SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION

The success story of Japanese manufacturing is a well-document-ed one. A chief proponent of its post-war economic boom, Japan’s manufacturing industry – propelled by a great tradition for fine crafts-manship (or monozokuri) – usurped the United States in the 1970s and 80s to become the sector’s veri-table global kingpin. Japanese cor-porations such as Sony, Sharp and Panasonic took over the world of consumer products; iconic brands that to this day remain synonymous with the famous ‘Made in Japan’ trademark, and its reputation for high-quality. It is this reputation for almost flawless manufacturing ef-ficiency that changed international business practices and inspired countless corporate management manuals and business advice books.

The story of Japanese manu-facturing thereafter is equally well documented. The period that fol-lowed, commonly known as the ‘lost decades’, suddenly marked an end to the incredible expansion of ‘Japan Inc.’. Simultaneously, regional competitors from Korea, China and Taiwan, learnt to replicate the man-ufacturing processes of monozukuri. For example, between 2002 and

2007, Japan’s global market-share for integrated circuits plunged from 75 to 34 percent, as low-cost Taiwanese and Korean products flooded the market. Naturally, the corporations to be hit hardest by these economic trends were the larger ones – slower to react and tied by their humongous size.

Whereas companies such as Panasonic, Sharp and Sony have lost market share to regional ri-vals, Japan’s smaller, lesser known manufacturing firms continue to dominate niches upon which the global technology industry depends. The Japanese even have a name for them: Chuken Kigyo (or strong, medium-sized firms).

The story of Chuken Kigyo is one that is more seldom told about the Japanese manufacturing industry – the story of the country’s economic backbone, or what one might call ‘the hidden part of the iceberg’. Chuken Kigyo is also a symbol of Ja-pan’s great manufacturing and tech-nological prowess, and a constant reminder of its industrial strength – and never more so in recent his-tory when Japan experienced years of economic stagnation.

Now though, the country’s strong,

medium-sized companies are lead-ing Japanese manufacturing into a bright new era – one that is defined by the technological innovation and efficiency that Japan excels in: the so-called Fourth Industrial Revolution.

In focus: Japan’s hidden championsTo understand the importance of-Chuken Kigyo to the Japanese econ-omy, one must first get a sense of its scale. In 2016, the Economic Census for Business Activity estimated that SMEs and LMEs (large medium-sized enterprises) accounted for nearly 97 percent of all Japanese enterprises. Smaller in size, greater in corporate flexibility and highly specialized in precise products, these ‘hidden champions’ – as they are affectionately called – have built upon their historical expertise to transform themselves into quali-tative and innovative powerhouses.

Indeed, thanks to their extremely high level of technological prowess, Japanese SMEs have become the undisputed market leaders in many B2B sectors and are responsible for providing the quality required to make complex end-products. While some of these are in the

business of simple engineering (for example, Shimano Inc. supplies around 60-70 percent of the world’s bicycle gears and brakes); it is in the enigmatic areas of electronics and materials-science that Japanese companies truly reign supreme. As

J APAN

Hidden champions: Out of the shadows and into the Light

Supplying unique & high performance material products through our strong know-how, enhancing benefits for OHARA’s end users.

Materials + SolutionsDelivering OHARA

products performance through excellent quality materials

Always seeking flexibility to offer

adapted solutions for end consumers

Building a “communication

oriented” supply chainwith our customers

Gathering Customers insights; Understanding

the True Needs of consumers

Collaborating with Customers to provide End-users with high-

performance Products

Bringing added value to our products through Ohara’s cutting-edge Material Tuning Ability

While some of Japan’s best-known manufacturers have lost ground to regional rivals in recent years, it is the country’s Chuken Kigyo – strong, medium-sized companies – that continue to fly the national flag, enjoying strong global market shares in niche areas.

“Japan Inc. has transformed into a hidden champion and an expert at making complex components and parts. Around 50 percent of all smartphone components are made by Japanese firms”

Osamu Inoue, President, Sumitomo Electric Industries

I-line High Homogeneity Glass, by Ohara Inc.

SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION

these technologies are largely invis-ible to consumers, the firms remain mostly hidden (especially outside of Japan). However, as they are essen-tial to making particular products, many enjoy vast global market shares. It has been estimated by the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) that within the past decade, Japanese companies served more than 70 percent of the worldwide market in at least 30 technology sectors.

It is within these very niche and specialist sectors that quality re-mains king. While many technology products have become commodi-ties, certain components have not as they require continual innova-tion. This is what all Japanese tech-nology champions have in common: a strict attention to detail and a tendency to invest handsomely in research and development.

Osamu Inoue, President of Sumitomo Electric Industries, Ltd. – which manufactures electric wire and optical fiber cables used mainly by the global telecoms industry – ex-plains that while products that were originally made by Japanese firms have been replicated and, in some cases, lost significant market share to products made by other interna-

tional manufacturers, this does not mean that Japanese manufacturers have lost innovation capability.

