{"id":114,"date":"2021-02-27T16:21:00","date_gmt":"2021-02-27T07:21:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/workmill.jp\/en\/?post_type=webzine&p=114"},"modified":"2023-09-04T11:06:17","modified_gmt":"2023-09-04T02:06:17","slug":"japanese-warehouse-d93d8652e582","status":"publish","type":"webzine","link":"https:\/\/workmill.jp\/en\/webzine\/japanese-warehouse-d93d8652e582\/","title":{"rendered":"How a Japanese Warehouse got Success by Reinventing itself"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The original article \u201cTime is value\u201d is a part of the <\/em>WORK MILL<\/em><\/a> with <\/em>Forbes JAPAN <\/em><\/a>Issue 3 \u2014 The Age of Post-Innovation \u00a9<\/em>WORK MILL<\/em><\/a>, published on October 2, 2018<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We ask Yoshihisa Nakano, the CEO of Warehouse Terrada<\/a> and the central figure of its reformation.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Over the past few years, remarkable changes have been made around the boardwalk enormous graffiti art, shops, and restaurants housed in renovated warehouses\u2026 It\u2019s almost like you\u2019re in Brooklyn\u2019s warehouse district. The company behind the area\u2019s development is Warehouse TERRADA<\/a>, established in 1950.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe were being left behind as a warehouse company, losing out to our competitors. But I realized, we were entrusted with some pretty interesting things,\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

says Yoshihisa Nakano, who became the CEO of Warehouse TERRADA in 2012.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Warehouse TERRADA<\/strong><\/a>
Focuses on wine, art, and media storage, TERRADA also builds web services. In August, it started a commodity sharing business for companies called \u201cminikura+.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He\u2019d been an advisor to the company for over 35 years and officially joined the company in 2010 after being recruited by the CEO at the time.
Back then, Warehouse TERRADA was stagnant, caught up in price wars due to the prolonged recession. They offered purpose-oriented warehouse services such as Japan\u2019s first authorized storage room business (1975), a film and analog tape storage business (1983), wine cellar services with climate control (1994), etc. But the profit structure was posing a problem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe warehouse business is all about how fast you can move things. Once robotics become more common, expansive single-story warehouses will be the most efficient. But our warehouses are comparatively small, and the goods we store are things that aren\u2019t moved. So I went for a \u2018contrarian\u2019 approach.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Mr. Nakano divided the 1,500-strong company by sector and sold each one. The firm was now a tight organization with only 100 employees. He focused his attention on a 300 thousand-square meter space over Tennozu and sold the rest. He rearranged the remaining sectors around wine, media, and art.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat was being stored in the warehouses weren\u2019t just costly items, but things people couldn\u2019t let go of. Memories were being stored in our warehouses. Archiving is a way to produce value, and it increases with time. I figured if we focused on that, there could be great possibilities.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n

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