Sekisui Heim Chubu – Factory Tour

Sekisui Heim is a renowned and trusted housing brand in Japan that is owned by Sekisui Chemical Group. The group conducts its business operations in the fields of chemical solutions and housing industrialization. As a member of the Sekisui Chemical group, Sekisui Heim Chubu produces high-quality prefabricated steel frame and wooden modular houses. The company also designs, constructs, manages and sells unit residential buildings and calls itself a “total housing supplier”.

Corporate Information

Company: Sekisui Heim Chubu Co. Ltd.,
Foundation: 1985
Location: Headquartered in Aichi Prefecture
Main Business: Manufacturing and building of prefabricated houses

Sekisui Heim Chubu – Lean Characteristics

Visual Management, Optimal Utilization of Manual and Machine Labor

Sekisui Heim produces prefabricated houses across their eight factories in Japan using a production technique based on the concept of an automotive assembly line. Eighty percent of the house is completed by the time it leaves the factory. It only takes one day to assemble the multiple “units” of a house on the construction site once the foundations have been laid.

A customer can receive the keys to their home in as little as 60 days upon signing a contract thanks to the production lead time and sophisticated supply chain ordering system that Sekisui Heim have developed internally.

Their ability to manufacture most of the house inside the factory eliminates the loss of construction days through inclement weather and improves the quality of the house through dedicating skilled operators to cyclical and controlled tasks within processes along the line. Furthermore, workers can work more comfortably in a less stressed posture in the factory compared to on-site, which helps minimize errors made at work.

Sekisui Heim continues to innovate the ability of their homes to withstand fire, temperature extremes and (very importantly in Japan) earthquakes.

The visit to the Chubu factory shop floor showcases how Sekisui Heim has effectively applied practices developed within the automotive industry to its housing construction operations. On display are effective visual management examples, and visitors will appreciate how skilled manual work and the use of high-tech machine tools and equipment complement each other to produce high performance houses in a safe, high quality and productive manner.

The Shinka Management Lean Japan Tour is a professional development program run several times annually. The program includes a mix of lean and kaizen seminars, hands-on lean training and visits to several benchmark lean companies. For further information and program dates, see the lean tour overview page.