Relationship with society

Communication with customers

Universal design

Efforts surrounding universal design
It has been a motto of Paramount Bed that increasing the number of satisfied customers knows no end. In relation to universal design, the three main themes of our efforts are therefore Learning, Creating, and Propagating.
In product development, Paramount Bed uses an own universal design evaluation method based on a combination of a 7-item rule and a 3-item rule. For example, performance evaluation will check products in relation to some 50 evaluation items such as the “quality of operability by users with disabilities” and the “consistency of intuitive impression and actual operating method as a measure for potential misunderstanding.” Paramount product examples that apply universal design are far from limited to beds and include many instances honored with the Good Design award.

Honored with the Design Excellent Company Award
In fiscal year 2006 Paramount Bed was honored with the Design Excellent Company Award sponsored by the Japan Institute of Design Promotion, Design and Business Forum (the selection committee is chaired by Yoshiharu Fukuhara, honorary chairman of Shiseido Co., Ltd.). The criteria for the conferral of this award relate to whether, by virtue of product design, high-quality products and services are provided or whether communication is created between users and society.

Communication with suppliers

Policy for the procurement of materials

Paramount Bed takes the following basic stance toward suppliers
Based on the trade relationships established for orders and purchases, respectively, of raw materials, secondary materials, equipment, fixtures, and supplies, etc., procured by the Company, and cargo handling, clerical operations, and other services, etc., outsourced by the Company, Paramount Bed seeks to derive mutual quality enhancement and cost reductions, and to build relationships that enable coexistence and co-prosperity with suppliers and service providers. Materials procured by the Company for its own manufacture are comprehensively controlled by the materials division, accompanied by periodic study meetings about Act against Delay in Payment of Subcontract Proceeds, Etc. to Subcontractors.

Communication with employees

Respect for the individual (Fundamental stance)

Paramount Bed has established a fundamental stance concerning the observance of human rights and respects the individuality of each employee. Moreover, in relation to issues such as the protection of human rights and the prevention of power harassment, Paramount Bed has stated its fundamental stance together with an Q&A section in the Corporate Ethics Guidebook that is distributed to all employees, and in this way endeavors to provide employee education.

Health and safety measures

Mental health
Paramount Bed treats depression and its appreciation and countermeasures as part of the employee training program and takes steps to prevent occurrence from the outset.

Health and safety measures
A health and safety committee has been formed at the manufacturing division. Moreover, in accordance with an annual activity plan, health and safety related education programs and patrols are held, as well as safety inspections and training for the early recognition of health and safety risks. In this and other ways, Paramount Bed aims to enforce health and safety measures.

Social contribution activities

Kimura Foundation for Nursing Education

Marking the 40th founding anniversary of Paramount Bed Co., Ltd., the Kimura Foundation for Nursing Education was established in March 1991 as a foundation under the co-jurisdiction of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology and the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare.
The funding of the foundation was provided out of his personal assets by the founder and then-president of Paramount Bed, the late Ryusuke Kimura. Back then, the conditions surrounding clinical nursing were extremely poor, while progressing demographic aging and advances in medical treatment increased the importance of clinical nursing. At the same time a shortage of trained nurses and poor working conditions became problem issues.
Paramount Bed has been able to continue growing thanks to its concept of field-study, in force since the founding of the Company, by assigning importance to the preferences of users and by receiving advice and opinions from nursing professionals all over Japan. The establishment of the Foundation was born out of the desire to “repay favors received” by providing nursing professionals with an opportunity for research and training.
Programs currently provided at the Foundation center on support for nursing research, support for nursing training abroad, scholarships for specialized nurses, and nursing related lecture meetings.

Provision of disaster aid

Whenever natural disaster strikes, such as the January 1995 Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake in Japan and the July 2006 Java earthquake in Indonesia, Paramount Bed donates products and provides other aid for the disaster affected areas. The major instances are listed below.

2011:

As aid after the Great East Japan Earthquake, a donation of around 500 beds and 1,000 mattresses, food and other supplies (for a total value of 30 million yen); additionally, a monetary donation of 100 million yen was made to the Japanese Red Cross

2006:

As aid after the Java earthquake, a donation of 18 beds and 40 mattresses to five hospitals in the disas

2005:

As aid after the Fukuoka earthquake, a donation of 47 mattresses to the Nishiura precinct of Fukuoka city, Nishi-ku, through the Foundation for the Support of the United Nations. Inc.

2004:

As aid after the Sumatra-Andaman earthquake, a donation comprised of money, clothing, food, and 100 beds to the Indonesian Department of Health

2004:

As aid after the Niigata Chuetsu earthquake, a donation of around 70 sets of beds and mattresses to hospitals and facilities in the disaster area

1995:

As aid after the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake, a donation of around 700 sets of beds and mattresses to approximately 170 hospitals and institutions in the disaster area, and provision of reconstruction support by Paramount employees