Key points of this case study

By receiving proper training on RAKU-PAD (OEM version of i-Reporter), Showa Create Cebu, Inc. learned how to use this service effectively and started to gain ideas on how to improve work productivity. Transferring the existing paper forms (excluding those created by the deployment partner) to RAKU-PAD is now done internally, and the usage and deployment of this service are in progress.

Showa Create Cebu, Inc.

Showa Create Cebu, Inc. manufactures various pressed component parts that are incorporated into products, such as lighting fixtures, automobile parts, and architectural hardware. For more than 10 years, Showa Create Cebu, Inc. has been using paper forms for their tasks. But in recent years, they recognized many issues coming from paper and have decided to deploy “mcframe RAKU-PAD” (hereinafter RAKU-PAD) from Business Engineering Corporation (B-EN-G). They have spread this service to the manufacturing sites, quality control team, and other locations to improve work efficiency and become paperless.

Showa Create Cebu, Inc.
https://showa-ph.studio.site/
Established in: October 2013
Capital: 100 million JPY
Number of employees: 76 (including part-timers)
Business activities: Manufacturing of pressed component parts

Showa Create Cebu, Inc. is a manufacturer of pressed component parts, located in Cebu, Philippines, and was established as a group company of Showa Spring Co.Ltd.
The company manufactures pressed component parts incorporated into many products (metal press processing, tempering, welding, assembly, etc.). Their main strength is the processing of leaf springs.

After getting proper training, digital forms have become the norm.With working digitally, forms have started to get reviewed.

Case study from a Japanese company in the Philippines, which was established more than ten years ago.
The large amount of paper forms was the main issue.

Showa Spring Co.Ltd (hereinafter Showa Spring) is a manufacturing company that mainly manufactures pressed component parts. Their headquarters is located in Tondabayashi city, Osaka prefecture. Showa Spring’s group company, established in the Philippines in 2013, is Showa Create Cebu (hereinafter company). Mr. Yoshio, the company’s general manager, explains, “We originally started as an assembly line, but now we handle everything from creating parts, including metal press processing and tempering.”

Paper forms were always used at the company as part of the manufacturing process, which was done the same way in Japan headquarters. They translated the forms provided by Showa Spring into English and utilized them.

Mr. Yoshio reflected on the past, explaining, “We use so many forms. Just by manufacturing, there are over 20 different types of forms. In particular, we fill out forms related to manufacturing and quality control every day. The costs coming from printing and managing were extremely expensive.”

Paper forms can be risky when it comes to work. For example, they can get lost, filled out incorrectly, or tricky to read. It took a lot of effort and time to gather and calculate data using the stored forms. They also checked the past data by starting with finding those paper forms. Basically, they were doing these tasks as a normal routine. Back then, they didn’t recognize that the way they worked using paper was an issue.

What got them to recognize this issue was learning how N-PAX Cebu Corporation (hereinafter N-PAX), a Japanese IT company based in Cebu, was working digitally. In 2023, the company conducted interviews as part of its proposal activities for various IT-related services. Taiki Okubo from N-PAX reflected back to the company’s work experience at that time, explaining, “During the meeting, we realized that Showa Create Cebu had issues with paper forms, so we decided to recommend mcframe RAKU-PAD.”

Through N-PAX’s meetings and proposals, Mr. Yoshio recognized the big issue coming from paper forms. They were already considering using iPads for work. However, after learning more about RAKU-PAD, it was felt that this service would help them improve their productivity.

Digital forms have been deployed. More teams started to work digitally.

RAKU-PAD was deployed in the company. At first, the manufacturing team started using this service. At first, N-PAX digitized several forms on behalf of the company. Before using this service, employees and IT members at the manufacturing sites who will soon use this system participated in the training program held by N-PAX.

One of the current users, Joshua Jesson Aninon, who is a Process Engineer at the company, felt the following after using RAKU-PAD.

“At first, we didn’t know how we could use RAKU-PAD in our work process. However, the training allowed me to realize that this service can be used for data storage, utilization, traceability, etc.”

RAKU-PAD has started to spread out to other teams, such as the maintenance team, quality control team, and more. Jeff Ralph Sisles, the company’s IT/Production Documentation Officer, is currently in charge of digitizing forms (excluding those that were helped by N-PAX). He explained as follows.

“The training definitely helped us create forms easily. It’s very convenient as we can add drop-downs or radio buttons to make a selection list as a fixed option. Also, if we find any duplicates or sections that are not necessary, we double-check with the members about what we should include in the form.”

