株式会社ブンカ巧芸社（1953年創業、従業員78人、鹿児島市）の主力事業は各種看板の企画・製作・施工と保守メンテナンスです。峯元信明社長は3代目、04年に入社、12年35歳で父親から社長を継承しました。戦争から帰って創業した初代祖父の時代の看板は、手書きによる文字と絵で製作されました。現代の看板は大型化し、小さな建物を作るのと同じで、基礎工事、板金、塗装、電気工事など各種工程が必要です。看板製作業者はどれかの工程に特化しているのが普通ですが、2代目父が92年に看板を一貫製作する自社工場を建設、さらに現社長が工場を移転・拡大、大型機械の分業による一貫製作能力を強化しました。協力企業が40～50社で、主に現地設置を依頼していますが、同社工場で部分工程を担当してもらうこともあります。顧客がブンカ巧芸社に発注すれば工事のすべてとメンテナンスをやってもらえることが、同社の最大の強みになっています。2011年の売上7億円、18年9億円、16～18年は9億円台で横ばいですが長期的には着実に売上を伸ばし、鹿児島県ではトップ企業です。

しかし、苦しい時もありました。以前から離職率は高かったのですが、2008年のリーマンショックにより25％の従業員が辞めました。峯元社長は当時専務でしたが、「リストラをするような会社にはいられない。経営者を信頼できない」と言われたのがショックでした。そこで、社長になって大切にしている考えが、「社員と共に成長する会社」です。そのため、第1に手帳型の経営指針を作成、全社員に持ってもらうことにしました。ここには企業の未来ビジョン、事業方針、売上目標、設備投資計画、各社員の達成目標等、企業のすべてが詰まっており、全社員が社長と同じ経営情報を持ち、納得しながら同じ方向を目指すことができます。

第2に社員の要望の共有に努めました。社員が長く勤められるよう、年１回の社員満足度調査、月1回の社長との座談会、年3回の個人面接等で社員の声を聞く仕組みを構築しました。社員満足度調査では、仕事の手ごたえや経営姿勢への信頼感、職場のコミュニケーション、給与や人事処遇にどのようなことを考えているかを把握します。

第3に行ったのが「委員会活動」です。その目的は①社員参加で自分たちの会社を自分たちでよくする、②委員長には管理職以外の社員が就き、役割で人を育てる、③部門横断的なコミュニケーションのツールをつくる、です。と言っても、社員はすぐには参加してくれませんでした。けん引役になったのは「環境整備委員会」でした。大阪の中小企業家同友会会員企業に社長とメンバー4、5人で３S（整理、整頓、清掃）活動を学びに行きました。社長は5回も行ったそうです。まず捨てることから始め、何年間も置きっぱなしの物がなくなり、空間が広がると蜘蛛の巣も目立ち、清掃が進む。きれいになると汚す人もいなくなる。みんながうれしくなり活動が進み、プライドを持てる工場になりました。「ふれあい委員会」も効果をあげました。「気持ちよく働けるような朝礼にしよう」を目標にし、従来、社長中心であったものを社員中心に変えました。社員が交代で毎回1分間スピーチを行います。話は日常生活で経験したことなど様々ですが、「これを話してやろう」という気構えで、準備してきます。話す人の人間性もわかります。朝礼は次第に活性化し、以前は経営理念の唱和もぼそぼそ声だったのが、いつの間にか元気な声になりました。委員会は7つあり、全委員会が年2回成果を発表し、全社員の投票で1位を表彰します。委員会活動は社員の横のつながりを強め、人間関係もよくなりました。

第1と第2が縦の情報共有ループ、第3は横の情報共有ループと言えます。ブンカ巧芸社は縦、横の情報共有ループで「社員と共に成長する会社」を目指しているのです。高かった離職率も2018年度はゼロにできました。仕事柄、年度末には土日出勤もあり、年間休日数は十分でないという課題も抱えていますが、峯元社長は不景気になってもリストラしないような業界で目指される看板屋になりたいと言っています。

