04
Road to a “Global Major Brand”

KFM President Yamamoto is an engineer who has worked in production engineering throughout his career, including production bases in North America, so he feels a particularly strong attachment to product development. Starting up KFM was, however, an unprecedented and challenging assignment, and Yamamoto's mission was to make the launch successful.

Yamamoto looks back: “Everything was new to us. When we had set up new overseas production bases in the past, we would start up production by developing and manufacturing products in Japan and transferring them overseas. This time around, however, we developed the products from scratch in Europe. Since the M7001 Series was positioned as Kubota's flagship product line, there was always the pressure of knowing that failure was not an option. In addition to building a factory in France for the first time, we had to face the unique legal systems of France; but we cleared the obstacles one by one. Another element worth mentioning is that we adopted the “SAP,” a mainstream business application in the US and Europe, in our manufacturing system for the first time. The adoption of SAP marked the conversion of our manufacturing approach from the Japanese-style “control by human eye” to the western style of “online data control.”

In parallel with product development, we were formulating strategies for development of the European market. In addition to achieving product superiority and differentiation, an important factor is service. Enhancing after-sales service is vital to establishing market superiority for Kubota as a new player in the largetractor market. Of course we have been focusing on after-sales service for small tractors too, but the contents of service and customer needs with large tractors are vastly different.

Hiroshi Iino, General Manager of Product Support Department who leads KFM's service section, explains: “Unlike small tractors for grass-cutting and such, large tractors require after-sales service combined with advanced maintenance technology due to their use for large-scale commercial farming. Thus, our dealers are required to provide services that are optimized for large-scale commercial farming work.”

In agriculture, there is a best period for each farming process. Interruption due to failure of farming equipment leads directly to the reduction of productivity. While it is important to prevent the failure itself, providers of tractors for largescale commercial farming must be the first ones to rush to the scene when a tractor breaks down in the middle of a large field. Iino continues: “Naturally, our competitors are also aiming to improve their after-sales service, so we must provide something that distinguishes Kubota from the competition-visiting our customers, which is what we have emphasized over the years. This is the Kubota style. It is a lowprofile effort, but we believe that these activities will eventually win customer trust. To achieve these goals, we plan to focus on educating our dealers to improve their level of expertise.”

Kubota is currently working on the early establishment of a Kubota Production System, which aims at achieving the “Made by Kubota” concept to ensure quality, cost and delivery time at the highest level. One of the targets is the reduction of production lead time. Yamamoto said emphatically:

“The reduction of lead time means speeding up the entire production flow, which begins with our suppliers starting the production of parts and ends with KFM manufacturing and delivering the finished products to customers. Since the M7001 Series tractors can be customized to satisfy the needs of each customer, the speed at which we deliver the product will be the key. Where other manufacturers require four to five months lead time, KFM will aim at roughly half that time: a lead time of two months.”

Shipment of the M7001 Series tractors has already started, and they are being delivered to dealers. Maxime Feulet, one of our dealers, decided to carry Kubota Products, as he liked Kubota's Customer First concept.

He says: “I have great expectations for the M7001 Series. It will serve as a springboard for the achievement of high-volume harvests and increased productivity. As a dealer, I want to increase the number of Kubota owners by providing excellent service. Also, I would like Kubota to introduce large tractors in the 200 horsepower range in the near future.”

KFM is planning to produce 3,000 units in 2017. The current plan is to export not only to European countries, but also to North America, Australia and Japan. Kubota's development team has entered a new stage.

“As market introduction begins, we will have to come face to face with our customers. Our goal is to improve where we need improvement, enhance our product quality, and achieve stable production.” (Inaoka)

The M7001 Series development project has been a new challenge for Kubota, starting from zero to build tractors. The endeavor brings to fruition the wishes of not only the development staff but all Kubota employees. However, there is another market for large-scale commercial farming that is even bigger than the European market: North America. Many tractors used in large-scale commercial farming in North America are in the 200 horsepower range or larger. The challenge of developing larger tractors awaits us up ahead. The battle for survival has now begun. To win that battle and supply the M7001 Series to the markets for large scale commercial farming around the world is the road to becoming a “Global Major Brand” and enabling Kubota to make significant contributions to solving global food problems.