As of June 2024, approximately 40 types of forms have already been transferred to RAKU-PAD. Mr. Yoshio, who has seen employees mastering RAKU-PAD and expanding its use, explained how this service has improved work productivity as follows.

With RAKU-PAD, the data input tasks have become much easier. It’s rare to make mistakes. Dates, departments, and other data are usually entered correctly. In addition, we can easily check and collect past data. I also remembered how we got forms in the past. We first needed to go to our main office to pick up the standard operating procedures (SOPs) before starting work. However, experienced workers sometimes relied on their experience and did not refer to the SOPs. RAKU-PAD’s library management feature allowed us to open the SOPs without going to the office, so this service helped us save time. Overall, RAKU-PAD gave us a positive impact on our work productivity. Another good point about this service is that the form layout can be kept the same as our old paper form. Most on-site employees tend to not like making changes to their work style. However, this change was easy for them to accept, which allowed the company to make RAKU-PAD the standard operation flow. In the end, this service allowed us to recognize that we need to make changes to achieve business growth. Now, I feel that the company is willing to try using more services and see if they can improve work productivity, just like RAKU-PAD.

Digital transformation is the key to delegate management.
Currently promoting the headquarters to change the work style to digital.

Mr. Yoshio has been the only Japanese at the company for over 10 years, but recently, Mr. Ueno joined the company as the Assistant General Manager. With the possibility of him being the next manager in the future, Mr. Yoshio felt that digital transformation was the key to delegate management.

“I realized that it is important for me as an administrator to prepare the tools and services like RAKU-PAD because I felt that using them is the best way to hand over my tasks to the next manager. For the first step, we are planning to transfer all forms to RAKU-PAD.”

The use of RAKU-PAD is expanding at the company, and Mr. Yoshio is thinking of constantly evaluating work productivity to promote digital transformation to the headquarters.

“Showa Spring does not yet have an on-site task improvement tool like RAKU-PAD, but it seems that many are interested in doing this digitally. Therefore, if we can provide data like cost reductions, shorter working hours, and increased work efficiency to the headquarters, they might think of starting the digital transformation to improve work productivity, just like we did with RAKU-PAD. We hope the success in the Philippines can be shared with Japan very soon.”

Image of the equipment used for manufacturing (left) and digital form (right)

About N-PAX Cebu Corporation

N-PAX Cebu Corporation (hereinafter N-PAX) supported the deployment of i-Reporter to Showa Create Cebu. N-PAX provides IT support, from checking the requirements in the customer’s operation procedures to setting up, providing training, and maintaining the services.

We got an opportunity to talk with N-PAX about their business activities.

N-PAX’s mission is to “provide high-quality IT services and innovative software products for its customers,” and they are currently meeting their customers’ needs by providing a wide range of IT solutions.
N-PAX has more than 20 years of experience in the IT field since its establishment in the Philippines. N-PAX not only proposes and supports the deployment of RAKU-PAD, but also provides and develops its own packages, such as HR Payroll and Attendance System (HRIS) and Integrated Enterprise Resource Planning System (ERP). In addition, N-PAX has a strong record of system development in other countries, such as Japan, the United States, Singapore, Malaysia, China, and the Middle East.

Recently, many Japanese companies in the Philippines want to become paperless, and N-PAX has been receiving many inquiries about RAKU-PAD.
They provide training in Japanese and on-site support from Filipino developers.
They provide all-in-one support, such as analyzing the current task procedures, organizing and developing forms, deploying the service, and supporting the onboarding. Also, they help customers transform their work style to digital, like promoting IT services for data visualization and analysis.

They have received high reviews from many customers (mostly from the manufacturing industry) for their consulting service related to the DX, stable service deployment through their highly managed schedule, and operational support service.

NPAX: Global IT Solutions and Service Provider (n-pax.com)

Picture of the Real Seminar for Japanese Companies in the Philippines hosted by N-PAX in November 2023

(From the left)
N-PAX President/CEO Takahiro Toda
CIMTOPS Sayaka Oide
N-PAX Taiki Okubo
CIMTOPS Koji Yokoyama
N-PAX Keisuke Ito
N-PAX Naoki Maki
B-EN-G Singapore, Managing Director Motoshi Yamashita

*This case study is from June 2024.
*mcframe RAKU-PAD Recording is an OEM version of “i-Reporter” developed by CIMTOPS.
*Titles, numbers, proper nouns, etc., explained in this case study are those as of June 2024.
*Company names, service names, etc., explained in this case study are registered trademarks or trademarks of each company.
*Please refrain from contacting the companies listed in this case study.