“In today’s world,” he says, “Japan Inc. has transformed into a hidden champion and an expert at making complex components and parts. For example, around 50 percent of all smartphone components are made

by Japanese firms, while products are indeed assembled in China.”

Hirokazu Saito, President of Oha-ra Inc. – a global leader in optical glass products – explains how such a transformation has helped keep its competitors at bay, especially the Chinese firms and other regional ri-vals who have based their business models on attempting to replicate Japanese monozokuri.

“The way we have been able to stay competitive and stand out amongst our competitors is by investing a lot of time and effort into our R&D forces,” he says. “As a result, we have successfully imple-mented innovative ideas into our manufacturing processes, thereby offering a quality of product that is truly unique to Japanese products and that cannot be emulated by rival companies in China.

“Chinese companies buy Japanese products in order to analyze them and attempt to recreate them. How-ever, what has been demonstrated is that even though they can analyze the composition, they cannot main-tain the same level of consistency that Japanese companies provide. Our company has always maintained a high-level of quality, consistency and reliability in our products, which has allowed us to continue living up to, and even exceed the expectations of what it means for products to be ‘Made in Japan’.”

For this reason, international manufacturers everywhere turn to Japanese makers for these sorts of specialized tools and components. Car manufacturers, for example, would want to avoid the PR disas-ter of a product recall owing to a car dashboard malfunction caused by an inferior part that cost only a few cents. Mobile phone manufacturers, too, would not want their devices’ screens to instantly a shatter as soon as they took the slightest impact.

Creating a high-end solution to the latter of these two examples has been one of the most recent in-novations of Ohara Inc., a company which traditionally prides itself on providing the lenses for a range of high-spec technological equipment. These include high resolution tele-scopes used for astronomical stud-ies, microscopes for biological stud-ies, and top-of-the range cameras.

The Ohara Inc. president explains the reasons behind the company’s diversification strategy: “Over the past several years, demand for digital cameras has decreased significantly. In order to compensate for this drop

“We have successfully implemented innovative ideas into our manufacturing processes, thereby offering a quality of product that is truly unique to Japanese products”

Hirokazu Saito, President, Ohara Inc.

in production, we have had to explore new types of markets and produc-tion lines, from which lithium-ion con-ductive glass-ceramics (LICGCTM) manufacturing came to fruition.

“Ohara now makes use of a new line of glass ceramics to create dura-ble glass that can be implemented in the production of mobile phones. The reason mobile phone companies are interested in our glass ceramic prod-ucts is because with the introduction of 5G, there is a need for a material that offers high transmission of sig-nals but that can also remain durable. Glass alone can shatter too easily, so the use of glass ceramics allows the mobile phones to remain sturdy while giving the best available connection to the user.”

The ability of Japanese compa-nies to continuously innovate – not just in existing product lines and technologies but through the cre-ation of new solutions in order to adapt to rapidly changing consumer demands – stands its manufacturing industry in good stead, particularly as the aforementioned Fourth In-dustrial Revolution continues apace.

Chuken Kigyo and Industry 4.0Also known as Industry 4.0, the Fourth Industrial Revolution is the global digital transformation that has been occurring since the middle of the last century, charac-terized by a fusion of technologies that is blurring the lines between the physical, digital, and biological spheres. Evolving at an exponential rate, the possibilities of billions of people connected by mobile devic-es, with unprecedented processing power, storage capacity, and access to knowledge, are unlimited. And these possibilities will be multiplied in the coming years by emerging technology breakthroughs in fields such as artificial intelligence, ro-botics, the Internet of Things and autonomous vehicles.

Recognized as an international hub of technological innovation, Ja-pan is expected to cement its place as a leader of this global industrial movement in the coming decades.

To this end, as part of its ‘con-nected industry’ policy for boosting Industry 4.0, the Japanese govern-ment has recently joined hands with the private sector and is focusing on diverse ways in which it can de-

SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION

“Our quality is unrivalled, our delivery is customized to each client, and our products allow for cost reduction”

Azuma Arai, President,Toyoda Van Moppes Ltd.

“Since some of our clients operate in complex industries, such as automation and aviation, we are required to adopt IoT solutions”

Yoshiaki Numata, President, Mitutoyo Corporation

We will continue to refine our technologies for new fields by cultivating technologies

in the automotive field.

velop the Internet of Things (IoT) within the manufacturing industry. Mitutoyo Corporation – a firm spe-cializing in measuring instruments and metrological technology – is an example of one of Japan’s ‘hid-den champions’ that considers itself ahead of the curve in this area.

“Since some of our clients oper-ate in complex industries, such as automation and aviation, we are required to adopt IoT solutions,” explains President of Mitutoyo, Yo-shiaki Numata. “We employ IoT as a means to utilize, analyze and treat the data captured by our measur-ing tools. This information is then sent to machine tools and relayed to the central server so that all rel-evant data can be centralized and observed. This method began long before Industry 4.0.

