Questioning conventional wisdom reveals a winning strategy for manufacturing 

As our tagline suggests, SHIFT has created a unique business based on questioning common sense, and the concept of DAAE is no different.

Based on the hypothesis that “QCD (Quality, Cost, Delivery), which is an established philosophy in the manufacturing industry, is actually a hindrance,” we created a new concept for manufacturing in the IT age.

Through DAAE, we aim to “think thoroughly about the elements necessary for business success, work together across disciplines, and commit to the success of our customers and our own businesses.”

Our business areas can be divided into two main categories. The first is to plan and verify services that sell. The second is system integration.

We repeatedly formulate hypotheses, create prototypes, test them, and sometimes pivot to bring the service to market with as much speed as is appropriate.

The positions in demand are truly diverse, including Project Manager (PM), Product Manager (PdM), Software Engineer, Tech Lead, and UI/UX Designer.

There are three types of work: client work, R&D initiatives, and in-house services.

There is no bias in the scale or industry of client work. We provide support ranging from the development of new services to post-launch operations, as well as assistance in revamping legacy development systems.

In some cases, we also handle branding and marketing.

In terms of R&D initiatives, in addition to standardizing development platforms and office DX, we are also focusing on food and beverage DX with our capital and business partner, Gurunavi, Inc.

Beyond those implementations of the DAAE approach to support our clients, the team also drives initiatives to create new in-house businesses from scratch (0 to 1).

For example, we offer our service, “Manpuku,” a hometown tax (Furusato Nozei) service that allows employees to make donations as part of their benefits.

After starting as an in-house service, we continued to verify its effectiveness and are now rolling it out to our customers.

It has now been introduced to over 45 companies (as of August 2024) and is gaining popularity.

DAAE also plays a role in M&A, where we think about how to create business synergies with companies that have joined the SHIFT Group and lead them to success.

This is a brief description, but we hope it has given you an overview of DAAE, which promotes manufacturing while being involved in diverse projects.

We are looking for people who can talk about their strengths in their own words

The common understanding among the DAAE departments is to “be ready to act at any time.” Especially when it comes to our services, we can suddenly start moving with just one word from our CEO, Masaru Tange.

What kind of person fits into a rapidly changing environment? Regardless of the position, our established standard is at least three to four years of work experience.

We also want people to be able to talk about their strengths in their own words.

“I started my career as an engineer for a well-known IT service, and then worked my way up to a tech lead.”

“I worked at an IT venture company, and from an engineering lead position I became CTO, where I was involved in improving the technology of the entire company and increasing added value from a management perspective.”

“I had been working as a junior/mid-career engineer at a major SI company, but there had been no change in the clients or the industry I was involved in, and I felt anxious about the future.”

These are the backgrounds of the engineers involved with DAAE before joining SHIFT.

During the selection process, we learned about each team member’s technical strengths, their growth so far, and their aspirations for the future. This gave us a clear image of how we could grow DAAE together.

On the other hand, we are willing to hire young people who lack experience but have potential and a strong core, as well as people who have worked in an agile business environment.

The people who seem to have the most difficulty finding a cultural fit are those who want a limited role.

For example, a veteran systems engineer steeped in a conservative culture in a contracted company or a web director who only handles project management.

The willingness to push boundaries and reach across teams is what makes everything possible

“Won’t making roles unclear lead to confusion?” This is also a very natural opinion.

However, when you belong to SHIFT, especially to a team related to DAAE, it is also true that situations come up where we cannot push the boundaries while sticking to roles that were defined theoretically.

The SHIFT Group aims to provide end-to-end IT solutions under the slogan “ONE-SHIFT.”

Among other things, we are often asked to provide our opinions and participate in a wide variety of projects, so collaboration with other departments and group companies is essential.

For example, in the R&D field of food and beverage DX mentioned earlier, the consulting department, strategic sales department, and Gurunavi are working together to promote DX penetration into restaurants.

What is required of us is the willingness to make suggestions that “intentionally violate the airspace” or cross the boundaries between companies or departments.

This is not limited to food and beverage DX, but I believe that SHIFT’s value is only realized when our customers’ services and products are sold, so I have assisted with sales and created landing pages, etc.

I also introduce companies from different industries to each other, thinking that new value could be created if we increase the number of partners who combine our strengths.

Since there are no restrictions on roles, we take the initiative to figure out what is needed and ensure it gets done.

With a flat, unbiased perspective that does not favor anyone, we focus on recommending the best way forward.

Although all members share the goal of “creating a service that sells,” their driving force for going beyond boundaries and “helping others” is different, each to their own.

A male employee in his 30s who works as a tech lead said, “I want to eliminate difficult-to-use systems from this world. I want to come up with methods to solve this problem at SHIFT.”

My (Okura’s) biggest motivation right now is “how much our in-house service business can contribute to the growth of SHIFT, which aims to become a trillion yen company.”

The fact that we could promote growth while developing our services was something that was not possible at my previous consulting firm. Just thinking about it makes me feel very excited.

Aiming for a workplace where people enjoy satisfaction, rewards, and comradery

SHIFT aims to create a workplace where employees can enjoy satisfaction, rewards, and comradery. We believe these three elements are essential to becoming a company where employees can work happily.

The most motivating aspect of working at DAAE is that the work is challenging.

This is true regardless of whether it is client work, in-house services, or R&D projects. I think satisfaction for many people comes from demonstrating their skills in a challenging environment.

Next, rewards. We have a culture of absolute evaluation and pay higher compensation for better results.

This is because we believe sharing the rewards of success leads to the creation of good services, which in turn leads to the provision of social value as a company.

In fact, the average annual salary has been increasing every year.

In addition to management skills, performance evaluations also focus on developing other abilities, including technical and consulting skills.

Finally, comradery with colleagues. The number of employees who are willing to change the way we do business continues to grow.

We have many experts in DevOps, infrastructure, and security within SHIFT, as well as group companies with cutting-edge technologies such as AI, who have become powerful partners.

The more colleagues we have, the more limitless the possibilities become. Our dreams are only expanding. In the future, I would like to take on new challenges, such as industry-academia collaboration.

External cooperation: Satomi Fukushima (Writer)

(*The content of this article and the affiliations of the interviewees are as of the time of the interview.)