The responsibilities I took on as the operating footprint widened

Mandate

Connect enterprise decisions to dependable accounts of engineering and plant conditions.

Outcomes

• Resolved eighty-four revision/routing conflicts in a 420-order migration rehearsal
• Established explicit operating disposition for all 120 proposals in a planning trial
• Kept an image-inspection pilot within a defined decision-support remit

Decisions in context

The CIO appointment made me responsible for the complete technology function while preserving the operating authority of manufacturing, engineering and quality colleagues. I now lead 198 employees through six direct reports, with sixty-four contractors separately. The JPY9.4 billion authority describes FY2026–27 and includes both continuing operations and change. I report to Reiko Tsumahiro and present investment matters to directors without holding a seat. I have focused on the points where a shared application can make a proposal appear more settled than it is: an engineering instruction, a production sequence or the result of an inspection model. My team supplies the technical route and a clear account of the evidence. The responsible functions make the operating decisions. That distinction allows us to improve coordination across seven plants while keeping the limitations and cost of each programme available for examination.

Reason for the move

Continuing in the CIO role; exploring a compatible and limited external governance contribution.

Mandate

Connect engineering, planning and production records without losing the distinctions between their decisions.

Outcomes

• Separated planned, authorised and completed events in integration definitions
• Established shared ownership of consequential interface exceptions
• Made continuing plant dependencies visible in enterprise change proposals

Decisions in context

Integration widened the consequences of a definition. A field that had once been interpreted within one plant could now influence planning, procurement and reporting elsewhere. I led 126 colleagues through five direct reports and held JPY4.6 billion annual authority by the end of this period. We worked with engineering and manufacturing owners to identify where a common identifier concealed different events. A proposed operation, an authorised instruction and a completed task needed to remain distinguishable even when the applications were connected. I became more interested in the decision record behind an interface than in the number of interfaces completed. The company reached 7,700 employees and JPY231 billion revenue in the final appointment period; these were company figures, not my personal financial remit. I moved into the CIO position in January 2021 to apply that discipline across technology service and investment.

Reason for the move

Promoted to CIO with responsibility for the full technology portfolio in January 2021.

Mandate

Develop common production applications while representing material differences between plants.

Outcomes

• Introduced review of the operating reason behind local application exceptions
• Clarified who could approve changes to shared production definitions
• Linked common application proposals to plant support capacity

Decisions in context

The production applications role put standardisation at the centre of my work. I led seventy-two people through five reports with JPY1.8 billion annual authority. Common systems offered a useful way to coordinate plants, but local differences could not all be classified as reluctance to change. Equipment, tooling and established responsibilities sometimes made an exception consequential. I asked teams to investigate the reason before deciding whether the shared model should remove or represent it. That approach required more participation from operating owners than a purely technical conversion, and I had to plan for their time. By the end of the appointment the company employed 5,900 people and recorded JPY158 billion revenue. The next role followed naturally: many of the important differences appeared where production applications met engineering definitions and enterprise planning, rather than within a single application estate.

Reason for the move

Appointed enterprise integration director to address dependencies spanning engineering and planning systems.

Mandate

Maintain plant application support and make technology changes workable for operating teams.

Outcomes

• Established continuing ownership for support after system introduction
• Agreed change conditions with plant users before committing schedules
• Documented reasons behind recurring production-record corrections

Decisions in context

I joined Kosemori to take responsibility for a team and its continuing commitments to the plant. Thirty-eight colleagues and four direct reports worked within a remit that reached JPY640 million annual authority by the final period. I had to turn a proposed technical change into an agreement that users could work with, including who would respond when the result differed from the plan. The experience taught me to ask about support ownership before an implementation group dispersed. It also made me more careful about the cost of parallel arrangements during a transition. Kosemori's 4,300 employees and JPY92 billion revenue describe the company at the close of this appointment. I was promoted to production applications in April 2010, bringing the practical lessons of local support into a role intended to make common systems useful across a wider operating footprint.

Reason for the move

Promoted to lead the broader production applications function in April 2010.

Mandate

Analyse production information and support interfaces used by factory colleagues.

Outcomes

• Mapped the operating meaning behind inconsistent application records
• Documented interface questions with experienced plant users
• Built a foundation in production support before moving into management

Decisions in context

I started work immediately after completing my information engineering degree in March 1996. At Hoshitora I joined a ten-person analyst team, reporting to the factory systems manager without direct reports or budget authority of my own. The job taught me to compare the application's explanation with the operating user's understanding. I could investigate an interface and propose a correction, but the reason for a local practice often came from someone with much deeper manufacturing experience. I learnt to preserve that explanation rather than replace it with a technical label. The company had 1,800 employees and JPY38 billion revenue by the end of my appointment. I left in August 2003 because the Kosemori role offered responsibility for the people and support arrangements surrounding those systems, allowing me to address recurring causes as well as individual analysis tasks.

Reason for the move

Moved to Kosemori for people leadership and responsibility for continuing plant systems.