Case Studies

Since its establishment in 1979 by Toshio Takagi, Takagi has grown to become one of the leading companies in Kitakyushu. However, as Mr. Takagi aged, the founding family faced the challenge of envisioning and realizing “Takagi’s Second Chapter” for sustainable growth. Despite the steady expansion of the water purifier and sprinkler businesses, a definitive strategy for the company’s long-term growth, especially for the next 10 to 20 years, remained unclear.
In addition to dealing with the aging of the existing plant, the company also faced the challenge of needing to invest significant capital to build a new plant to meet the growing demand for cartridges. In this situation, the president and founding family members felt significant emotional pressure due to the need to both transform the business and make a large capital investment, which led them to seek a new business partner.

Since joining NSSK, we have been moving from an owner-centered management style to a more professional management system. Although we had a vision of what the company should be, there were challenges in clarifying goal setting, organizing measures to achieve those goals, prioritizing them, and scheduling them.
The first initiative we took was to develop the company’s medium-term management plan. We reviewed and redefined our mid- to long-term qualitative and quantitative goals and established an NVP list to guide us toward those goals. This approach centralized the management of strategies that were previously handled individually at each site, and by sharing them within the management team, we clarified the priorities and timelines of each management strategy and linked them to the company’s KPIs.
In addition, we addressed the challenge of a major capital investment for the construction of a new factory and office by resolving financing issues through negotiations with lenders at the time of the capital and business alliance. We also strengthened our internal governance structure by establishing investment criteria and decision-making standards that take into account cash flow and financial strength.
In addition, we have promoted management visibility. Since NSSK’s involvement, we have moved from individual profit and loss management to a consolidated system that includes our overseas subsidiaries. By organizing the contents and items of reporting for each base and division, we have established a system that allows important information to be reported to the management team in a more timely manner.