UNIQLO Launches Recovery Project in Japan

 

To support the government and private efforts to fasten the recovery of the many areas in Japn that was struck by the killer quake last year, UNIQLO announces the launch of its next phase of assistance to the revitalization of communities in the Tohoku Region that were most affected by the Great East Japan Earthquake that struck on March 11, 2011. Under this project, known as the UNIQLO Recovery Assistance Project, the company will partner with five NGOs for three years and open new stores in the hardest-hit communities.

Fast Retailing Group companies led by UNIQLO have been actively working with affected local communities since soon after the disaster struck, donating funds and relief supplies, as well as sending volunteer staff to distribute clothes to people in need. Working directly with these communities over the last year has given UNIQLO a clear understanding of their immediate needs and hopes for the future. The UNIQLO Recovery Assistance Project was shaped by this experience. Through this project, UNIQLO aims to provide long-term support to communities in need and make a contribution to revitalizing Japan.

UNIQLO will work with five NGOs to support programs in devastated communities in prefectures such as Miyagi, Iwate, and Fukushima. The focus of these programs is to help these communities rebuild, create employment and become independent of aid. With this in mind, UNIQLO will open temporary stores in Kesennuma, Miyagi Prefecture and Kamaishi in Iwate Prefecture --- two of the hardest-hit communities. UNIQLO will also reopen a store in the Haramachi district of Minamisoma in Fukushima Prefecture which was temporarily closed following the March 11 disaster.

UNIQLO is committed to contributing a total of 300 million yen (around 3.7 million USD) to NGOs working on the ground to help devastated communities rebuild and become self-sufficient. Each of UNIQLO’s five NGO partners will receive around 20 million yen a year for three years. A portion of sales at all UNIQLO stores in Japan in March 2012 will be donated to this Project. UNIQLO is also offering customers the opportunity to directly participate by launching a three-month donation drive at all UNIQLO stores in Japan, starting March 1. In addition, UNIQLO and the Fast Retailing Group are planning to offer employees opportunities to work as volunteers at partner NGOs.

UNIQLO’s partner organizations are JEN; ADRA Japan（Adventist Development and Relief Agency Japan）; ・    Specified Non-Profit Organization International Volunteer Center of YAMAGATA; PlaNet Finance Japan and Tohoku Relationship Capitals

While visiting disaster areas to distribute clothes, UNIQLO volunteers were often told by local people that they looked forward to the day when UNIQLO returned to open a store in their neighborhoods. Now, UNIQLO is pleased to be able to open temporary stores in some of the hardest hit communities. Through these stores, UNIQLO will offer local people a specially selected lineup of great, affordable clothes, as well as new employment opportunities. UNIQLO are honored to welcome customers to these stores: UNIQLO Kesennuma Store; Kamaishi Store and Haramachi Store.

UNIQLO is a brand of Fast Retailing Co. (FR), a leading global Japanese retail holding company that designs, manufactures and sells clothing under five brands: Comptoir des Cotonniers, g.u., Princesse tam.tam, Theory, and UNIQLO. With global sales of 820 billion yen for the 2011 fiscal year ending August 31, 2011, FR is the world’s fourth largest apparel retail company and UNIQLO is Japan’s leading specialty retailer.

Today UNIQLO has more than 1,000 stores worldwide, namely in the U.S., U.K. France, Russia, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and Korea, as well as Japan. UNIQLO continues to open large-scale stores in some of the world's most important cities and locations, as part of its ongoing efforts to solidify its status as a truly global brand. UNIQLO operates an integrated business model under which it designs, manufactures, markets and sells high-quality, casual apparel in line with its ‘Made for All’ philosophy.

With a corporate statement committed to changing clothes, changing conventional wisdom and change the world, FR is dedicated to creating great clothing with new and unique value to enrich the lives of people everywhere. For more information about UNIQLO and other FR brands, please visit www.uniqlo.com or www.fastretailing.com.

Mansmith Hails Top Young Professional in Philippine Marketing

The 7^th YMMA Awardees (left to right): Ilustre M. Estrada, Procter & Gamble Philippines; Neil Trinidad, Unilever Asia Private Ltd.; Jonathan Yabut, GlaxoSmithKline Philippines; Kristine Tang, Procter & Gamble; Julie Lee, Collins International Trading Corp.; Christian Lim, PLDT and Giovanni Bogasan, GQWEST Inc./Aquabest

Mansmith and Fielders, Inc., the leading training and consultancy firm for marketing and sales, strategy and innovation courses in Asia, once again honored young achievers who exemplify excellence in marketing and entrepreneurship during the 7th Young Market Masters Awards (YMMA) 2012 held recently in Makati City.

For the past 6 years, Mansmith and Fielders, Inc. have honored dozens of individuals 35 years old and below for their exemplary achievements in the field of marketing through the YMMA. This year is no different as Mansmith and Fielders, Inc. marches on with its advocacy to encourage and inspire young individuals of today to be innovative entrepreneurs and outstanding brand builders. 

According to Chiqui Escareal-Go, President and Chief Service Strategist of Mansmith and Fielders, Inc., this year’s awardees were chosen based on specific cases and results of activities, projects and efforts they personally directed during the last 2 years under the award category they were nominated.

“Out of the 60 nominations we received, seven were selected because they were able to showcase their talents and competencies in creating value, which boosted their managed brands and leveraged industry’s standards,” shares Escareal-Go.

Kristine Joanne Tang, Regional Brand Manager of Procter & Gamble, Neil Trinidad, Senior Global Brand Manager of Pond’s-Unilever Asia Private Limited and Jonathan Allen Yabut, Senior Product Manager, Urology Division of GlaxoSmithKline Philippines, all  lived up to expectations as they were declared winners under the Brand Management category.