“While the democratization of smart factories is rather recent, this trend is not new to Mitutoyo. As we have been providing similar solu-tions for many years, machine tool and robotic manufacturers come to us to collaborate. In a smart factory, the machines, robots and measuring tools must connect and communi-cate with each other in order to keep the factory running. Therefore, our customers require an IoT system that connects with aspects of the production line, and this is exactly what we have to offer.”

The art of customizationIf the Industry 4.0 is about innova-tion, one thing that is equally associ-ated with it is customization. Over the past 20 years, manufacturing has been about mass production, with all consumers utilizing simi-lar products and devices. With the Fourth Industrial Revolution, servic-es are being adapted to individuals and products are customized to suit specific needs. As such, innovative technologies, including AI and IoT, are becoming means to personalize services to customers.

For the Japanese Chuken Kigyo, product customization holds equal importance as innovation – not just for the companies themselves, but their clients too. As Azuma Arai, President of Toyoda Van Moppes Ltd. points out, the components, tools and materials in which Japa-nese firms excel are already highly customized. By working closely with clients over many years, suppliers gain insight into their clients’ future technical plans and are trusted to come up with solutions to problems.

“In Japan, manufacturers

abide by the Quality, Cost, Deliv-ery (QCD) concept. As I see it, our quality is unrivalled, our delivery is customized to each client, and our products allow for cost reduction,” Mr. Arai explains in relation to his company’s specialties in automo-tive parts.

“To this perfect QCD model, I would also like to add an ‘S’ for ‘Service’. At Toyoda Van Moppes, not only do we supply customized products but we also provide re-lated services. Service, or koto in Japanese, is embedded within our definition of monozukuri – so much so we sometimes change the word to koto-zukuri.

“One of our services is to propose best-practice solutions to our cus-tomers. For example, we give advice as to product utilization and produc-tion processes. We assist our cus-tomers on how to use our solutions. If a customer cannot process a cer-tain material, we provide guidance as to how that issue can be solved.”

Such a trait of above-and-beyond customer service is one that is com-monly shared across the Japanese manufacturing industry – and is something that Fumito Shinkawa of Shinkawa Electric Co., Ltd. believes helps differentiate Japanese compa-nies from international competition.

“We want to differentiate our-selves through quality and also by grasping exactly what our clients want and need. We want our cus-tomers to be happy, and more im-

portantly to understand what they need. The most important thing is understanding what is happening in the field,” stresses Mr. Shinkawa, who is boss of the specialist firm that provides vibration and condi-tion monitoring sensors, software and solutions.

“By analyzing what our custom-ers are doing, we can see what we need to develop in order to make our customers happy. We try to build a healthy relationship with our clients, to build trust and to realize that we are here to make their factory as efficient as possible.”

Surviving in a globalized worldClose collaboration between compa-nies, whether it be a supplier-client relationship, or a business-to-busi-ness affiliation, is not unusual in Japan. In fact, between the second half of the 20th century and early

this century, the country became famous for its keiretsu model – a type of informal business group or set of companies with interlocking business relationships and share-holdings. While it is a structure steeped in Japanese business tra-dition, in more recent times, eco-nomic commentators have claimed that keiretsu would not survive in a globalized world.

Like so many of Japan’s hidden champions, NSWest Inc. – which makes high-quality automotive components – has a historic af-filiation with one of Japan’s bigger, household-name manufacturers; in this case Mazda. The company’s president, Norio Minato, says that despite claims of a death knell for keiretsu, there will continue to be a culture for “duel-creation” long into the future.

“The real question is: how do we stand out?” he says. “In today’s globalized world, having high tech-nological skills is not enough to be competitive. To remain competitive, we therefore focus on enhancing the dual-creation we enjoy with Mazda and Daihatsu. As we are fa-miliar with Mazda’s philosophy, we are able to anticipate their desires. This approach and familiarity with a client is an example of co-creation. I believe this is how we stand out, and we shall continue doing so in the years to come.”

The message then is clear: if Japa-nese manufactures are to retain their market shares amid increasingly fierce global competition, they must stick together and stay true to their values which made them world-lead-ing manufacturers in the first place.

SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION

The power of the internet has transformed business, society and our daily lives and will con-tinue to do so as increasingly faster fiber-optic broadband enables the expansion of Fourth Industrial Revolution technolo-gies such as the Internet of Things, Cloud and Big Data.

Back in 1983 during the early days of the internet, a Japa-nese company called Sanwa Denki Kogyo developed fiber-optic connectors that remain essential to the functioning of telecommunications networks

to this day. The rapid progress in broad-

band and mobile technologies continues to advance the optical communications industry and how the world communicates at a staggering rate. As one of the pioneers of the web since those early days, Sanwa will continue to develop and manu-facture products to enhance network performance and dis-cover intelligent solutions for the data-driven fourth indus-trial revolution era. Drawing on its decades of experience in developing innovative internet technologies, president Yasuo Ishii believes Sanwa can be at the forefront of the data com-munication market.

“With the rise of IoT and Big Data, everything will be network-related. The Fourth Industrial Revolution presents a massive opportunity for us,” says Mr. Ishii.

