Komatsu Way

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The KOMATSU WayIt w as a journey of self-discovery from the past and self-confidence for t he fu ture. It all began in September 2005,when we reassessed our own strengths and weaknesses as part of the first-stage Reform of Business Structure

project. It t ook a litt le over 10 months for the working group t o compile The KOMATSU Way. They reviewed thecontents of QC Handbooks f rom 1963 to the present, which include Komatsu words of w isdom w hich have been

passed down at workplaces over the years. The working group also conducted over 50 hours of int erviews wi th 40employees -- both current and reti red -- some of whom are considered the legendary meisters of our p lants.

In th is feature story sect ion, we would like to highl ight some major contents of The KOMATSU Way which wasput in writing for Komatsu Group employees last year. Born in Japan, The KOMATSU Way has just begun to reachour people in different parts of the world for possible modifications. We feel certain that the core values in the

following pages are universal and thus capable of withstanding the passage of time and people, transcendingcult ural diversit y and national borders.

17 Annual Report 2007


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Feature Section

Background: Building the spirit of challenge

When Komatsu was es tab l i shed in 1921 ,

M eitaro Takeuchi, found er, spelled out his

f o u n d i n g p r i n c ip l e s as G l o b a l iz at i o n ,

Qua l it y Fi rst , Techno logy Innovat ion ,

and Hum an Resource Development . Justl i k e m a n y o t h e r c o m p a n i e s o p e r a t i n g

around the world today, weve come a long

way wi th ups and downs in our h is tory o f

86 years. Just to m entio n a few , our fo rerunn ers m et a series of

critical challenges -- post-w ar recovery and bu ilding a b usiness

from scratch in 1946, complete deregulation of the Japanese

construction equipm ent m arket in January 1964, w hich opened

to fore ign compet i t ion, and the Plaza Accord of 1985 which

caused an 8.5% apprec ia t ion of t he Japanese yen w i th in a

mere 24 hours of announcement of the Accord, at a t ime when

our export sales account ed fo r about 54% of tot al sales.

W hi le many people in Japan were ta lk ing about how many

weeks o r mon ths a t mos t i t wou ld take fo r Komatsu to gounder due to the market l iberalization, our forerunners were

busy round the c lock develop ing and in troduc ing bu l ldozers

w ith dram atic im provement s in quality. To t he great surprise of

the Japanese people, however, the forerunners not only made

M ei t a ro T ak euc h i

What is TheKOMATSU Way?

the Company s t ronger by tak ing on the in te rna t iona l cha l -

lenge, but also demonstrated and embedded those founding

principles as our corporate DNA . The KOM ATSU W ay is built

on Kom atsus strengt hs wh ich are substantiated by t he beliefs,

p a t t e rn s o f b e h a v i o r a n d k n o w -h o w th a t o u r f o re ru n n e rs

learned from their experiences of both success and failure ofthe past , and i t is our corporate DNA that we would l ike a l l

employees of the Komatsu Group around the wor ld to keep

througho ut t he passage of t im e.

Today , jus t fo r the cons t ruc t ion and min ing equ ipmen t ,

w e g e n e rate a b o u t 8 0 % o f t o t a l sa l es a w a y f r o m Ja p a n ,

abou t half of o ur w orkf orce represents non-Japanese cit izens,

and we operate 33 manufactur ing fac i l i t ies in 16 countr ies ,

outs ide of Japan. Now that The KOMA TSU W ayis available in

pr in ted form, we have a too l for shar ing our corporate DNA

w ith a ll Komatsu Group people work ing around the w or ld .

The KOMATSU Way: Defining the values for all Komatsu employees

around the wor ldTh e c o rn e rs to n e o f o u r ma n a g e me n t l i e s i n c o mmi tme n t t o

Quality and Reliabil ity in order to maximize our corporate value.

We define our corporate value as the total sum of trust given to

us by all our stakeholders and society. To im prove th is trust, w e

Stabilization of Exchange RatesFloating ExchangeRate System

0

50 0

1,000

1 ,500

2 ,000

60

16 0

26 0

36 0

0

20

40

60

80

Komat sus Sales and Overseas Expansion

Foreign Exchange Rate (JPY/USD)

Komat sus Business ResultsBillions of yen

Plaza Accord

%

Yen

Ra pid Gr ow t h o f Jap an ese Eco no my Ex pa nsio n o f Ex po rt s Expansion of Overseas Production Globally Consolidated Management

(1) Coping wi th restrictionsfrom national izationpol icy in target countries

(2) Local production in Europeand USA

(3) Entry to Emerging Market

U K (19 8 5) I t al y ( 19 9 1) G erman y (1 9 89 , 1 9 96 ) USA (1985, 1994, 2002)

China (1995) : 3 Plants Thailand (1995) India (1998, 2007)

Fixed Rate System(USD1=JPY360)

New

Production

Bases

Established

Abroad

A total of 44 plants are now in operation.

