On Wednesday, June 12th, the "YKK Female Engineers Roundtable Discussion" was held in the Human Resources Development Headquarters conference room. First, Ms. Kita, a specialist officer in charge of metals at YKK Corporation's Machinery Technology Headquarters, explained that Toyama Prefecture, where the YKK Kurobe Plant is located, has a long history of thriving manufacturing, has a large number of dual-income households, and ranks among the highest in the country for the actual income of working households.
YKK employs an integrated production system that covers everything from manufacturing equipment and materials to finished products, and they explained that their "manufacturing" is closely tied to their customers. They also mentioned that even now, with their global operations, equipment development and supply are still carried out in Japan.
Furthermore, it seems that 100.7 billion zippers were sold in fiscal year 2018 (enough to circle the Earth approximately 80 times!).
Next, Mr. Yamazaki, Executive Officer and Head of the Technology Planning Office at the Machine Tool Technology Division, explained that YKK is focusing on initiatives to nurture female engineers, such as creating on-site childcare facilities to provide an environment where employees can work with peace of mind, promoting paternity leave for men, allowing reduced working hours after returning from maternity leave, and providing career development support for women.
Ms. Takamoto from the Product Development Department of the Fastening Division, a graduate of our university, is developing surface treatment technology for zippers, and she showed us a sample of a metal zipper that she developed.
Furthermore, she carries around a bag with a zipper that she is currently developing every day to check the condition of the zipper. She said that she wants to become a specialist in the engineering world, where there are few women, and become a role model for many female engineers.
Ms. Wakisaka, also a graduate of this university, works at the Analysis and Analysis Center of the Engineering Technology Division, and said that attending a job fair at Clark Hall was what led her to join YKK. She said she finds it rewarding to work with people from various fields and to see her analysis results contributing to the development of new products and machinery, as she is involved in analysis and analysis to provide customers with faster development speeds and better products. She said that in the future, she wants to become a specialist in analysis technology related to zippers and windows!
The roundtable discussion concluded with a Q&A session, and a huge number of questions were asked.
When asked how they expanded beyond the zipper business to new fields such as spacesuits and fishing nets, they replied that it was because they consistently met the needs of customers who asked them to create specific products.
In response to the question, "There is a strong image of engineers as being male, so wasn't it difficult to choose an engineering job?", she replied, "After joining the company, I realized that there were many men, but the number of female engineers is increasing year by year, and once I started working, I felt that gender doesn't matter."
Furthermore, in response to the question, "What should students focus on during their university years?", the advice given was that there are things you can only do during your university years, and that having a fulfilling experience in club activities and other extracurriculars will be useful in your future career.
The questions continued, and it seemed that the participants found the session very helpful.
Thank you to everyone at YKK Corporation!