“Since the beginning of the fiber-optic network, we have provided optical components, like our optical adapters and connectors, and technical ser-vices to data centers all over the world for decades. Nowadays, our market is moving to data communications and we have to analyze to what extent we can move into the data market. There is an important market share for us to acquire by pro-viding solutions to data centers and supporting IoT.”

In Japan, Sanwa’s optical outlets can be found in almost every home with fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) broadband. The company has worked in part-nership with telecommunica-tions firm NTT to bring FTTH to homes across the nation. “In terms of fiber optic network penetration, Japan is far beyond other nations and we expect drastic growth in this field,” adds Mr. Ishii.

Having helped Japan to de-velop one of the most sophisti-cated and expansive fiber-optic networks in the world, Sanwa is now setting its sights on part-nering with telecommunications firms in the U.S. to expand FTTH connectivity with its high-quali-ty products. Like most Japanese companies, Sanwa has focused on strengthening its overseas presence due to the shrinking domestic market, and Mr. Ishii sees great potential in the U.S.

“At the moment, 20 percent of our sales come from the overseas markets. Our long-term objective is to reach 50 percent. While the population in Japan reached 120 million, today it is inevitably shrinking. In comparison, the rest of the world keeps getting bigger. In the United States alone expan-sion opportunities are endless,” he explains.

Mr. Ishii is confident on reaching the overseas objec-tives because he knows he can

offer prospective partners in the U.S. and across the world the highest-quality network connectors and fiber-optical so-lutions that continue to outpace the quality and capabilities of similar products on the market. Sanwa’s unrivalled high-quality is underpinned by the tenets of monozukuri, the Japanese philosophy of craftsmanship.

“When Sanwa Denki Kogyo manufacturers its connectors, the Japanese spirit of mono-zukuri is present. Whether it is for a tiny connector or a much larger network connectivity so-lution, this belief of putting your entire soul into the creation is sacred,” he explains.

“We are moving from Sanwa Japan to Sanwa International. We intend to embrace the op-portunities the world has to offer while maintaining the solid foundation built through our unique Japanese Monozukuri spirit.”

The power behind the internetSanwa was one of the pioneering developers of fiber-optic internet in the early 80s and today continues to provide unrivalled quality products and solutions to its partners as higher broadband speeds enable endless possibilities in data-driven technology.

“With the rise of IoT and big data, every-thing will be network-related. The Fourth Industrial Revolution presents a massive op-portunity for us”

Yasuo Ishii, President, Sanwa Denki Kogyo

Engineering Excellence Connecting You and BeyondSince 1947, Sanwa is committed to being the best global provider of superior fiber optic components, and understanding the specific requirements and challenges our customers face. We strive to develop unique technology with your concerns in mind to deliver a result that leads to mutual success through customization and in-house engineering.

www.sanwa-us.com

SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION

One of the pillar technologies of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, Artificial Intelligence (AI) has the potential to radically improve business, living environments, and global health. But like any disruptive technology, AI harnesses potential risks that cannot be ignored – the most talked about, of course, is the impact it will have on jobs.

Another issue to be addressed with AI, which is much less talked about, is related to energy consump-tion. In order to fully harness the potential of AI technologies in daily life and business, experts say that the current amount of electricity consumption needs to be reduced 1,000-fold. This has led compa-nies to develop technologies – both hardware and software – that can reduce the amount of energy used by AI applications.

One company that is focusing on developing energy-saving hard-ware is Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd. (SEL). SEL has tasked itself with developing next-generation material technology for semiconductors that can replace the ‘complimentary metal-oxide semiconductors’ that are ubiquitous in digital electronics. SEL’s R&D ef-forts have focused on using ceramic materials to make crystalline oxide semiconductors, devices which can significantly reduce energy con-sumption.

“One of the rare features of field effect transistors (FETs) fabricated with crystalline oxide semiconduc-tor material (OSFETs) is an ex-tremely low off-state current that has yet to be measured by human-

kind. Using this feature, extremely low power consumption can be achieved,” says SEL president, Dr. Shunpei Yamazaki.

“The OSFET can be considered to be an excellent ‘switch’, as it has a very high on/off current ratio in a wide range of temperatures. This superb switch is an enabler of new memory devices and multiply accu-mulate operation circuits used in AI.”

SEL has developed a number of low-energy devices composed of OSFETs that are applicable to AI, including: DOSRAM (dynamic oxide semiconductor random ac-

cess memory, see picture), which enables a significant reduction in power as its refresh operation rate is significantly lower than commonly used RAM composed of silicon FETs; NOSRAM (non-volatile oxide semi-conductor random access memory, see picture), which operates with lower voltage than silicon flash memories and consumes less power; and NoffCPU (normally off central processing unit), which uses 94 per-cent less power than standard CPUs.

“Hardware with low power con-sumption as well as appropriate software to complement the over-

all system are very important for AI. Semiconductor devices using crystalline oxide enable low power consumption, therefore, DOSRAM, NOSRAM, and NoffCPU developed by SEL are potentially applicable to low-power hardware for AI,” adds Dr. Yamazaki.

