Actus Utilizes Business Assessment and Simplification Support, Visualizing Potential to Save Approx. 10,000 Hours Over Two Years
Studist provided business assessment and simplification support to retail company Actus. By redefining task layers, they visualized the potential to reduce work hours by 10,000 over two years, promoting lean operations.
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- 📰 Published: April 17, 2026 at 20:00
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Studist Corporation (Headquarters: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo; Representative Director and CEO: Satoshi Suzuki; hereinafter 'Studist'), which supports the realization of lean operations, announces a case study and the results of utilizing its business assessment and simplification support at Actus Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo; Representative Director and President: Ken Murata; hereinafter 'Actus'), which operates in retail, wholesale, and corporate business of imported furniture and general goods.
While Actus possessed strengths cultivated through years of brand expansion, its internal processes and commercial flows had become complex due to business diversification. As a result, a major challenge emerged: the creativity that each individual should demonstrate was becoming buried under complex business processes. Aiming to achieve medium- to long-term growth goals, Actus introduced Studist's business assessment and simplification support to resolve this complicated situation and build a foundation for smooth workflow. By organizing the hierarchy (layers) of roles in each department into 'judgment tasks that veterans should handle' and 'practical tasks that should be standardized', they visualized the potential to reduce operations by approximately 10,000 hours over the next two years. Currently, they are accelerating the realization of company-wide lean operations, aiming to create an environment where employees' individuality shines using the time created.
■ Background and Purpose of Implementation
While proposing a 'beautiful and careful lifestyle', Actus operates multifaceted businesses including directly managed stores, EC, wholesale, and space proposals for corporations. However, while maintaining a diverse product lineup and generous services, internal processes became complex, and 'personalization', where tasks depend on specific individuals, became an issue.
Looking ahead to medium- to long-term growth, and to build a highly productive environment where employees can maximize their inherent creative power, they considered a drastic reorganization of operations utilizing the knowledge of external experts. They launched a project to find a solution in the shortest distance by introducing support from Studist, which excels in 'simplification and standardization of operations'.
■ Operation and Results After Implementation
- Identifying a potential 10,000-hour operation reduction over two years through thorough inventory
Studist's consultants delved deep into the field, quantitatively grasping the actual operational status from an external perspective. As a result, they highlighted inherently unnecessary tasks and tasks that should be relocated—things that couldn't be seen by the company alone—and visualized a reduction potential of about 10,000 hours over the next two years. This clarified the priority of improvements to be tackled next.
- Organizing 'task layers' for a structure that maximizes creativity
In departments like marketing, they sorted out the detailed field work burdened by veterans and the judgment criteria of junior staff. By redefining the operational layers (hierarchy) of 'who should make which judgments', they eliminated upper management's hoarding of tasks. In addition, by returning tasks traditionally handled by custom to the original team and promoting process creation and manualization, they built a solid foundation as an organization to 'make work flow smoothly'. This realized an environment where employees can focus on more essential creative work.
* The full interview with Actus can be viewed on the following case study page.
URL: https://lean-operation.com/casestudy/lo_actus/
■ Comments from the Person in Charge at Actus Co., Ltd.
Because we want to focus on creativity, we keenly felt that it is essential to first prepare processes to make work flow smoothly. Studist is a true partner who not only provides tools but accompanies us in solving our essential issues. With the specialized perspective of a third party, we were able to overcome frictions that are difficult to resolve internally and find solutions in the shortest distance.
It was a big step that we could quantify our actual state for the first time through this support. Obtaining a solid response of 'an expected reduction of about 10,000 hours over two years' clarified our direction forward. Currently, we are working on a company-wide operational restructuring aimed at the 'ultimate form' where each individual's uniqueness shines, utilizing the surplus created. We intend to continue receiving support from Studist to enhance organizational productivity and lead to further value provision to our customers.