(11 plants in Japan and 33 overseas)

Brazi l (1972) Mexico (1974) Indonesia (1982)

Consolidated Net Sales

Export (non-consolidated)

Sales in Japan (non-consolidated)

Ratio of Export (non-consolidated)

6

2

6

1

6

3

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4

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0



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19 Annual Report 200719 Annual Report 2007

have consistently worked to strengthen our corporate governance

an d M onozukuri or manufacturing competit iveness. Such efforts

h a v e t r a n s f o r m e d i n t o t h e s o u r c e o f K o m a t s u s s t r e n g t h s ,

becoming tw o core comp onents of The KOM ATSU W ay.

When we speak about Monozukur i at Komatsu, we mean

not only plant floors but rather all value-chain activities in w hich

we are engaged -- in the spirit of teamwork -- by suppliers and

d is t r ibu to rs in add i t ion to in te rna l ope ra t ions rang ing f rom

development, production, sales and service to administration. In

The KOM ATSU W ay, we have identified t he seven core values

that support our Monozuku r i .1) Commitment to Quality and Reliability:

Qua l i ty i s ou r top -p r io r i t y commi tmen t , and thus we w i l l

never make any compromise on quality.

2) Customer Oriented:

By valuing t he opinion s of o ur custom ers, w e cont inue to

of fer t he products and services that t hey are proud t o ow n.

3) Defining the Root Cause:

By clearly defining all processes from product planning to

mach ine cond i t ions in the f ie ld , we a lways work to f ind

and f ix the roo t cause of prob lems in order to p revent th e

problem from recurr ing.

4) Workplace Philosophy:

W o r k p l a c e s (G e n b a i n Ja p a n e se ) o f f e r i n f o r m a t i o n w h i c h

should const i tu te the foundat ion of our po l i c ies, s t ra teg ies,

improvement plans and other vi tal ini t iat ives. I t s important to

e m p h a si ze a n d l o o k a t t h e f a c t s o f w o r k p l a c es, m a k i n g

inform at ion visible.

5) Policy Deployment :

A s s o o n a s t o p m a n a g e m e n t p o l i c i e s a re a n n o u n c e d ,

employees on all levels understand their respective roles,

make the i r own ac t i v i t y p lans , and imp lemen t them on

their init iative.

6) Collaborat ion wit h Business Partners:

In al l operations from development to sales and after-sales

service, w e w ork to gether w ith ou r business partners from

a r o u n d t h e w o r l d t o s o l v e p r o b l e m s a n d i m p r o v e

o p e r a t i o n s , s h a r e k n o w - h o w a n d w o r k f o r o u r m u t u a l

grow th as One Komatsu.7) Human Resource Development :

I t is the human resources, i .e . , employees, that support

sus ta inab le co rpo ra te g rowth . Emp loyees a re the mos t

v a l u a b l e c o r p o r a t e a s s e t a n d t h u s h u m a n r e s o u r c e

development and educational programs for employees are

indispensable w orldw ide.

To ensure The KOM ATSU W ay is established t hrou gho ut the

Komatsu Group w orldw ide, w e formed KOM ATSU W ay Division

i n J u l y 2 0 0 6 . S i n c e t h e n i t h a s c o n d u c t e d a n u m b e r o f

p r o m o t i o n a l a n d e d u c a t i o n a l a c t i v i t i e s , i n c l u d i n g 5 6

presentations by Kunio Noji, Director (currently President and

CEO). In the fol lowing pages, we would l ike to introduce our

human resource development efforts, one of the seven ways of

Komatsu, and some programs that have been put in place over

th e years as w ell as m ore recent ly.

The KOM ATSU W ay

Corporat e Governance MONOZUKURI

Five Principles

1. Vitalize the functions of the board of directors.

2. Take the init iat ive in communicating w ith all

our stakeholders.

3. Comply w ith t he rules of the business

community .