Looking towards the future, SEL has been developing applications that utilize the extremely low off-state current of OSFET as well as state-of-the-art AI hardware to produce a novel lithium-ion second-ary battery control system using OSFETs (BTOS). The current issue

with lithium-ion secondary batter-ies, which are used in many elec-tronic devices such as smartphones and electric vehicles, is that they are commonly at risk of catching fire due to micro-short-circuiting. In order to bypass this, SEL is de-veloping a battery control system that can detect micro short circuits and deal with the problem accord-ingly thanks to the combination of OSFET and AI hardware. With these developments, SEL hopes to provide devices of high quality, efficiency, and safety to customers around the world.

In addition, SEL has been work-ing on further improvement in lith-ium-ion battery performance, and has patented technology that prom-ises to reduce battery size, increase capacity, and improve rapid charge and discharge characteristics.

These are just a few of the latest innovations developed by SEL and its founder Dr. Yamazaki. SEL is one of the most unique companies in the world, whose distinctive business model is linked to the commercial-ization of its outstanding research capacity and its intellectual property cycle. Dr. Yamazaki is famous for holding the largest number of cred-ited patents with well over 11,000 inventions. In 2016, he was awarded by the American Ceramic Society for his outstanding contributions to oxide semiconductor technology and energy-saving display devices through his numerous inventions.

*OSFET, DOSRAM, NOSRAM, NoffCPU, and BTOS are registered trademarks and a trademark of Semiconductor Energy Labora-tory Co., Ltd. in Japan (Japanese trademark registration No. 5519759, No. 5519752, No. 5529056, No. 5519756, and Japanese trademark application No. 2018-097721).

The pioneers of tomorrow’s technologyThrough its devotion to R&D, Semiconductor Energy Laboratory continuouslycreates the technologies that shape the future of our planet.

Non-volatile oxide semiconductor random access memory (NOSRAM); and dynamic oxide semiconductor random access memory (DOSRAM), developed by SEL

SEMICONDUCTOR ENERGY LABORATORY

www.sel.co.jp/en/index.html

We look for research topics pertaining to forthcoming needs of society, finding new principles by

thorough research and development.

Our R&D taking one step ahead of society’s forthcoming needs

Dr. Shunpei Yamazaki, President, Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd. (SEL)

SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION

Behind all of Japan’s world-leading carmakers are the chukenkigyo – strong medium sized firms that produce and supply them with high-quality components. One of these firms is Katayama Kogyo, which provides automotive parts, and construction machinery and agricultural machinery parts worldwide.

The company was estab-lished in 1947 and in the U.S. has a production base in Shelbyville, Kentucky, which pro-vides parts to automotive manufac-turers in Alabama, Ohio, Michigan, and Illinois. While the majority of the company’s business is through Tier 1 relationships with these manu-facturers, it also has established Tier 2 relationships to expand its foothold in the industry. Its current customer portfolio covers over 20 North American vehicle nameplates.

“Consumers do not know about Katayama Kogyo but we are rec-ognized among the automobile car-makers in the industry as we work with important brands to provide them with every automobile part they need,” says president, Masa-yuki Katayama.

“We provide products for some of the most recognized companies in the industry, such as General Motors, Chrysler and Ford. These companies visit the headquarters of different competitors in the in-dustry to choose the best solutions for their cars. They visit automotive parts makers not only in Japan but also in competitor countries like South Korea. The difference they find is that even if we might not be as competitive in terms of price, we offer added value for them.”

Now in its 71st year, Katayama Kogyo has been looking to diversify into new markets and develop new

Since 2012, Katayama Kogyo, a leading automotive parts manufacturer, has been commercializing a surprising and innovative creation: The Walking Bicycle. This next-generation vehicle combining health consciousness, comfort and environmental care, is about to cycle straight to your heart.

products and innovations for the 21st century. Mr. Katayama points out that younger generations today are less concerned about owning automobiles and are open to other forms transport, particularly more

environmentally friendly options.“As a consequence, looking to the

future, we won’t focus just on the automotive business,” he says.

“In 2009 we came up with the idea of a new product, the Walking Bicycle. We dedicated a team of en-gineers and designers to work ex-clusively on this product. They have been developing new parts specifi-cally conceived for this new product and in 2014 we started offering the Waking Bicycle to the public.”

Mr. Katayama recalls that he came up with idea when a good friend asked him to develop a mo-bility solution for his father who was in his 80s and loved walking around Tokyo. After they developed the Walking Bicycle with elderly people in mind, the company realized that it would be best marketed to younger people, as a healthy and eco-friendly transport alternative.

“With the Walking Bicycle we want to promote a healthy and active lifestyle. Automatic driving solutions and technology are an al-ternative for us to use less energy. The Walking Bicycle is an alterna-tive to that perspective,” explains Mr. Katayama.

