CARING FOR CUSTOMERS Once employees were found to be safe after the earthquake and tsunami, Toshiaki Kobayashi says they focused on how fast they could get back to serving customers, despite significant damage to a Sukagawa facility.
This story appears in the Johnson & Johnson 2011 Annual Report
The Tohoku Pacific Coast earthquake and tsunami struck Japan on Friday, March 11. In the wake of the disaster, Toshiaki Kobayashi—responsible for operations of a manufacturing, distribution and labeling facility in Sukagawa—was just one of 5,000 Johnson & Johnson colleagues in Japan whose immediate concern was for others.
In spite of incredible hardship, our employees in Japan worked tirelessly to re-establish support and supplies to the patients, doctors and families who need our products.
“After the earthquake and tsunami, my first priority was to ensure all our employees were safe, that our facility was safe and that our community was safe. After that, I was anxious to get to work for our customers,” says Kobayashi, Sukagawa Plant Manager, Johnson & Johnson Medical Company (JJMC), Division of Johnson & Johnson K.K.
The Sukagawa plant is primarily a manufacturing and distribution center for medical devices, including STERRAD® Sterilization Products and CARTO® 3 System, advanced 3-D imaging technology. It handles labeling for almost all the Medical Devices and Diagnostics products sold in Japan. Damages at the facility were significant.
ASSESSING THE DAMAGE
Immediately after the disaster, and in the face of the subsequent risk of radiation exposure from a damaged nuclear power plant, leaders of Johnson & Johnson Supply Chain initiated extensive and ongoing assessments of the Company’s operations and distribution and supplier networks throughout Japan. The priority: ensure the safety of products and raw materials in the Company’s supply chain.
Within the first few days, a cross-functional team quickly located all employees and found them to be safe. Then assessments were made at each operating company. Consumer company sites had no damage and within 24 hours of the disaster had products ready to be donated to shelter camps, towns and anywhere else they were needed. Vision Care operations in Tokyo suffered water damage due to sprinklers but no major damage and re-established 100 percent function by March 15.
The Ortho-Clinical Diagnostics office in Sendai was severely damaged, and employees were relocated to a JJMC office until repairs could be made. The office reopened later that month. A Janssen facility escaped initial damage but suffered minor damage four days later from an earthquake in the Mount Fuji area. Operations resumed there by March 16. But a Sendai branch office of JJMC was not operational, and heavily damaged Sukagawa was closed to undergo repairs. Concurrently, supply chain leaders identified and contacted hundreds of suppliers to assess and validate safety measures for raw materials and finished products.
RECOVERY BEGINS
“When we toured the building the day after the disaster, it was very miserable,” says Hiroyuki Watanabe, Senior Manager, JJMC Quality Assurance.
Kobayashi, a 30-year employee, says the first couple of days were focused on cleaning. “Everything became a challenge as supplies stopped,” he says. “Working in the Sukagawa plant was very difficult, with no water, toilet or food available.”
But emergency supplies, including food and water, arrived from Tokyo. That helped during the recovery work at the plant. Labeling at Sukagawa was restarted at about 80 percent capacity nearly a week after the disaster. Additional space in Tokyo was promptly audited and approved by regulatory agencies, then secured for labeling.
Manufacturing was suspended. The affected advanced sterilization product, CIDEX® OPA, is also produced at a Gargrave, United Kingdom, facility. The JJMC team fast-tracked regulatory approval to make the U.K. product available in Japan during recovery. An external manufacturer was contracted to ramp up production to cover demand.
“The turnaround time for this regulatory review and approval were unprecedented, thanks to the strong support from the JJMC team, including regulatory affairs,” explains Watanabe.
By March 25, five labeling rooms were operating at almost 100 percent capacity, while repairs to the manufacturing line continued. All repairs to the automated distribution warehouse were completed.
“We were all thinking, ‘How much faster can we get back to distributing products to our customers?’” says Kobayashi. “All employees shared this focus and worked together—it was amazing.”
AID TO JAPAN
To assist the people of Japan during this difficult time, the Johnson & Johnson Family of Companies made a significant financial commitment, as well as product donations. In addition, employees and retirees of the Johnson & Johnson Companies donated generously to disaster relief partners including the Japanese Red Cross Society, Direct Relief International, International Rescue Committee, Project HOPE, Save the Children and World Vision.
In Japan, Janssen Pharmaceutical K.K.’s support for rescue efforts included donating medical equipment, supplies and funding for a group of 600 doctors working in affected areas. The Vision Care Division provided free lenses to patients and relief workers in seven affected prefectures, identifying clinics to serve as emergency lens distribution points. The Japan President’s Council approved a recommendation to use funds pledged by the Johnson & Johnson Family of Companies in Japan for mid- and longer-term projects.
BACK TO THE BUSINESS OF CARING
In spite of indescribable hardships and shortages of fuel, electricity, food and other necessary items, employees in Japan worked tirelessly around the clock to re-establish support and supplies to the patients, doctors and families who need our products, repaired damaged facilities and provided much needed assistance to the Tohoku region.
“Culturally, Japanese people have a strong team spirit that was important to helping us make a successful recovery,” says Kobayashi. “Still, I could not have expected such surprisingly good teamwork.”
He emphasizes that caring for people is also part of Japanese culture and says, “The biggest lesson I’d like others to learn from this disaster is the importance of caring for and helping each other.”
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