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Bunkakougeisya Co., Ltd. was founded in 1953 in Kagoshima City, currently with 78 employees, mainly serving for planning, production, construction and maintenance of various signboards. President Minemoto Nobuaki is the third generation, joined the company in 2004, and succeeded the president from his father at the age of 35 in 2012. The signboards at the time of his grandfather who founded the company after returning from the war, were made with handwritten letters and pictures. However, modern signboards are larger and are the same as building small buildings, requiring various processes such as foundation work, sheet metal works, painting, and electrical works. Signboard manufacturers are usually specialized in one of the processes, but the second generation, his father, built his own factory for integrated signboard production in 1992, and the current president relocated and expanded the factory, with division of labor for large machines, and had strengthened the integrated production capacity. There are 40 to 50 cooperating companies, mainly requesting local installation, but sometimes the company's factory is in charge of partial processes. One of the company's greatest strengths is that if a customer places an order with Bunkakougeisya, they can do all the construction work and maintenance. Sales were flat at 700 million yen in 2011, 900 million yen in 2018, and 900 million yen in 2016-18, but sales have steadily increased over the long term, and it is the top company in Kagoshima prefecture.

However, there were difficult times. The turnover rate was high for some time, and 25% of employees left the company in 2008 at the time of Lehman shock. President Minemoto was the managing director then, and was shocked to hear from the employees saying, "I can't stay in a company that easily layoff workers. I can't trust the management." Therefore, when he became the president of the company, he valued "a company that grows with employees."

First of all, he made a booklet of management guidelines and asked all employees to bring it. The booklet was written with all of the company's future vision, business policy, sales targets, capital investment plans, achievement targets of each employee, etc. All employees can share the same management information as the president, and can take the same direction with confidence.

In the second, he tried to share the needs of the employees. He made a system to listen to employees' voices through annual employee satisfaction surveys, monthly roundtable discussions with the president, and personal interviews three times a year so that employees can work for a long time. By the employee satisfaction survey, he understands what employees think about their work, confidence in management, workplace communication, salary and personnel treatment.

In the third, he started "committee activities." The purpose was to (1) improve the company by employees themselves by their participation, (2) place non-managerial employees as chairpersons and nurture them in their roles, and (3) create tools for cross-departmental communication. However, the employees didn't join the plan right away. The "Environmental Improvement Committee" served as a driving force for the change. The president went to Osaka accompanying several employees to learn about 3S Activities (Seiri=Sorting, Seiton=Setting-in-Order, Seiso=Shining) at a member company of Doyukai, the National Conference of the Association of Small Business Entrepreneurs. The president went to the company 5 times.

The Activity started by throwing unnecessary things away, and any things that have been left unattended for many years disappeared, and as the space expanded, spider webs stood out and cleaning progressed. When it got clean, no one dared to pollute the place. Everyone felt happy and took pride in the factory.

The "Fureai Committee" was also effective. With the goal of "making it a morning assembly to start the day’s work comfortably," the previously president-centered assembly was changed to employee-centered. Employees started to give a one-minute speech in turn. They spoke on various stories, such as what they experienced in their daily life, and they prepared with the attitude of "let's talk about this." They could also see the human nature of the speaker. The morning assembly gradually became more active, and the chanting of the management philosophy used to be with sloppy voices became cheerful ones. There were seven committees, and all committees announced their results twice a year, and all employees voted for the first place. The committee activities have strengthened the horizontal connections between employees and improved their relationships.

The first and second measures provided vertical information sharing loops, and the third provided horizontal information sharing loops. Bunkakougeisya aims to be a "company that grows with employees" through a vertical and horizontal information sharing loop. The high turnover rate was reduced to zero in FY2018. Due to the nature of their work, they have to work on Saturdays and Sundays at the end of the fiscal year, so they have a problem that the number of holidays is not enough, and Minemoto says that he wants to become a signboard company aimed at in the industry, that will not be restructured even in the recession.