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Shimizu Akiko

Operations Team · Certified Sleep & Bedding Advisor · Workshop artisan

OFUTON KOBO craftsman Shimizu Akiko — handcrafted Japanese shikibuton · OFUTON KOBO
Name Shimizu Akiko
Role Operations Team · Certified Sleep & Bedding Advisor
Category Workshop artisan

A member of the Operations Team, handling product stock management, sub-material ordering, customer order confirmation and slip issuing. She obtained the Certified Sleep & Bedding Advisor qualification in March 2025, and has worked on the in-house-shipping→fulfilment switch project and a logistics-cost-reduction project.

№ 01

My several lines of work

In the Operations Team, my daily responsibilities are product stock management, ordering of sub-materials, customer order confirmation, issuing of delivery slips (delivery slips), and product preparation. These are the unseen but indispensable links in the workshop’s daily running.

№ 02

A few improvement projects

Beyond daily work I also handle project tasks — previously an internal fulfilment-improvement project, and now a logistics-cost-reduction project — specifically researching “how to make the packing size smaller,” discussing options with the representative and the logistics team. Lowering the transport cost of one shikibuton even a little is a little price room left for the customer.

№ 03

The qualification of March 2025

This March I obtained the Certified Sleep & Bedding Advisor qualification. The study let me understand things I had not touched before — the mechanisms of sleep, the details of bedding materials and raw materials. After passing, the depth of my replies to customer inquiries changed too — I can give more fitting advice based on knowledge, not just “speak from the manual.”

№ 04

“Deeply moved by the price and the quality”

The first time I used the workshop’s shikibuton after joining, I was moved by the contrast between price and quality — this workshop does not market on price or exaggerate its materials, yet the quality is more solid than imagined. At home I now use the “HIMARI” line. To work alongside a product I love is a rather fortunate thing.

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