors and colleagues at the Osaka factory.Thank you very much.I will continue to improve my technology further. We would like to work hard to create products that are always close to our professional customers."
TAKARA BELMONT was founded in 1921 along the Kizugawa River in Osaka, and for about 100 years has been dedicated to helping professionals achieve beauty and health through manufacturing. This is the seventh time an employee working at the Osaka factory has received the Naniwa Master Craftsman award. We will continue to strengthen the training of craftsmen who are responsible for manufacturing in Japan, and continue to hone their skills to create products that are more beautiful, safe, and safe, and strive to create products that help people around the world live a beautiful life. I will continue to do so.
<Hironori Shirai Profile>
Joined the company in 2007. Currently belongs to the Mechanical Design Group, Engineering Department, Osaka Factory.
Under the guidance of a senior employee who was a ``master craftsman in Naniwa'', he worked hard to acquire basic skills as a ``chair upholsterer'' of specialized chairs with many built-in functions, such as barber chairs, dental chairs, and medical chairs. Responsible for everything from selecting components that take advantage of the characteristics of approximately 140 types of synthetic leather, deciding on construction methods, devising designs for sewing lines and skin materials, and creating molds (patterns). Even after winning the 2015 "Naniwa Master Craftsman Wakaba Award," he continued to study hard, obtaining a level 1 in the national chair upholstery skills test. Even now, he is devoted to improving the technology of ``barber chairs, etc., which are used by many customers throughout the year,'' such as enthusiastically researching materials and seating comfort for chairs from other industries, and provides technical guidance to many craftsmen. At the same time, he was involved in the production of special chairs. In recent years, he has also worked hard to develop his junior colleagues. In 2021, as a member of the waste leather upcycling project "Re:bonis" originating from our own factory, we contributed to items for 3,000 employees of our 100th anniversary project.
<Reference: About the "Re:bonis" project>
■Possibilities of SDGs blooming with the hands of Osaka leather craftsmen TAKARA BELMONT Re:bonis project
#SDGs #wasteleather #manufacturing
https://prtimes.jp/story/detail/ZrXYWNfkPvb
■Notice of launch of Re:bonis project
https://www.takarabelmont.com/info_20210629_01/