Takumi Hirai

The KLS Haneda Sales Office acts as a third-party logistics ("3PL") partner to an IT firm based outside of Japan, and serves an important role in warehouse operations. We provide seamless KWE Group service to our customers from their production facilities overseas to the end users here in Japan. We are always highly aware of our responsibility as the only hub warehouse in Japan for the customer.

Most of our job involves communicating and resolving the customer's logistical problems. We get a lot of different demands from them and need to work hard to solve difficult problems. Here's one example that made a big impression on me.

At the time, the volume of import cargo coming into the warehouse varied a great deal day to day. That resulted in high costs for the customer as we needed to keep enough staff at the warehouse to handle the largest volume all the time. The problem couldn't be solved by KLS on its own, but we saw a way to approach it using the combined capability of the KWE Group. Specifically, we closely coordinated with the KWE subsidiary outside Japan on the export side and the import office here in Japan in order to split up very large shipments from the customer's production facility into a number of smaller shipments at the KWE export office, and also adjusted post-import schedules accordingly. That's how we were able to level out freight volume coming into the warehouse and cut costs dramatically. I was impressed by the fast, cooperative action and group-wide coordination, as well as proud of this unique solution only the KWE Group could provide.

I've benefited from many opportunities to grow through my experiences at KLS. My career has been enriched by working at a wide variety of workplaces, including a domestic cargo delivery office, a 3PL warehouse, and a training program at a KWE company overseas, all of them valuable opportunities to deepen my understanding of logistics. At every workplace we handled the customer's cargo with care, continuing to exceed their expectations. And in the face of many problems we did not look for reasons why it could not be done, we continued to look for a way it could be done. That attitude is the important, valuable, and deeply rooted corporate culture at KWE and the source of our strength.

KLS will continue to keep moving forward with ever-new points of view, in order to exceed customer expectations and be the best logistics partner. And as a member of the KWE Group, I will continue to work hard and grow, with pride in our active role in global logistics.