An employee of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (MHI) won the gold medal in the Mechanical Device Control category at the 52nd National Skills Competition held in Aichi Prefecture from November 28 to December 1. Company employees also won silver and bronze medals in the Welding category. Including various "Fighting Spirit Awards," 10 MHI employees captured awards in five categories.
The gold medal in the Mechanical Device Control category was won by 22-year-old Yuhei Hiyamizu, who works at the Takasago Machinery Works in the Energy & Environment business domain. A total of 14 employees participated in five categories this year: Mechanical Device Control, Welding, Construction Steel Work, Mechatronics and Turning. Kazuhisa Fujita (22) and Takuma Yoshimura (20) - both from the Kobe Shipyard & Machinery Works in the Energy and Environment domain - respectively collected the silver and bronze medals in the Welding category. Seven employees won "Fighting Spirit Awards": 3 in Construction Steel Work, 2 in Mechatronics, and 1 each in Welding and Turning.
Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems, Ltd. (MHPS), a group company of MHI, had a total of 28 employees in the competition, entered in six categories. They captured 1 gold medal, 3 silver medals, 2 bronze medals and 7 "Fighting Spirit Awards" - bringing the total number of award winners from the MHI group to 23.
The National Skills Competition is an annual event in which young professionals compete to win distinction as No.1 in Japan in various skill categories. The competition has two principal aims: to raise skill proficiency by fostering the development of supremely skilled workers, and to enhance the motivation of workers engaged in manufacturing. This year, some 1,200 contestants took part in 41 categories, making for truly heated competition for the top awards.
Going forward, through participation in the national skills competitions MHI will continue to devote efforts to developing and passing on outstanding skills in its young workers employed in manufacturing.