“One should always believe in what the products stand and worth for,” 25-year old Tang said, adding that “when working in other countries, knowledge-based data is the key to an effective marketing and brand campaign.”

Meanwhile, Ilustre Estrada II, Country Marketing Manager of Procter & Gamble, and Christian Lim, Internet Solutions Category Head of Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company (PLDT), shared the honors under the Marketing Management category.

Estrada created various channels and touchpoints to reach consumers instead of following a competitive price cut for their brands “Pampers” and “Whisper.” In addition, he infused investment programs for P&G Philippines’ non-core brands that resulted to 20-30 percent growth. Lim’s strategy and innovation techniques for all Internet Solutions of PLDT for the small-and-medium-enterprise (SME) market, on the other hand, recorded a revenue increase of P1.44 billion from 2008 to 2011 for PLDT’s myDSL Biz portfolio.

Lastly, Julie Lee, Senior Brand Marketing Manager of Collins International Trading Corp., and Giovanni Bogasan, Business Development Manager of GQWEST Inc./Aquabest, were chosen under the Business Development category. Lee worked an awareness campaign that OMRON Healthcare’s digital blood pressure monitor is one of the best alternatives compared to mercury-based devices. Bogasan, on the other hand, developed a 3-in-1 franchise concept called Combostore, a combination of structured water station, laundromat franchise and oxygenated alkaline water brand.

Bogasan explains, “To be a successful marketer, one should take the active role in shaping the market. If the company is not innovating, it’s dying.”

Escareal-Go cites more important values to being a YMMA winner, which include earning the respect of peers in the marketing industry. “Through the accomplishments of our awardees, we expect more nominations for the 2013 search, which is now open, to find out our 8th batch of YMMA awardees,” continues Escareal-Go.

The nominees are thoroughly back-checked by research giant TNS with Kantar Worldpanel and are screened by judges who are distinguished in their respective industries which include, Emily Abrera, Chairman of Children’s Hour and Cultural Center of the Philippines, Tennyson Chen, Chief Executive Officer of Bounty Fresh Group and Perry Morgar, President and Managing Director of Tupperware Brands Philippines, Inc.

The YMMA advocacy project is officially endorsed and supported by the Philippine Franchise Association (PFA), and the Philippine Retailers Association (PRA); with Businessworld and Philippine Daily Inquirer as print media partners, Microdata as AV partner and Abenson as platinum sponsor.

How do you make foam?

Image from www.uratex.com.ph

I am a fan of the TV series "How'd They Do That."  The show is about features on how things that we see almost every day were created or processed.  From appliances ovens to talking toys to microchips, they have shown how they were made from scratch.

Here's an interesting post that I hope you'll find interesting.  It's about our favorite companion every night.  Nah! I'm not talking about your spouses. I'm actually referring to our beloved beds and the glorious foams they are made of.

Foam-making in the past may have been a tedious, manual labor-intensive job but the process was made even better, thanks to modern technology. By using state-of-the-art equipment, Multiflex RNC Philippines of the RGC Foam Group, makers of the popular Uratex foam, totally revolutionized foam-making not only in the Philippines but also in South East Asia.

Being one of the largest foam-makers in the region and with advanced foam manufacturing equipment, let us see how a Uratex foam product is made:

• The Research & Development laboratory – Just like cooking, a good foam starts with the perfect recipe, and in foam-making, the R&D facility of the RGC Foam Group, one of the country’s most advanced, is where it all starts. There, Uratex laboratory personnel develop formulations that result to certain types of foam and also conduct tests to ensure that the formulation will meet final product specifications that customers look for. Over the years, this department has developed thousands of formulations that benefited the Philippine industrial history, from the car development program of the 1970s to the footwear, garments and electronics boom in the 1980s and 1990s.  
• Foaming – Once the formulation is finalized, it is entered into the foaming machine’s computer system. There, up to 26 streams of different chemicals are doused using computer-controlled metering pumps for precision.  The liquid will turn into cream within seconds and then into solid state within 1.5-2 minutes, and where the solid foam block may be cut between 1 to 60 meters in length.  At the Muntinlupa plant, the foam is cut in 30-meter lengths. This high-tech machinery is complimented by a quality management system and ran by highly-trained personnel. 
• Curing area – The 30-meter long blocks are then picked up by an overhead crane and transferred to the curing area.  Foam is produced via an exothermic reaction where the center may reach up to 145-165 degrees Celsius within 20-30 minutes. It will not start to cool for another 3-4 hours but will reach room temperature within 24 hours and is “cured”.
• Foam block warehouse – This is the storage area for the foam blocks. From there, the plant’s production department will request for a specific type of block with different sizes as per orders coming from customers. These blocks are then moved to the production area where they will be cut according to the desired sizes.
• Production area – It is from this area where the Uratex products that we all see come from. The foam blocks are cut into the requested size and then “contoured” based on the type of product to be produced, whether a pillow, a mattress, or even a car seat foam. Once cut and contoured, the product goes straight to packaging under strict quality control standards, ready for delivery to the customer.

The RGC Group of Companies revolutionized foam making back in 1987 when they set up the first continuous foaming machine in the country called the “Vertifoam” process. This involves computerized metering of materials to form perfectly-shaped foam with lesser scrap that benefited both the market and the environment because of less wastage.

In 2001, the group further blazed the trail in foam-making when it installed new foaming equipment called “Hennecke.” Tagged as the “Mercedes Benz” of the foam-making industry, this German-manufactured equipment is regarded as the best in the world. On December 2009, the RGC Group invested on another Hennecke machine with the latest technological improvements to serve as back-up to the year 2001 version.

For more details about Uratex, visit www.uratex.com.ph.