Myanmar Through My Eyes
As the editor of CONNECT, and a member of Hitachi Asia Ltd. Corporate Communications Group (HAS-CCG), I am constantly on the lookout for content to feature on Hitachi Asia’s monthly e-newsletter. While the initial purpose of this trip was to kickstart the Inaugural Brand Training for the employees in Myanmar, I also took this opportunity to make prior arrangements to visit the other two Hitachi Group Companies (GoCs) to understand more about Hitachi’s businesses in Myanmar, and how Hitachi is contributing to this part of the world.
For the inaugural brand training, I worked closely with Thu Thu and Thiri, who are from Hitachi Asia Ltd. Myanmar Branch (HAS-MM). Thu Thu was also the main coordinator for this trip. Together with Clarice, chief editor of CONNECT, we embarked on our first trip to Myanmar.
Thursday, 5th September 2019 @ 09:00: HAS-MM
At HAS-MM office
As guests of HAS-MM, we had to greet our host first. We met Mr. Daiju Nakamura, General Manager of HAS-MM, and his employees in his office. It was good to finally put the faces to the names whom we have been corresponding with via email all these while.
Mr. Nakamura took over the reins of HAS-MM in April 2019 and already, he sees so much potential in this country. He is very excited about making a difference in Myanmar and strengthening Hitachi’s presence here. Watch a short clip of his interview here to understand more.
Established in 2014, the purpose of HAS-MM was to establish the fundamental scheme and structure for expanding Hitachi’s Social Innovation Business in Myanmar, support the other GoCs, as well as Hitachi’s overall business in Myanmar. As we would be back the next day for the inaugural brand training, we set off to HEM’s office shortly after.
Thursday, 5th September 2019 @ 10:00: Hitachi Elevator Myanmar (HEM)
Mr. Robin, fourth from left and Mr. H. Tokuharu, fifth from left together with HEM staff.
We first greeted Mr. Hikomitsu Tokuharu, Managing Director (MD) of HEM before adjourning to understand more of HEM’s business and operations from Mr. Robin, General Manager (GM) of HEM.
Through his interview, it was evident that Mr. Robin is very passionate about his work in HEM as he strongly believes HEM will be able to achieve their targets despite their rough start. Click here to read more about Mr. Robin’s personal life.
Very briefly, HEM was established in 2015 and has an office of about 35 employees. In addition to this office and a service centre in Yangon, HEM recently opened a new branch office in Mandalay four months ago. Since its main manufacturing plant is in Thailand, HEM acts like a sales and service centre.
To date, HEM’s biggest project was to supply 70 units of elevators and escalators to Myanmar Plaza which consisted of a hotel, shopping mall and two office towers. There is an ongoing project with KBZ Bank HQ @ Jasmine City that is slated for completion in mid-2020 to supply about 19 units of elevators and escalators. As Myanmar is a developing country in the early stages of urbanisation, we were so proud to learn that Hitachi is already part of this process, staying true to its mission of contributing to the society. Clearly, it is every HEM employee’s dream to see more of Hitachi’s elevators and escalators installed in more parts of Yangon, as well as in the rest of the country.
Myanmar Plaza where Hitachi installed 70 units of elevators and escalators here.
KBZ Bank HQ @ Jasmine City slated to open in mid-2020.
After this, we headed to HISEM’s head office.
Thursday, 5th September 2019 @ 14:00: Hitachi Soe & Electric Machinery Co., Ltd. (HISEM) Head Office.
HISEM’s Head Office
From right to left: Thu Thu, Mr. K.Atsumi, Ms. Hnin, Mr. Y.Hayashi, Clarice, Wylyn and HISEM staff.
Ever since HISEM won the Grand Prix of last year’s Inspiration of the Year Global Award (IYGA), I always wanted to visit this very inspirational company. HISEM was established in 2015 through a joint venture and has since been contributing to the Burmese society. Their IYGA project - through World Bank - would see them producing and delivering almost 5,400 units of power transformer to the rural villages of Myanmar where they would play an active role in realising the government’s aim to achieve 100% electrification rate by 2030.
After a quick visit to the head office where we greeted MD, Mr. Yasumasa Hayashi and Head Office Manager, Mr. Kenichi Atsumi, we hurried to the factory before the day ended.
Thursday, 5th September 2019 @ 16:00: HISEM Factory.
We are finally at HISEM’s factory! From left, Wylyn, Su Myat, Clarice and Thu Thu.
We met with Production Manager, Ms. Su Myat Aung who took us around the factory and gave us an overview of the different types of transformer that HISEM produces. It was indeed an eye-opening experience to be in the very factory that was lighting up the lives of Myanmar. Hear what Ms. Su Myat had to say about her work in HISEM.
And these were all in a day’s work! With their unforgettable hospitability, Myanmar has left a very special place in my heart.
Hitachi’s presence in Myanmar may be small, but it is a country full of potential. As the country starts to develop, there are much social issues to be solved and this is where Hitachi’s expertise comes in. From buildings and infrastructures to smart city living, Hitachi has every solution to improve the quality of life for the Burmese people.
Someday, I hope to be back in this country as a tourist to enjoy this diamond in the rough.
But for now, I need to prepare for HAS-MM’s Inaugural Brand Training the next day.
Friday, 6th September 2019 @ 09:00: HAS-MM’s Inaugural Brand Training
After working on the brand training for several months with my Burmese colleagues, I was excited to finally make it happen. Given that Myanmar is one of the younger countries with little Hitachi presence, our objectives to kickstart Myanmar’s inaugural brand training were:
- To enhance the Hitachi Brand awareness
- To impart the basics of the Hitachi Group Identity
- To build rapport and the “One Hitachi” spirit with the GoCs in Myanmar
I was looking forward to this brand training because this would be our first time trying out a different style of training where we incorporate interaction and fun within the classroom, while maintaining a high engagement level with the participants. Clarice and I cannot wait to see how this would turn out!
The next 3.5 hours flew past with much interaction and engagement. We were pleased to witness the attendees enjoying the session, and happy that this new fun and engaging way of training had a higher retention rate. Many participants commented that they could now appreciate the true meaning of the Hitachi core values and could understand how to apply these values at work. Here is a short video to show the high engagement level throughout the training, as well as the feedback from some of the participants.
From Mr. Nakamura’s heartfelt comments, it looks like this brand training is here to stay. With CCG’s continuous support, I am confident that our Burmese colleagues will be able to take over the brand training in Myanmar to impart the Hitachi Group Identity to more of their fellow colleagues in time to come.
For now, I’m Wylyn, signing off!
