DRS2012 Bangkok Proceedings Vol 4 - Design Research Society

Universal Design Management for Vocational Aid Centers
2010. The challenge now is to establish sufficient turnover without an
overreliance on such events.
Future Deployment
The director cites the reaction to this program as demonstrating the effectiveness
of investment in package design and the like. With this in mind, he has taken his
plan to the Tokamachi municipal officials (and to a designer) and is now
negotiating with city hall for permission to use the city mascot, Neige the Snow
Fairy, as a motif (the Center intends to pay a 1.5% royalty in exchange).
Also, as the confectioner hired earlier is getting old, the director intends to hire a
44-year-old successor under the government's temporary job creation program.
Honorable Mention: Smoked Date Seafood, Peer
Multifunctional Work Support Center, NPO Peer, Miyagi
Prefecture
Figure 5. Smoked seafood (fish and shellfish) caught off the Miyagi coast
Peer Multifunctional Work Support Center was established in 2005. It has 15
workers in type B continuous support of employment projects that are targeted by
the five-year plan and 16 workers in other types of support. Major activities
include the operation of a restaurant, called Peer; preparation and sales of
handmade bento box lunches; preparation of smoked foods; external janitorial
services; and parcel delivery. Operations currently center on bento lunch
preparation and sales. Cooking is done by a professional staff, and every work
day, Center personnel deliver 200 to 250 bento lunches to offices in the area,
primarily within prefectural and municipal government buildings, collecting and
washing the utensils afterwards. The bento lunch business generates annual
revenues of approximately ¥27 million, accounting for roughly 90% of all NPO
Peer business ventures. The average monthly wage is now roughly ¥35,000
(Figure 6) and is targeted to eventually reach ¥50,000. In 2005, there were only
three workers (disabled workers in the program); in 2010, there were 24. Even as
it kept bento lunches as its main product line, the Peer Center entered the
smoked food business in July 2009 in pursuit of higher wages.
In support of VACs under its five-year plan, Miyagi Prefecture, upon request,
dispatches management consultants and designers, paying half of the fees
incurred. Also, it also introduces professional staff to prospective VAC employers
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