4. Never put off responses to risks.

5. Keep thinking about your successor.

Seven Ways

of KOMATSU

Human Resour ce

Development

Commitment

to Quality and

Reliability

Policy

Deployment

Workplace

(Genba)

Philosophy

Defining t he

Root Cause

Customer

Oriented

Collaboration

wi th Business

Partners


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Feature SectionFeature Section

f r o m t h e A w a z u P l a n t w i n n i n g f i r s t p l a c e i n t h e p a r t s

inspection event, the f irst female champion in the history of

t h i s c o m p e t i t i o n , a n d C h e n Y u f r o m K o m a t s u S h a n t u i

Con structio n M achinery in China, coming in second p lace for

the w e ld ing even t and S tephen Boa l f rom Kom atsu UK inEngland , receiving third p lace in th e painting event .

Global Training Institute: Sharing Kom atsu ways of supportin g

customers work

Our Product Support Division offers the Global Training Institute

(G TI ), a 1 2 t o 1 3 -w e e k , co m p re h e n s i ve p ro d u c t su p p o r t

program, every year to facil i tate the growth of candidates for

key managerial positions of local product support operations at

our overseas subsidiaries and distributors. With 120 subjects in

the curriculum, the GTI emphasizes the strategy of the product

lifecycle business and th e concept o f w in-w in-w in (custom ers-

distributors-Komatsu as manufacturer) relationship.

Held in Japan, Europe and the United States from October17, 20 06 to February 23, 200 7, the th ird GTI w as partic ipated

i n b y 1 3 s e l e c te d e m p l o y e e s f r o m e i g h t K o m a ts u G ro u p

companies, including Komatsu Ltd. in Japan, and one from PT

United Tractors Tbk, our Indones ian d is tr ibutor. To date, a

t o ta l o f 3 8 p e rs o n s , i n c l u d i n g f o u r f r o m o u r d i s t r i b u to r s ,

representing 11 cou ntries, have comp leted th e GTI.

Global Management Seminar: Sharing the values that

Komatsu stand by

Fo l low ing t he p rev iou s f i scal year , ou r Hu m an Resou rces

Department in the Tokyo Head Office sponsored the second

Global Management Seminar in Tokyo f rom Apri l 11 throug h

14, 20 07. A to ta l o f 13 p residents and senior m anagers f rom11 subsidiaries in seven count ries att ended t he sem inar, w here

senior of f icers of Kom atsu Ltd. m ade presentations concerning

Komatsu s s t ra teg ies fo r management , g loba l i za t ion , R&D,

p ro d u c t i o n a n d s o f o r t h . T h i s s e m i n a r a l s o i n c l u d e d t h e

presentat ions on The KOM ATSU W ay by M asahiro Sakane,

president and CEO (currently Chairman of the Board) as w ell as

the g eneral manager of KO M ATSU W ay Division. It s an urg ent

task for al l of us in the Komatsu Group now to share the same

values so th at w e w il l be able to d rive our eff orts in the same

direc t ion, as w e cont inue to g row overseas in the sp ir i t o f

g lobal teamw ork.

Al l -Komatsu QC Convent ion: Shar ing innovat ive ideas to improve

workplace capabilit ies

KOM ATSU W ay Division hosted the 38 th ann ual All-Komatsu

QC Convent ion on November 18, 2006. Held a t our Oyama

Plant and its nextdoor neighbor, Komatsu Forkli ft s (currently,KOM ATSU Ut ility Co., Ltd. s) Tochigi Plant, it accom m odated a

tota l o f 72 groups, inc lud ing 16 f rom abroad and e ight f rom

supp liers, w hich m ade presentat ions covering a d iverse range o f

QC activities on the plant floor and in staff and administration

operations. Highlights of th is Convention w ere tw o grou ps from

the Uni ted Kingdom and China winn ing f i rs t p lace. Komatsu

UKs Produc t ion Improvements Team p resen ted c lose -kn i t

t e a m w o r k a c t i v i t i e s b y i t s a s s e m b l y a n d m a n u f a c t u r i n g

engineering people. Komat su Shantu i Construction M achinerys

Produ ction M anagem ent Team int rodu ced its activit ies w hich

have improved supply-chain management by means of directly

linking distributo rs and p lants.

All-Komatsu Technology Olympics: Show casing ind ividual engin eering expertise

T h i r d S a t u r d a y o f O c t o b e r e v e r y y e a r i s d e s i g n a t e d a s

Komatsu s Sk i l ls Day. The Product ion Div is ion and Human

Re so u r c e s D e p a r t m e n t j o i n t l y h e l d t h e 2 9 t h a n n u a l A l l -

K o m a ts u Te c h n o l o g y O l y m p i c s a t t h e M o o k a an d O s a k a

plants f rom October 19 to 21 , 2006. A t o ta l o f 120 engineers,

inc lud ing 29 f rom abroad and 11 f rom suppl iers, part ic ipated

in the com pet i t ive events o f m achin ing, w eld ing, assemb ly ,

pa in t ing , pa r ts inspec t ion and mecha t ron ics ma in tenance .

