Kuroishi City lies about 30 kilometers from Aomori City and is almost in the center of Aomori Prefecture.
Aomori Olympus came to this city as the Kuroishi Plant of the Olympus Group, the name of which was Olympus Seiki Co., Ltd., in 1973. Since then, this plant worked as an assembling plant for compact cameras, micro cassette recorders, single-lens reflex cameras, magneto-optical disk devices, and so on.
It was in 1994 that the existence of this plant, which had steadily expanded its production, was greatly shaken. The decision was made to transfer the production of recorders, i.e., the anchor product in this plant, to a plant in Shenzen, China. The Kuroishi Plant faced a critical problem that the production would taper, which would lead to hollowing-out of the plant if nothing was done. Meanwhile the plant was renamed Olympus Opt-Electronics Co., Ltd., but became a matter of concern that it could not survive without any immediate support measures.
In this critical situation, the parent company presented a plan to transfer the production of endo-therapy products then at the Aizu Plant to the Aomori Plant of Olympus Opt-Electronics Co., Ltd. to revive it. People at the Aomori Plant felt some hesitation in turning to the manufacturing of medical equipment, such as endoscopes, with which they were totally unfamiliar, because they had only assembled consumer products.
Saying that “It was most natural because medical equipment concerns human life and health…,” Kazuhisa Otani, President of Aomori Olympus first mentioned “Change in mind” as the keyword. “Aomori Plant, which had mainly engaged in assembling products, had some toughness because it was in the front line of routine cost competition. However, what it had continuously done was basically manufacturing products following work manuals. But the production of medical equipment requires more accurate and more precise quality management.”
Medical precision instruments that supports advanced medical treatment can only be manufactured with a system to add high values in every aspect, including development and production. It was necessary that each and every worker became firmly conscious of it. They should work not in a passive way as they had done, but in an active way. Aomori Olympus was beginning to struggle to be a high value-added plant.

“The way of working had to change.” President Otani answered to the question, “What was most difficult?” For the production of medical equipment, ISO requires that a quality management system somewhat different from the system implemented in the Aomori Plant be established. For the way of working, the plant had to have structures to satisfy the stringent requirements prescribed by the international standards on its own. “We manualized all work processes, and routinely made records to show that the procedures are firmly followed. We had used the manuals, but we had no experience of thinking on our own way of working according to the conditions given externally,” continued President Otani. We had a culture shock.
With such structures in place, the problem is in the minds of people working in the plant. Communication ability was also essentially needed for them to meet medical professionals and find needs for them. The policy of the plant changed such that each and every worker was asked for spontaneous efforts in production and development.
At the beginning, efforts like moving in the dark had to be made day after day. Because medical equipment is subject to the Pharmaceutical Affairs Act, we started repairing various endoscopes, and manufacturing parts/units such as curved rubber parts, external cameras attached to endoscopes and electric connectors, and gradually expanded the range of products. In 1997, three years after the plant changed its products to medical equipment, it began producing the main body of endoscopic instruments on a full scale. The Aomori Plant constructed facilities to enable to produce sterilized products, and finally, the production of medical treatment instruments distributed in Olympus plants in many places was concentrated in the Aomori Plant.
“The workers’ consciousness of quality management clearly changed,” says President Otani. “It took five years until I didn’t hear ‘why?’” He thus does not deny that it took a lot of time to change the mind of the workers. Aomori Plant (now Aomori Olympus) made great efforts to develop human resources, e.g., by sending its engineers to the product development department of the parent company in Hachioji City, Tokyo, but President Otani emphasized “People’s flexibility to change” as a great help in switching from consumer products to medical equipment.

Aomori Olympus has persistently emphasized employing local young people. It has employed graduates of local colleges of technology and technical high schools, and those of the Science and Technology of Hirosaki University and others. President Otani mentioned the “character of Tsugaru people” common to human resources in Aomori. That character means “humility to the work,” “devoting to the work,” and so on. The President referred to this “character of Tsugaru people” as a factor that enabled this plant to be put over at a critical time.
One day the content of work changed totally. Conventional knowledge was no longer useful. A strong will then worked to overcome the crisis in response to such change. It was reflected in the resilience and flexibility of workers.
Aomori Olympus puts up a motto “Locally Generated Business,” and thus, it is a “must” for the company to find and develop local human resources. That is why Aomori Olympus sends its engineers as lecturers to a training course of “Medical System Development Meisters” opened in Hirosaki University as a part of industry-academia-government collaboration to put a great importance on the relationship with the locals.
“About human resources, Aomori has its own ability. The point is how to take advantage of that ability. Aomori has such a base that, if only a company presents a clear vision and trains human resources in that base with standards of work, they respond with good results.”
Taking advantage of the abundant diligent human resources in science and technology, Aomori Prefecture presents itself as “No. 1 Power of Human Resources” in Japan, and has addressed inviting businesses. According to the results of a questionnaire survey by the Prefecture, more than 80% of the businesses located in Aomori Prefecture are “satisfied with locally available human resources.”
Whether the high potential of human resources in the local area are utilized, or remain unused, depends on whether a business provides them with good basic training. In that respect, Aomori Olympus’ efforts have so far led to good results.
In October 2002, Olympus Opt-Electronics was renamed Aomori Olympus. It has grown to be the main plant in the Olympus Group for manufacturing endoscopic instruments. It sends its engineers to a new plant that the parent Olympus constructed in Vietnam to support the production of endo-therapy products there. That is because “Manufacturing Technology in Aomori” that has been developing in Aomori Olympus since it changed its key products has been highly evaluated.
“There are great expectations for local human resources in order that Aomori Olympus will produce high value-added endoscopic instruments, and deploy global production support from Aomori,” pointed out President Otani.