“In terms of technology, the Walking Bicycle is a technologi-cally advanced product focused on

promoting the basic function of the human body: walking. We want to transmit the message that there is an alternative to traditional cars that allows you to remain active. Besides that healthy perspective it is also a great alternative and environmen-tally friendly solution for transport in cities.”

Car companies like General Mo-tors, Chrysler and Ford have trusted in Katayama’s high-quality products for years. But as Mr. Katayama has pointed out, the company remains behind the scenes and unknown to the end consumer, like so many of Japan’s chukenkigyo. But the com-pany is coming out of the shadows with the Walking Bicycle, a fine example of ‘Made in Japan’ quality and a product of the monozukuri philosophy and attention to detail. Each piece is meticulously assem-bled and polished by hand. By using such things as premium paint, the famously high quality of Japanese manufacturing is apparent in every component of the Walking Bicycle.

www.katayamakogyo.jp

The Bicycle Transforming the Future of Mobility

“With the Walking Bicycle we want to promote a healthy and active lifestyle. Automatic driving solutions and technology are an alternative for us to use less energy. The Walking Bicycle is an alternative to that perspective”

Masayuki Katayama,President, Katayama Kogyo

SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION

The current backdrop of the global automotive market, it’s fair to say, is an overwhelmingly positive one. Such is the high volume of growth in vehicle sales that, in coming decades, we could witness the number of automo-biles on our roads surpass global population estimates.

Within this environment of staggering growth, pressure is building on automakers, garages and vendors to keep pace with uncontrollable demand. As a result, to serve the crucial purpose of space optimization as factories and workshops fill to capacity, almost all vehicle manufacturing units will soon have to be equipped with special automotive lifts – giving rise not just to actual vehicles, but a thriving automotive sub-sector.

In Japan – the world’s second largest car producing country behind China – the undisputed kingpin of automotive conveying equipment is Sugiyasu Corpo-ration, which through its well-known Bishamon brand has gained a dominating 75 percent market share, with sales turnover of $100 million and 350 employ-ees. As such a major force in the global automotive lifts market – one that is estimated to reach almost $10 billion in value by

2026 – the outlook of the com-pany is unsurprisingly lofty.

“Bishamon has become a leading brand in automobile lifts both in Japan and around the world,” says Mr. Yasutoshi Su-

Lift off: Bishamon leads Japanese automotive sector to new heightsFrom small cars to the largest of trucks, Aichi-based Sugiyasu Corporation has developed unrivalled automotive service equipment that can sustain all types of vehicle. Through technology, reliability, and a unique value proposition, the Bishamon brand has gained a 75 percent market share in Japan.

giura, the president of parent company Sugiyasu Corporation, which also specialises in convey-ing equipment for the homecare and material handling segments.

“The reason for our success really all comes down to the trust our customers have towards our brand name. Since our inception, we have put the quality of our products and safety of our clients first and have always delivered on our promises.”

This almost obsessive focus on quality is what has helped differ-entiate Bishamon – and Japanese manufacturers in general – from overseas competition, stresses Mr. Sugiura.

“The term monozukuri not only embodies the action of manufacturing ‘things’, but also the philosophy behind the pro-cesses that provide products of unparalleled quality – a quality that is truly unique to Japan,” he explains. “Indeed, what separates Japanese companies from the rest is the effort put into research and development.”

However, despite Bishamon’s commanding position in the mar-ket, there is rarely a good time for complacency. Never more so is this the case than in today’s market,

when rapidly-developing techno-logical advancements, especially in automation, are changing the face – and moving the goalposts – of the manufacturing industry on an almost continuous basis.

In order to remain ahead of the game, Bishamon has been ramp-ing up its investments accordingly.

“Our production bases now fea-ture state-of-the-art facilities that enable us to manufacture products of exceptional reliability,” says Mr. Sugiura. “However, for us to con-tinue serving our clients efficiently and responding to our custom-ers’ needs, we must perpetually improve the technology we have in our hands and approach our manufacturing processes with an innovative mentality.

“In the future we hope to maxi-mize our use of IoT in administra-tive work as well, and have our employees within various lines of our operations interconnected. In this way, we believe the company will be a completely unified one, working like a well-oiled machine.”

Much like it’s market-leading equipment, then.

http://www.bishamon.co.jp/en/

“Since our inception in 1949, our objective has been to provide unrivalled technology to our clients. As we strive to expand internationally, we invite all automotive shops to try our products and to test the unrivalled Bishamon quality ”

Mr. Yasutoshi Sugiura, Chief Operating Officer,Sugiyasu Corporation.

http://www.bishamon.co.jp/en/

The Japanese leader in the Automotive Lift Repair market, offering quality, reliability and peace of mind to clients from around the globe.

The best way,

the way

SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION

Tokyo’s futuristic skyline and the Shinkansen bullet train system are amongst the most iconic symbols of Japan, and a testament to the technological prowess and capabili-ties of the nation’s construction and infrastructure firms.