H igh l igh ts o f the 2006 O lymp ics inc lude M iyuk i M iyamura

Human ResourceDevelopment

Programs

All-Komatsu Technology Olympics



5/7

I was most impressed to learn th at The KOM ATSU W ay has

been disti l led from the entire history of Komatsu. Each of the

seven e lem ents o f The KOM ATSU W ay came about f rom the

reaction of the company to real threats or challenges over i ts

86-year history.

In my current ro le as head of Corp orate Planning and

Strategy, the concepts and too ls around po l icy deployment

m ake it the on e of th e seven w ays that relates to m e mo st in

m y w o r k p l a ce t o d a y. K o m a t su p e r se ve r ed t h r o u g h i t s

challenges of the past by directly and clearly communicating

i ts pr ior i t ies to each mem ber o f t he w ork force.

The excit ing t hing is th at The KOM ATSU W ay is f luid and

a l i ve . It i s an un f in ished w ork , and so se rves as a g rea t

f r a m e w o rk f o r w h e re t o s t a r t w h e n y o u a re f a c i n g a n e w

problem, but leaves the u l t imate so lu t ion, and extens ion of

the principles up to the creativ ity of the team.

I have w orked for t he company for 26 years. In m y previous

v i s i t s t o o u r J a p a n e s e o p e ra t i o n s , e s p e c i a l l y a t p l a n t s , I

remem ber that The KOM ATSU W ay has a lways been there,

maybe not in wr i t ten form or s ta ted po l icy , but ingra ined in

the b ehavior of i ts employees. This has not been th e w ay for

many overseas operations.

The most crit ical aspect of The KOM ATSU W ay is the f act

that Komatsu executive management in Japan has proactively

taken s teps to engender th e ph i losophy o f The KOM ATSU

Way to al l i ts international operations. At Komatsu Southern

Africa, the process of disseminating it has begun already and

w il l cont inue in various phases during the cou rse of t he year.

A t p r e s e n t , w e n e e d t o e m p h a s i z e t h e h u m a n r e s o u r c e

d e v el o p m e n t a n d w o r k p l a ce (G e n b a ) p h i l o so p h y i n o u r

operat ion. The major compet i t ive advantage we can create

o v e r o u r c o m p e t i t o r s w i l l b e t h r o u g h o u r p e o p l e . T h eKOM ATSU W ay is th e best to ol for th is urgen t need.

This is th e f i rst t ime I have been invo lved in th e deep

u n d e r s t a n d i n g o n h o w K o m a t s u d o e s

th ings and I am exc i ted and proud to be

part o f i t .

Even though I t ranslated the cont ents of The KOM ATSU W ay

in to Por tuguese and gave the t rans la t ion to a l l managers a t

K o m a t su d o B r asi l in M a r c h 2 0 0 7 , I h a v e d e ep e n e d m y

u n d e rs ta n d in g o f Th e KOM ATSU W a y in t h i s se min a r . M o s t

n o t a b l y , I w a s im p r e sse d w h e n M r . N o j i e n c o u r a g e d u s t o

prom ote The KOM ATSU W ay to m eet our needs. I am sure that

all other participants felt the same.

W i t h o u t a n y d o u b t , a l l t h e s e ve n w a y s a r e e sse n t i a l t o

strengt hen o ur op eration in Brazil, mainly because w e are the global

supply base of D41 and D51 b ul ldozers for the Komatsu Group. W e

n e e d t o i m p r o v e m o r e a n d r e i n f o r c e o u r j o b s t h r o u g h T h e

KOM ATSU W ay. I am sure th at th e seven w ays are highly valued

too ls and concepts , not on ly for the Company but a lso for the

prof essional grow th o f each on e of u s. It is the level of ou r w orkers

kno w ledge, skil ls and prof essionalism that ensures the q uality of ou r

prod ucts. Thats my job to m aintain and up grade their level.

I b el ie ve C o m m i tm e n t t o Q u a li t y an d R el ia b i li t y o f t h e

seven w ays reflects the core of Kom atsu. As a mat ter of fact,

d u r i n g t h e G l o b al M a n ag e m e n t Se m i n ar , I f o u n d t h i s

management po l icy to be the major reason that I fee l proud

to w ork fo r Komatsu .

