The local Japanese restaurant Hajime enhances its operations with the introduction of automation, under NTUC e2i’s WorkPro Job Redesign Scheme.
Established in 2016, Hajime Tonkatsu & Ramen is a restaurant specialising in authentic Japanese cuisines, known for their Tonkatsu menu. Currently, Hajime has two outlets located at Serangoon Gardens and Thomson Plaza.
Besides the introduction of the Automatic Gyoza Griller (to read more about this initiative, please refer to “Hajime Tonkatsu & Ramen’s Passion for Japanese Cuisine”, Hajime has implemented the Automatic Cabbage Slicer, Automatic Meat Slicer, and the POS, E-Ordering and Kitchen Management System under NTUC e2i’s WorkPro Job Redesign scheme. The investment in these equipment helped them to successfully redesign jobs to be easier, safer, and smarter for their older workers.
Before automation, meat and cabbage were sliced manually and older workers had to rely on experience to control the amount and thickness of each serving. With the new Automatic Cabbage and Automatic Meat Griller, workers can pre-set the various mechanisms which allow cabbage and meat to be sliced with precision and thickness. As such, manpower hours are significantly reduced from 30 to 15 minutes.
In addition, the new POS and E-Ordering System (including QR Ordering and Kitchen Display System) is a much-needed boost to enhance the backend and front end flow within the outlet. For instance, during the current Covid-19 pandemic, customers are able to order food with the QR ordering system without physical contact. Thereafter, their orders will be received by the kitchen display system which can be viewed and monitored by the staff to prepare the orders. Subsequently, when the customers make payment, the POS system helps to improve the payment experience quicker and better, as well as generating the sales and inventory reports for internal usage.
Company director, Mr Ng Soon Hui, describes the benefits of the new system: “With the introduction of the various systems, it helps us with our overall productivity and processes are getting more streamlined, such as ordering, sales transaction, kitchen tracking and reporting. We are happy that our staff are responding well to the new technologies and we have faith that we will get better to come”.
With the cost-savings and increased productivity, two of the company’s older staff members were given a pay raise. Hajime also shared that they would continue to implement more of such incentives for their employees in the future.
For more information on Hajime Pte Ltd, please visit https://www.hajime.com.sg
