Hello, I’m Edson Nagamachi and I’m the Senior General Director of Honsha here in the Latin America area. More than a personal passion, I believe it is an important mission to support companies in their development so that they have long-term sustainability and competitiveness and also fulfill their role generating positive socioeconomic impact in its surroundings.

I was born in São Paulo, Brazil, and I am the son of Japanese parents who immigrated to Brazil before the Second World War in search of better prospects for family development, helping to open the borders of the interior of São Paulo.

With little money, but with a lot of discipline and effort, my parents always prioritized their children’s education; Brazil has always provided me with opportunities to study well in public schools, since elementary school, at a municipal school in São Paulo. Paulo, undergoing a high school technical course at the Federal Technical School of São Paulo (currently CEFET) and the Undergraduate course in Metallurgical Engineering at the Polytechnic School of the University of São Paulo.

While working, I was able to pay for my postgraduate degree in Specialization in Business Administration at EAESP – Fundação Getúlio Vargas in São Paulo. The fact of having studied at the Government’s expense for so long, and acquired basic knowledge important for a professional career brought, in addition to enormous gratitude, a sense of obligation to give back to society, contributing back with the knowledge and experience acquired during my professional career for the development of the country, helping organizations to be better.

After my graduation and after a short experience in the equipment industry, I continued a long career of almost 30 years at Toyota do Brasil, in the following areas:

⦁ Production Engineering: the beginning of his career was in the area of ​​casting, forging, heat treatment and machining processes at the São Bernardo do Campo Factory, birthplace of the late Bandeirante and the Toyota Production System outside Japan, with pilots personally implemented by the legendary Taichi Ono, where I was able, in addition to exercising factory expansion projects, to immerse myself in the philosophy of Continuous Improvement, exercising Kaizen Teian and PDCA in CCQ projects.

⦁ Production Control and Logistics: I had the opportunity to participate in projects structuring Production Control processes and systems, within the ‘Toyota Production System Renaissance’ program led by the TPS Division of Toyota Motor Corporation, and then lead the initial implementation from the Production Control and Logistics Department at the then new factory in Indaiatuba as coordinator, being responsible for coordinating the first implementation of the Milkrun Scheduled Collection system at Toyota do Brasil, and also of the Toyota e-kanban in this region.

⦁ Project Management Division: I was part of the team of managers that organized and established the ‘Project Management Division’ in the Toyota Mercosul area, coordinating projects to implement new products and major expansions of operations, operating in Argentina, Brazil and Venezuela and in this first one also as a resident during the preparation for the launch of the new global pick-up platform, coordinating the first implementation of Toyota’s Obeya Visual in Latin America, at the Zarate Plant, Argentina.

⦁ New Plant Projects: I was part of the team of Project Office Managers that established the initial strategy, site evaluation, cost planning, planning, design and implementation of the Sorocaba unit, which is an automotive complex including a park of 14 suppliers, where I was directly responsible for site selection, licensing, construction, installation, ‘start-up’ and ‘hand-over’ for the Operation, and also for the Porto Feliz Motor Factory, being in the latter, main responsible for prospecting location, until the implementation of the factory and subsequently the development of employees and leaders, being then responsible for daily operations as Plant Director.

⦁ Innovation and Industry 4.0: within a global program of cultural refinement, I was responsible for the Innovation and Industry 4.0 front, as Corporate Director, with the mission of reconciling and harmonizing the vision and values ​​of the traditional TPS with the new digital technologies of Industry 4.0 .

Conciliation and Harmonization are important and at the same time challenging words in everyday professional life. I always bring the family into this process, balancing family and professional life, seeking to have a dynamic, healthy and harmonious life. I believe that life is one, and we should not spend this precious time seeking to separate the personal and the professional, but rather apply the best we have learned in both, always seeking positive results and valuing harmony in relationships.

I believe in sharing knowledge, exchanging experiences, and cultivating a humble, ethical character, free from preconceived views and with a greater purpose for the collective good as the path to making improvements wisely and permanently, and it is with this spirit that I seek to work with our clients at Honsha, seeking to bring excellence that has purpose, brings rapid development and benefits, but is sustainable over time.