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THE PLAN Mr. Honda must have thought that the end was close. He had been thinking about how to survive. Mr. Honda planned to create a new company financed by both Nissho Iwai and Toukai Fish Fillets. The situation of Toukai Fish Fillets was critical. The two self-owned plants of Toukai Fish Fillets and the more than five plants, operated on consignment basis, were located in such a wide area that delivery of raw material and products between plants, stocking refrigerators and customers caused a huge increase of inefficiency and cost. One more serious problem was that the supermarkets started to keep close attention towards quality control. Their suppliers were checked and some of Toukai Fish Fillets' plants were regarded as improper in terms of facilities and sanitation. The only way to solve these problems was to modernize and intensively combine the functions into a single large plant, which would be at the same time, the new company. Mr. Honda made his own plans to rebuild Toukai Fish Fillets and talked with Nissho Iwai. Nissho Iwai had to help Mr. Honda because they didn't want to fall into bad debts. As a location for the new plant and new company, a piece of land owned by a refrigerator company was proposed. But soon this was cancelled for reasons concerning water costs. Next, a place owned by an auctioneer company, Dai-ichi Marine Products, was proposed. It was beside the Funabashi Bay in the Chiba Prefecture. It was also close to Makuhari Messe, a place popular for large, international exhibitions. With this 8 thousand square yard land in mind, Mr. Honda made a rough design of the actual plant by himself. He also did the negotiations with the constructors. Preliminary arrangements to shut the old plant were made. Negotiations with customers were done continuously so that they would keep trading with the new company. Mr. Honda worked with a great deal of energy and came to put the pieces of his plan together. This plan approved by Nissho Iwai became a big project spotlighted by the whole Japanese fish business. The new company was named Nissho Iwai Seafoods Inc.. |