Illustrator Hiroki Tsuboi Visits Sumitomo Group Kawasaki Technical Center Sumitomo Densetsu
Kawasaki Technical Center is Sumitomo Densetsu’s first purpose-built education and training complex. It was completed in April 2023 and equipped with various training facilities similar to those used or installed at sites. It also has lodging facilities. Environmental friendliness is apparent throughout the Center. Notable features include a photovoltaic power generation system for in-house consumption, backed up with storage batteries, and EV vehicle charging facilities.
Safety and hazard simulation space with a three-floor atrium. There are electric poles and cranes for working at height as well as facilities for cable training. The training for working at height is conducted within the building, considering the surrounding residential area.
The striking vertical louvers reduce heat load while blocking the view from the surroundings and the shape created by the louvers is reminiscent of the Sumitomo trademark.
At the heart of Sumitomo Densetsu’s Kawasaki Technical Center, there is a big gymnasium-like building with a ceiling height of 9 meters, where there are electric poles and manholes. The company is a general facilities enterprise and is building social infrastructure in Japan, and abroad, including electrical equipment, information and telecommunications systems, and plant air conditioning. Construction of Kawasaki Technical Center was a commemorative project marking the company’s 70th anniversary in 2020. All the personnel training and engineer education previously dispersed between the Tokyo and Osaka head offices are now done at Kawasaki Technical Center. “People are our most valuable assets. Kawasaki Technical Center will be valuable for developing human resources and strengthening technical skills and team capabilities,” explains Mr. Katsumi Hirose, General Manager of Human Resources Development Dept., while showing us around the Center.
The four-story building has everything necessary for training camps, with the lower floors divided into training spaces of various sizes to meet all types of training needs. There is a lot of equipment for trainees to familiarize themselves and practice on. On the upper floors, there is a cafeteria and community space where employees can get to know one another and interact in their leisure time, as well as overnight accommodation. What impressed me during the tour was the great variety of equipment, including electrical facilities, HVAC, and sanitary equipment. For example, in the safety and hazard simulation space, trainees familiarize themselves with the risks inherent in working in high places or underground in manholes. They learn how to work safely in such environments. For example, they learn how to prevent the shearing of bolts. Virtual reality is also used to simulate danger. In the training room devoted to electrical equipment, trainees can learn about the configuration and operation of power receiving and transforming equipment, the interior of which is usually covered with steel plates, but here is visible through acrylic sheets.
“No matter how much you study in textbooks, if you never get to grips with the machines until you encounter them at a construction site, and you may feel disoriented. Here, trainees can see and touch machines that are actually used in the field. Feedback from trainees tells us this is useful for them once they step out into the real world,” says Mr. Hirose.
In addition to electrical engineering practice in a large space, training covers such phenomena as the shearing of bolts, electric shocks, electric leakage interruption, simulated industrial accidents using VR, and training for work in manholes.
A characteristic of the Center is that the nuts and bolts of various facilities are revealed and clearly displayed. For example, the placement of rebar and drainage pipes, which would otherwise be hidden in concrete walls and floors, is made visible. The reinforcing steel bars are assembled at an angle to avoid piping. Trainees can see that the piping layout was informed to people at the construction site before the reinforcing steel bars were installed. “When our employees go to work at a construction site, whether they have experience or not, as site supervisors they must give instructions to the people engaged in construction. Trainees are exposed to the mechanisms and procedures involved in wiring and become keenly aware of potential dangers by training on actual equipment. They gain the knowledge and experience necessary to make judgments and issue instructions in the field,” says Mr. Hirose.
Kawasaki Technical Center is also used for trying out new technologies. Here, local 5G verification tests are conducted, a high-speed communication system has been built, and autonomous robots are running around in the sub-basement. In an anechoic chamber, the performance of wireless communication equipment is checked and accurate values are obtained, unaffected by electromagnetic waves from the external environment. Classrooms also highlight the ingenuity of Sumitomo Densetsu. The ceiling incorporates lighting that can be repositioned according to the desk layout and is reflected by acrylic sheets to reduce glare. In three rooms, each with a different color scheme, trainees experience different levels of brightness due to differences in reflectance despite the lighting being identical. Touring the white, brown, and black rooms, I was surprised by the marked differences in brightness as I stepped from room to room.
The interior of the power receiving and transforming equipment is revealed and clearly presented, with the names and functions of parts indicated on plates. Ingenuity is evident in the design of the training spaces, each of which has plenty of actual equipment.
Anechoic chamber, which is indispensable for verification in the telecommunications business.
The Center is equipped with V2X, a technology developed in recent years to integrate EVs with the energy systems of buildings. Solar panels with a capacity of 150 kWh are installed on the rooftop. The power they generate is consumed at the Center during the daytime, with the surplus used to charge electric vehicles. At night, the vehicles supply power to the building. The status of power generation and reception is displayed on panels throughout the building. The outside temperature is roughly 10°C and due to the downpour since morning, it can be seen that the electricity used by the building is mostly from the storage batteries. Thanks to V2X, electricity from EVs can be used as an emergency power source in the event of power outages. “In addition to electricity, the Center stocks water, emergency supplies, and preserved foods, so that in the event of a disaster, it can be used as temporary evacuation center not only for employees but also for local residents,” says Mr. Hirose. Committed to coexistence with the local community, the Center is registered with Kawasaki City as a business site that will offer cooperation in the event of a disaster.
Within a year of its opening, 3,202 trainees have already used the Center, and the facility utilization rate is around 90%. A team of female employees helped design the building together with female engineers from Daiwa House Industry. Their meticulous attentiveness to the needs and preferences of the Center’s users is evident in the contoured decor of the women’s amenities, the design of the atrium, the Japanese-style rooms, and other details. In addition to training for new employees and training according to positions, the Center is also used for training managerial personnel hired locally in Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines, and Malaysia. I heard that many trainees go to the roof to enjoy the view of Mt. Fuji.
“During breaks and mealtimes, trainees gravitate to the community space, where, in natural light, they can relax and get to know one another while deepening friendships. Talking with other trainees who face similar challenges in similar environments refreshes everyone’s spirits and encourages people to help one another. Spending time together is effective for team building. When people, whom I first met here as new employees, return for further training six months later, I can see their personal growth. And when I see participants in position-based training encouraging one another, I feel so happy that we have created this wonderful Center,” says Mr. Hirose. The value of a highly evolved training facility is evident in the constructive human connections it fosters.
Training camp deepens relationships
Editor's note
The facilities on the lower floors are outstanding, but the coziness of the upper floors is irresistible. The Japanese-style room designed by the female team, with its textured woven ceilings and curvilinear alcoves is tastefully contemporary. Hence its popularity with trainees from Japan and abroad as a place to relax and socialize. The cafeteria is such a stylish space that it was used as a location in the shooting of a popular TV drama. With amenities ranging from table tennis to a prayer room showing the direction of Mecca, I felt Kawasaki Technical Center embodies the concept that people are the ultimate assets.
Number (Manga Reportage "Visits to Sumitomo Group")
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