In its heyday the Japanese construction industry was thriv-ing domestically. In 1989, Japan’s construction sector accounted for some 45 trillion yen, or around 15 percent, of the country’s entire GDP. The period that followed the real estate crash, known as the “lost decade,” saw a steady decline in Japan’s construction sector. In 2010, it was worth around 25 tril-lion yen, and while the sector has shown growth up to 2015, rising to 28 trillion yen, it is still far from the dizzying heights of 1989.

With construction projects re-lated to the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and stimulated by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s $61 billion investment plan, the industry should continue to experience moderate growth at home, but the nation’s construction firms, like so many others, are eye-ing growing opportunities overseas, with a particular focus on Asia.

To maintain its growth momen-

tum, the 45 countries in develop-ing Asia will need to invest $26 trillion between 2016 and 2030 in infrastructure projects in power, transport, telecommunications and water, according to a report by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) released in March.

In 2015, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe pledged to invest $110 billion in “quality” infrastructure projects across Asia over five years. In No-vember, following the meeting of U.S. president Donald Trump and Mr. Abe, Japan reiterated its com-mitment to invest in “high-quality” infrastructure in Asia, in partnership with the United States.

Japan’s support of infrastructure projects in Asia is nothing new. For decades, it has offered overseas de-velopment assistance (ODA) to its neighbors through organizations like the Japan International Coopera-tion Agency (JICA).

“Japanese ODA focused on infra-structural development in East and Southeast Asia. Infrastructure was a catalyst for private investment and was a remarkable contributor to the overall economic growth of these countries,” says JICA president, Shinichi Kitaoka.

“Infrastructure was key to cre-ating a conducive environment for Japanese manufactures to bring their investment in the region. With-out ports, roads, bridges, or water systems, it would have been impos-sible for these countries to attract private investment.”

From ODA to PPPsThanks partly to Japan’s initiatives in the region, there has been a shift from a focus on ODA to public and private investment. In the mean-while, China has become a global superpower and the largest inves-tor in Asian infrastructure. Over the coming years, Japan will compete with China for trillions of dollars-worth of infrastructure contracts.

Japan knows it may not be able to compete with China in terms of quantity, but it is focusing on selling itself as a developer of high-quality infrastructure projects. Japanese

companies assure that their proj-ects may cost more than those of Chinese competitors, but they are built to stand the test of time – requiring less maintenance, which ultimately makes them cheaper in the long term.

“In comparison to China’s rapid and large-scale development, Japan aims toward long-term, sustain-able and growth-oriented projects with consideration for social and environmental impacts and apply-ing adequate technologies to each country specifically,” says Yoshikazu Nomura, President of Nihon Suido Consultants, Ltd. (NSC).

“It is a fact that Japanese firms are facing severe competition, es-pecially with Chinese firms. So far, Japanese firms have believed in their advantage of quality and in the advantage of our life-cycle cost.”

NSC has been providing water and environmental consultancy

The Race to Build The World: Japanese construction firms take their expertise globalJapanese companies offer unrivalled quality, technology and project durability, and are expanding overseas to help other nations meet their building and infrastructure challenges.

Connecting the World with superior cable technologywww.global-sei.com

SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION

countries, and in the new high-speed railway in India.

At home in Japan, Pacific Consul-tants is focused on developing “next-generation infrastructure that will support future growth” in response to the nation’s aging population. Like most Japanese construction firms, the company is making the inevitable expansion overseas.

“At Pacific Consultants, we adapt our overseas strategy depending on the market at hand. For developing countries, we provide our integrated construction consulting services for the creation and operation of new civil engineering projects,” says chairman, Shinichi Hasegawa.

“For advanced nations, we provide our expertise in the maintenance and renewal of old infrastructure in order to enhance the character-istics of existing buildings. I started another overseas entity five years ago, and while it is still small in size, I have great hopes for the future. Our objective is to surpass the $100 million in overseas sales by 2020; and to become a 100-billion-yen company by 2030.”

Echoing NSC’s Mr. Nomura, Mr. Hasegawa acknowledges the com-petition faced in Asia by its lower-priced Chinese competitors, but reiterates that Japan’s advantage lies in the quality, sustainability and durability of its infrastructure.

“Chinese corporations are our

services, including water supply, wastewater engineering, sewer-age, drainage and sanitation, for ODA projects over the past five decades. The company also partici-pates in consortiums to design, build, finance, and operate and maintain public-private partnership (PPP) projects. As the shift from ODA to public and private investment con-tinues, NSC will leverage on its vast experience and technological know-how to support the development of world-class water and related infra-structure across Asia and beyond.

“The need for water and sewage infrastructure in emerging countries is still high and our technical capabili-ties will be widely demanded and it is an important role for us to take over infrastructure assets to the next gen-eration properly,” says Mr. Nomura.

“We can bring comprehensive engineering consulting services – not only in design and construction supervision, but also in planning and advisory services for any aspect of water infrastructure, by integrating and utilizing sophisticated knowl-edge and technologies.”

Japanese companies have built up decades of unrivalled experience in building resilient, long-lasting and high-quality structures in a nation

prone to natural disasters and with varied climates – experience Japan is willing to share with the world, and particularly with its neighbors in fast-growing Asia.