(Mr. Noritake, DX Promotion Office / Mr. Tokumasu, Marketing Department)
■ About Lean Operations
The lean operations advocated by Studist is a continuous improvement process that realizes organizational productivity and sustainable growth by removing 'unreasonableness, waste, and inconsistency' in operations and reinvesting the surplus created by efficiency into 'value enhancement'. Specifically, through steps of visualization, standardization, simplification, and thorough implementation of operations, we aim for a muscular organization and ultimately support the construction of a system that can focus on core tasks.
While Actus possessed strengths cultivated through years of brand expansion, its internal processes and commercial flows had become complex due to business diversification. As a result, a major challenge emerged: the creativity that each individual should demonstrate was becoming buried under complex business processes. Aiming to achieve medium- to long-term growth goals, Actus introduced Studist's business assessment and simplification support to resolve this complicated situation and build a foundation for smooth workflow. By organizing the hierarchy (layers) of roles in each department into 'judgment tasks that veterans should handle' and 'practical tasks that should be standardized', they visualized the potential to reduce operations by approximately 10,000 hours over the next two years. Currently, they are accelerating the realization of company-wide lean operations, aiming to create an environment where employees' individuality shines using the time created.
■ Background and Purpose of Implementation
While proposing a 'beautiful and careful lifestyle', Actus operates multifaceted businesses including directly managed stores, EC, wholesale, and space proposals for corporations. However, while maintaining a diverse product lineup and generous services, internal processes became complex, and 'personalization', where tasks depend on specific individuals, became an issue.
Looking ahead to medium- to long-term growth, and to build a highly productive environment where employees can maximize their inherent creative power, they considered a drastic reorganization of operations utilizing the knowledge of external experts. They launched a project to find a solution in the shortest distance by introducing support from Studist, which excels in 'simplification and standardization of operations'.
■ Operation and Results After Implementation
- Identifying a potential 10,000-hour operation reduction over two years through thorough inventory
Studist's consultants delved deep into the field, quantitatively grasping the actual operational status from an external perspective. As a result, they highlighted inherently unnecessary tasks and tasks that should be relocated—things that couldn't be seen by the company alone—and visualized a reduction potential of about 10,000 hours over the next two years. This clarified the priority of improvements to be tackled next.
- Organizing 'task layers' for a structure that maximizes creativity
In departments like marketing, they sorted out the detailed field work burdened by veterans and the judgment criteria of junior staff. By redefining the operational layers (hierarchy) of 'who should make which judgments', they eliminated upper management's hoarding of tasks. In addition, by returning tasks traditionally handled by custom to the original team and promoting process creation and manualization, they built a solid foundation as an organization to 'make work flow smoothly'. This realized an environment where employees can focus on more essential creative work.
* The full interview with Actus can be viewed on the following case study page.
URL: https://lean-operation.com/casestudy/lo_actus/
■ Comments from the Person in Charge at Actus Co., Ltd.
Because we want to focus on creativity, we keenly felt that it is essential to first prepare processes to make work flow smoothly. Studist is a true partner who not only provides tools but accompanies us in solving our essential issues. With the specialized perspective of a third party, we were able to overcome frictions that are difficult to resolve internally and find solutions in the shortest distance.
It was a big step that we could quantify our actual state for the first time through this support. Obtaining a solid response of 'an expected reduction of about 10,000 hours over two years' clarified our direction forward. Currently, we are working on a company-wide operational restructuring aimed at the 'ultimate form' where each individual's uniqueness shines, utilizing the surplus created. We intend to continue receiving support from Studist to enhance organizational productivity and lead to further value provision to our customers.
(Mr. Noritake, DX Promotion Office / Mr. Tokumasu, Marketing Department)
■ About Lean Operations
The lean operations advocated by Studist is a continuous improvement process that realizes organizational productivity and sustainable growth by removing 'unreasonableness, waste, and inconsistency' in operations and reinvesting the surplus created by efficiency into 'value enhancement'. Specifically, through steps of visualization, standardization, simplification, and thorough implementation of operations, we aim for a muscular organization and ultimately support the construction of a system that can focus on core tasks.