The KOM ATSU W ay means a too l fo r me . Dur ing th is

seminar, I realized its im port ance as it g ives answ ers to w hy

w e a r e p r o u d t o w o r k f o r K o m a t s u , w h y K o m a t s u i s

successful, and w hy w e do t hings in the com pany as they are

don e . It i s The KOM ATSU W ay tha t sha rpens the po si t i ve

Kom atsu aspects and ensures that w e run the same w ay in

the sam e direction w ith th e highest eff ic iency.

I wo uld l ike to m ent ion th at i t has been im pressive to see

how top management g ives f lex ib i l i ty to each reg ion of the

w o r l d , t o e a c h c o m p a n y o f t h e K o m a ts u f a m i l y , t o e a c h

manager how to imp lemen t The KOM ATSU W ay w i thou tleaving any doub t abou t The KOM ATSU W ay itself.

Brian Kober,

Vice President,

Corporate Planning and Strategy,

Komatsu America Corp.

Jorge Hosokawa,

Director, Manufacturing,

Komatsu do Brasil Ltda.

Mike Blom,

Deputy Managing Director ,

Komatsu Sout hern Af rica (Pty) Ltd.

Hubert Bruening,

General Manager, Work ing Gear Division,

Komatsu Hanomag GmbH



6/7


Feature Section

A ccomp l i sh ing S uccess fu l P r oduc t i on S ta r t - up o f t he P C 200- 8

Hydraulic Excavator around t he World

A s w e h a v e g l o b a l i z e d o u r o p e r a t i o n , i t h a s b e c o m e m o r e

impor tant for u s to manufacture our products w i th un i formi ty in

produ ct qual i ty for customers around t he w orld. M ost recently,

in response to Tier 3 emission standards for diesel engines in

North America and Europe. Effect ive since January 2006, our

plants in Japan, the United States, Europe and Thailand mounted

our in-house developed ecot3 Tier 3-com pliant engines on 21

models , inc lud ing the new PC200-8 hydraul ic excavator . We

would l ike to show how our people at our U.S. and Thai plants

w orked to accomp lish prod uction start-up o f our g lobal standard

excavator m odel as simu ltaneously as possible w ith t he Osaka

Plant, their M oth er plant.

C h a t t a n o o g a M a n u f a c t u r i n g O p e r a t i o n i n t h e U n i t e d St a t e s :

Demonstrating policy deployment capabilit ies

K o m a t su A m e r i ca C o r p . s C h a t t a n o o g a M a n u f a c t u r i n g

Operation (CM O) produ ces five m odels of h ydraulic excavators,ranging from 20 to 40 tons, and three models of art iculated

dum p tru cks. To ensure sm oot h launchings of Tier 3-com pliant

m odels, including t he PC200LC-8 upd ated hydraulic excavator,

they fo rmed a special, cross-fun ctional team in Apri l 20 05. The

team consisted of people from design engineering, production

p l a n n i n g , p ro c u rem e n t , c o st m a n a g em e n t , m a n u fa c tu r in g

engineering, manufacturing, quality assurance and warehouse

d e p a r t m e n t s . J a y F u c h i t a , s e n i o r m a n a g e r o f d e s i g n

e n g i n e e r i n g , w a s t h e t e a m l e ad e r r e sp o n si b l e f o r o v e ra ll

schedule status checks, and Bruce Nelson, senior manager of

manufacturing administration, was the sub leader responsible

for overall logistics and parts inventory. Five team members

trave led to Japan to take part in the s tart -up product ion for

three of the m odels of hydraulic excavators at t he Osaka Plant.

The spec ia l team created the master schedule for each

departm ents activit ies and requ ired dates of com pletion. From

M ay through September, they met m onth ly as a to ta l group,

and weekly in October for the assembly l ine-on scheduled for

November 7 , 2005 . Fo r the PC200LC-8 , the team s t i l l me t

w eekly unt i l the end of Novemb er by w hen all issues had been

thoroughly discussed for solutions. Each department had its

ow n m eet ings to d iscuss th e schedule and act iv i t ies i t w as

respon sib le for . The departm ent leader w as respon sib le for

u p d a t i n g t h e m a st e r s ch e d u l e w i t h h i s/ h e r d e p a r t m e n t s

activit ies and reporting it in the team m eetings. CM Os Mo ther

Plant Osaka made sure to send a l l Komatsu Technica l

In form at ion on-t ime to a llow CM O to meet i ts schedule.

