Long established business founded 100 years ago. It is simple to use for everyone, veteran members included, and there is no need for groupware.

It is a good thing that "it seems like everyone can use it". I was looking for a simple way to share schedules.

Mr. Tamiya, could you please tell us about your company?

It is Kyodo Suisan Co., Ltd., a company dedicated to the wholesale, as well as the processing and sale, of seafood within the Tsukiji Market in Tokyo, Japan. Soon to become 100 years old, our company has received orders even from the Imperial Household Agency. We have our own processing plant at the Tsukiji Market, from where we process and ship custom-made orders to clients such as hotels and restaurants. Also, we are currently working on developing and selling products oriented to the consumers, such as our own private brands of Saikyo-Zuke (fish marinated in sweet miso), Kasu-Zuke (fish marinated in the lees of sake), and Karashi-Mentaiko (spicy cod roe). More about the company (Japanese link): Kyodo Suisan Co., Ltd.

How did you get introduced to TimeTree?

As the number of employees increased, so did the importance of improving the efficiency of our internal communications. The three things we were looking for were chat, file sharing, and schedule sharing. After deciding that the chat was going to be a messaging app and a file-sharing platform, we were looking around, wondering whether there were any good calendar-sharing platforms, we found TimeTree.

Was there any particular reason that made you choose TimeTree?

It is simple, right? We had also considered going for Groupware as a possible solution for schedule sharing, but they include many other functions that we didn't need. The fact that TimeTree is simple and seems like everyone can use it was a big factor. The medium age of our workers is quite high, so while ideas such as "why not just try installing an app for the time being" could be acceptable if it depended only on our younger employees, when everybody will use it, including the employees who are not very tech-savvy, simplicity is a really important aspect.

Making use of labels to specify "requested" and "accepted" status!

Could you please tell us about the specific ways you use TimeTree?

The seafood processing schedule is shared with everyone. When the fish arrives, it goes to be processed according to the specifications of the client and depending on that information a work schedule is registered. We record how much of what kind of fish arrives and how it will be processed. A colored label is used as a status marker. Green marks the requested status, and other colors such as pink correspond to each of the processing areas. When a request is accepted, it gets changed to the color of that processing area.

You have created your own unique operation method, right?

Do you use multiple calendars?

Yes. Each business member has their own calendar, and everyone gets involved with them. The way each of these calendars is used is that only the business member it belongs to registers their schedule on it, and this way everyone else understands their schedule by just looking at their calendar.

Communication costs have dramatically decreased since everyone has a grasp of the latest status.

Has anything changed since you adopted TimeTree?

The efficiency improvement of our communications is what we were originally after. We used to share our schedule on a whiteboard before, but after all, we were having issues like "did I say that or didn't I?" Also, the costs of communication generated by reporting the work schedule to this person, then to that person, and such, were quite high. The number of messaging groups has also decreased a lot. If you write something in TimeTree, you only have to do it once. It was very relieving to get everyone to get the latest status by just looking at the app. With this, I think there is no need for other software!

We are flattered by your words! It was all very helpful. Thank you very much.