Trip of a Lifetime for Sanden Winners

24 Sep, 2015

The end of May saw our “win a trip to Japan promo” winners land themselves at Japans Narita Airport.

Congratulations to Paul and Lee Sibir from Transair Refrigeration in Sydney & Rikus and Sulindie Pretorius from Mariks Industries in Rockhampton.

These CoolDrive customers had the opportunity to mix some business with pleasure on their all expenses paid trip, in appreciation of their ongoing support.

Our tour of Japan started with a lap around Tokyo, taking in historical sites including the Emperors Palace, various Shinto Shrines and Tokyo’s oldest Buddhist Temple, the Sensoji Temple, built to house the statue of Kannon (Goddess of Mercy) in year 645 after two Japanese brothers fished the statue from the Sumida River.

Historical and modern times met as we also visited the local Tokyo fish markets, ate true local cuisine and visited Tokyo’s SkyTree building – at 634metres on completion was the world’s tallest free standing tower. Through in a roller coaster ride and a few social drinks to finish the day and we had what could be described as “a great day in the office”….

Sanden Japan extended their hospitality with visits to several Sanden facilities through the week. The first being Sanden History House and Sanden Global Technical Centre (SGTC) in the Gunma Prefecture.

Sanden History House is established in the original residence of founding President, Mr Kaihei Ushikubo and exhibits many of the original photos and product displays from Sanden (and original Sankyo company) highlighting the production history of bicycle dynamo lamps, electric appliances and bubble juice vending machines, then leading into the development of Sanden’s 53 global facilities, manufacturing plants and development centres.

In the adjoining building is Sandens Global Tech Centre, housing houndreds of Sanden staff dedicated to research and development, design and technical improvement of all Sanden product, as well as manufacturing and environmental improvements of their global plant network.

Also visited was Sandens Yattajima compressor manufacturing facility, where Sandens “SD” and “PXE” compressor components are manufactured and assembled. Transiar Refrigeration and Mariks Industries experienced first-hand the extensive component manufacturing and full assembly of compressors, including the stringent stage by stage quality assurance checks applied to every compressor built. Within this facility are state of the art test labs, wind tunnel test labs and sound / vibration labs.

 Visits were also made to Sandens Akagi Plant – more commonly known locally as the “living and environment, eco-friendly plant” located within the Sanden Forest. 

True to its name, Sanden Forest is located in the midst of a vast green expanse of nature. In April 2001, this new production site commenced operations based on the concepts of “creation, challenge, and contribution.” The plant houses Sandens Vending machine plant (including a historical vending museum) and food display units, as well as their “eco” product (water heat pump) manufacturing process.

Our working week was completed with a traditional Japanese meal attended by Sanden Japan Managers.

After a few days working hard we headed South West to Kyoto. Our Highlight in Kyoto was the Kiyomizu Dera Buddhist Temple. With a kilometre of traditional Japanese markets leading into the Buddhist temple and some amazing views from the temple itself, this was an extraordinary experience.

A full week of touring Sanden facilities and local sites, experiencing Japans Subway and fast train systems, indulging in great local food and plenty of Sake, and even being in the area when a 7.8 magnitude earthquake was offshore all made for a terrific week.

CoolDrive would like to thank Sanden Australia and Sanden Japan for supporting our Promotion and customer network. The success of this promotion is evidence of the strength in relationship between Sanden and CoolDrive.

 By Mark Caldone - Air Conditioning Category Manager