A sense of urgency w as in th e air. All em ployees knew that

they could afford to make no mistake since they only had alead-time of f ive months for s ix models, including one after-

m odel change. To ensure trou ble-free production, t hey created

an individualized l ist f or al l parts for th e w arehousing o peration

w hich w as be ing outsourced by CM O. In th is w ay they were

able to ach ieve the correc t and in- t ime de l ivery o f parts to

assemb ly wo rk centers on t he plant f loor.

The KOMATSU Wayin Practice

Assembly li ne at CMO

PC200-8 hydraulic excavator


7/7


W e a c t u a ll y h a d n o m a jo r p r o b l e m b e c au se e v er y o n e

comm unicated very wel l w i th each oth er and w e all made sure to

help each d epartm ent so t hat all necessary activit ies w ere carried

out on t ime. W e also ensured that actual assemb ly went w el l by

having a special team fol low the f i rs t t ime product ion through

the en t i re manufac tu r ing p rocess and record the p rob lems as

they occurred. The team m et w eekly af ter product ion start-up to

correct any problems found in the manufactur ing process and

w e solved all problems w ith in three w eeks.

Bangkok Komatsu: Making commitments to Quality and Reliability

Bangkok Komatsu Co., Ltd. (BKC) is positioned as an exclusiveproduct ion base of the Komatsu Group for PC200 hydraul ic

excavators. Having survived the currency cris is of July 1997,

B KC e x p o r t s a b o u t 8 0 % o f i t s t o t a l p ro d u c t io n v o l u m e o f

3,200 units, mainly to North Am erica and Greater Asia, today.

As soon as BKC received Komatsu Technical Information

concern ing th e PC200-8 mo del f rom i ts M other Plant in Osaka

in June 2005, BKC s tarted ho ld ing i ts or ig ina l F i rs t Product

M eet ing program for suppl iers to share technica l in format ion

concern ing the pa r ts and es tab l i sh goa ls w i th them on an

individual basis. BKC first introduced this program in 2001 for

the product ion s tart -up of the PC200-7 model , because they

discovered m any technical prob lems in locally made p arts. The

meetings with suppliers are held under the leadership of thePurchase Department and jo ined by the Qual i ty Assurance

Department before actua l purchase of the parts . In typ ica l

m eet ings, the Purchase Departm ent uses about 3 0% of t he

time to discuss purchase-related matters, such as delivery and

costs, wit h suppliers, w hile the Qu ality Assurance Departm ent

uses abou t 7 0% , fo r techn ica l issues. There are a lso t hree

q u a l i t y sp e c i a l i st s , tw o s p e c i a l iz i n g i n p a r t s a n d o n e i n

m a c h i n e p e r f o rm a n c e , w h o h a v e re c e i v e d t r a i n i n g a t t h e

Osaka Plant. They play the important roles of arranging and

mo ni tor ing f requency of the m eet ings, and rev iew ing the i tem

coverage ra t io , w h ich i s the p e rcen tage o f p a r ts fo r each

prod uct d iscussed in t he m eetings.

At BKC, communicat ion is one of the most important key

w ord s in all activities. Thu s, the First Product M eeting p rog ram

is considered to be a perfect too l to enhance comm unication in

order to achieve the target of production start-up.

O u r s u c ce ssf u l s t a r t - u p f o r t h e P C 2 0 0 - 8 m o d e l l i es

signif icantly wit h t he First Product M eeting. For t he PC200 -8,

we rev iewed 819 i tems wi th about 40 suppl iers ind iv idual ly ,

w h i c h t r a n sl a t es in t o a n i t e m c o v e r ag e r a t i o o f 8 5 % ,

compared to 60% for PC200-7 in 2001 . For m ost i tems, wehad one or two meetings, but for diff icult i tems, such as dies

and mo lds fo r the p roduc t ion o f doo r cove r assemb ly and

engine hoods, w e had e ight to ten m eet ings at m aximum . To

so lve the p rob lems , we a lso had a good suppor t f rom the

M oth er Plant. I realize that this meeting prog ram is not easy,

but I would l ike to take a strong leadership in driv ing this kind

of activ it ies to m ake BKC the b est q uality factory in th e w orld.

Bangko k Komat su Co., Ltd.

Bruce Nelson

Senior Manager, Manuf actur ing Administration

Chattanooga Manufacturing Operation

Komatsu America Corp.

Hirun Huntrakul

Qualit y Assurance Manager

Bangkok Komatsu Co., Ltd .

Documents

Komatsu Way