Decryption of Far Eastern Ishizuka Green PET Corporation's New Factory Lightning Profit Miracle

        Since September 2023, Far Eastern Ishizuka Green PET Corporation's newly built "Himeji Factory" has faced multiple challenges such as manpower, raw materials, and production lines. However, with the help of their supervisors and colleagues, not only have they made various innovations, but they have also achieved profitability within four months of the factory's official production. This issue's' Cover Story 'reveals how the team at Far Eastern Ishizuka Green PET Corporation demonstrated their fighting spirit in a difficult environment and helped the company win a beautiful first battle.

        The expansion and operation of the factory have attracted widespread attention

                The concept of 'recycled economy' is not unfamiliar to most people now, but it was still relatively new more than 10 years ago. Far Eastern New Century Corporation had accumulated over 20 years of experience in environmental recycling processes and product development, and saw the future trend of the industry. In 2012, it partnered with Ishizuka Glass Co., Ltd. to establish a subsidiary called "Far Eastern Ishizuka Green PET Corporation GREEN PET Co., Ltd." In 2014, the first recycled PET polyester granule factory, "Tokyo Plant," was established in Ibaraki Prefecture, Kanto. Using discarded PET bottles as raw materials, the company went through a series of processes such as separation, cleaning, high-temperature melting, and decontamination to produce recycled ester granules (R-PET), which were supplied to beverage or other manufacturers for use, forming a bottle to bottle cycle and creating a unique business model.

        Given that international brand customers have set sustainability development goals in recent years and are increasing their demand for environmentally friendly materials, Far Eastern Ishizuka Green PET Corporation plans to build a second plant, the Himeji Plant, in Hyogo Prefecture, Kansai to consolidate its leading position in Japan's recycled polyester industry. The production capacity of the new factory is expected to exceed the scale of the Tokyo factory.

        However, the cost of building a factory is still a huge expense, and Far Eastern Ishizuka Green PET Corporation is well aware that if external resources can be obtained, it will help alleviate cost pressures. Although the entire factory needs to support the construction of a new factory in addition to daily affairs at this time, manpower is already very tight. However, as soon as the head of the accounting department of the management headquarters learned of the Japanese government's equipment subsidy, he immediately contacted public sector personnel and took the initiative to coordinate with internal procurement, accounting, expansion teams and other units to ensure timely provision of the necessary documents and information for the application process. The most difficult part is that it must be completed within one year after the start of construction. In other words, the team must complete the construction of the factory before December 2023 in order to successfully obtain the subsidy and save operating costs for the company.

        Advance deployment, preparation and operation

        With the collective efforts of everyone, the Himeji factory will begin testing in September 2023. However, due to the fact that the main cadres of Far Eastern Ishizuka Green PET Corporation are all in Tokyo, and some new colleagues within the factory are still adapting to the corporate culture of Far Eastern Group, there is a shortage of manpower. The HR department head of Himeji Factory is stabilizing the mood of new employees, leaving core talents for the company, and accelerating the recruitment work, fully building a professional team for production, technology, and production and sales.

        After finally improving the shortage of manpower, the team building the factory is now facing the challenge of passing the review of the Japan Container and Packaging Recycling Association (JCPRA) one month after the trial run (October 2023). Fortunately, the colleagues from the raw material scheduling department and production department completed the document application work ahead of schedule during the factory construction period in July. The partners from the production department also did their best to repair and maintain the site to the best condition in October, welcoming JCPRA representatives to inspect the factory. In the end, not only did they successfully obtain certification, but they also obtained the bidding qualification for 2024.

        The performance of Himeji Factory has set an industry record, but it has also attracted the attention of peers for bidding proposals in the first half of 2024. In order to win the bid and ensure a stable and sufficient source of bottle brick raw materials in the factory, the personnel of the raw material scheduling department explored the movements of major competitors and formulated bidding strategies based on them. In February 2024, they successfully won the bid at a reasonable price, and the number of bids reached a historical high, laying a strong foundation for the production and sales capabilities of Himeji Factory.

                Efficient and seamless cooperation to increase production

        After the manpower and materials are in place, customer orders are still needed to obtain profitable tickets. After numerous tests, the construction team finally overcame all difficulties and produced SSP rPET polyester granules in February 2024. The quality was quickly optimized and the samples were sent to major customers.

                Generally speaking, the certification process for customers takes about six months to a year. In order to save time, the team at Far Eastern Ishizuka Green PET Corporation negotiated a compressed version of the certification schedule with customers based on their experience of multiple successful certifications. In less than three months, they passed all customer certifications by the end of April, once again creating a miracle in the industry.

        Afterwards, Himeji Factory began to enter a phase of mass production. Unexpectedly, due to an instant increase in output, warehouse personnel were unable to meet the factory's production capacity in terms of brick collection and shipment, resulting in serious blockages. Cadres from Far Eastern Ishizuka Green PET Corporation took the initiative to visit the Himeji factory, brainstormed with frontline personnel, modified processes, and simultaneously improved the quantity and capacity of procurement and shipment. In addition, the factory supervisor and colleagues timely eliminated production line problems, and the production capacity increased month by month, greatly boosting the morale of employees.

        On the other hand, after Himeji Factory joined the battle, the bottle brick market in Japan saw an increase in brick prices due to the unchanged total quantity of bricks and more intense competition among peers for bricks. The Section Chief of the Manager Department took the initiative to estimate the cost increase after the company purchased high priced bricks, as well as the information on the decrease in labor costs after increasing the operating rate, as a reference for management decision-making, leading various departments to continue their efforts.

        Strong profits, promising future ahead

        During the process of expansion and construction of the Himeji new factory, it faced challenges such as manpower shortage, third-party review, raw material supply, customer certification, production line bottlenecks, etc. In addition, time and resources were limited, and the project team had no precedent to follow. They had to develop new countermeasures and break through them one by one. Fortunately, colleagues from personnel, finance, production, and other units fully utilized their excellent cross departmental communication and project management abilities, closely coordinated and cooperated, and overcame obstacles all the way. Not only did they prepare for JCPRA review and certification within a month, winning the most bottle brick raw materials in history, but they also obtained the Japanese government's "equipment and personnel employment subsidy", saving considerable costs. They also produced rP in February 2024. ET After the polyester granules, the production gradually increased and profits began in June. In the future, with the synchronous increase in driving ratio and sales volume, the profit potential is even expected to surpass that of the Tokyo factory. Compared to other peers, Himeji Plant takes an average of more than 2 years from driving to profitability. The performance of Far Eastern Ishizuka Green PET Corporation highlights the professional experience, high quality, and high efficiency of the management team and factory colleagues. It also aligns with the group's core values of "sincerity, diligence, simplicity, prudence, and innovation", and is the key to maintaining the company's leading position in the industry.

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