“We have accumulated know-how on the construction of resilient infrastructure systems,” Mr. Nomura points out.

“NSC has decades of experience in water-related projects through-out Japan. This experience is widely applicable in emerging countries and we have an abundance of ex-perience around the world.”

Another consulting company that has been involved in ODA and has been working in conjunction with the JICA is Chuo Kaihatsu Corporation (CKC), which has been providing professional engineering services since 1948.

“We went abroad with JICA, but currently we are looking for new ways to go abroad, in order to ex-pand our overseas operations. And of course we are looking for PPPs, but maybe in the future, as they are big projects.” says president, Ichiro Seko.

“In the past, we were solely fo-cused on expanding our activities internationally. However, presently, only 5 percent of our total revenue of 8 billion yen comes from our over-

seas projects. Nevertheless, our for-eign projects are not stagnating, and we expect a big expansion abroad.”

CKC has brought its seismic technology global to other disas-ter-prone countries. Following the 2008 Sichuan earthquake in China, the company worked with the Chi-nese government to develop its ‘K3 System’ to predict and monitor the possibility of other earthquakes.

“The real competitive advantage is not the machine itself but being able to implement, to control and to effec-tively use this technology, which can monitor all seismic activities from a computer thanks to our transmission devices.” explains Mr. Seko.

“Our K3 technology is not only present in China; it has been imple-mented in Australian, Taiwan and Sri Lanka. In the future, we want to concentrate in implementing this technology in South East Asia, with the help of local partners.”

Pacific ConsultantsEstablished as a U.S. company in 1951 to support Japan’s rebuilding efforts after World War II, Pacific Consultants Co., Ltd. is one of Ja-pan’s leading construction consul-tancy firms and today manages thousands of projects across 29 countries. In Japan the company has worked on some of the nation’s most important infrastructure proj-ects, including to Shinkansen high-speed railway. Outside of Japan, the company has been engaged in railway projects in Southeast Asian

“In comparison to China’s rapid and large-scale development, Japan aims toward long-term, sustainable and growth-oriented projects”

Yoshikazu Nomura, President Nihon Suido Consultants, Ltd.

“Japanese ODA focused on infrastructural development in East and Southeast Asia. Infrastructure was a catalyst for private investment and was a remarkable contributor to the overall economic growth of these countries”

Shinichi Kitaoka, President, JICA

SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION

great competitors. In Japan, we believe that any infrastructural project must provide safety and se-curity, while sustainably supporting the local economy in the long term. We call it ‘smart infrastructure’.

“For any construction project to achieve longevity, quality must be prioritized. In our industry, it is unfair to regard the immediate cost over the long-term return. If one desires to have long-living in-frastructure, the price cannot be discounted. At Pacific Consultants, we believe that all construction projects should be of high quality, and pricing should reflect the right cost for the right value.”

Japan Port ConsultantsJapan Port Consultants, Ltd. also has a history that dates back to Japan’s post-World War II rede-velopment. The company was be-hind the design and construction of the internationally acclaimed and award-winning Kansai Airport in Osaka, which has been compared to engineering marvels such as the Panama Canal and Hoover Dam.

Bringing Japanese Expertise to The World

www.pacific.co.jp/e

We are Pacific Consultants, the leading Japanese construction consulting firm, specialized in the development of safe, sustainable and prosperous infrastructure for the future of humanity. Throughout our 67 years of history, we have accumulated an acute knowledge in 29 construction related fields and we completed 4,400 projects per year in more than 100 regions internationally.

PRODUCED BY THE WORLDFOLIO

Antoine Azoulay – Country DirectoAlexandre Marland – Editorial Director r

Aline Ouaknine – Project DirectorSean Maplesden – Chief Market Analyst

Kevin Takuya Vela – Market AnalystMarta Zamorano – Project Coordinator

#JapanTheWorldfolio#TheWorldfolio

“We believe that any infrastructural project must provide safety and security, while sustainably supporting the local economy in the long term”

Shinichi Hasegawa, Chairman, Pacific Consultants Co, Ltd.

“We had to develop Kansai air-port 5 kilometers (3 miles) away from land. As the airport is literally in the ocean, the building conditions were extremely severe and difficult. Many American peers called the project ‘fantastic, but crazy’,” recalls president, Tetsuo Omura.

“Kansai airport is built at a level where the depth of the sea reaches 30 meters while being far away from land. We are very proud of this project as it is the proof of the uniqueness of Japanese technology.”

JPC has been involved in ODA port projects abroad. Moving for-ward, the company wants to draw on its 57-year track record of devel-oping port and harbor facilities in Japan to provide high-quality con-sulting services for overseas private port projects.

“Japan is a small island nation with severe natural conditions, such as earthquake, tsunamis and difficult land on which to build. We have had no choice but to develop the neces-sary expertise to construct dense and highly technological projects. This know-how in density and in dealing with natural disasters is a strength we wish to bring to the world.”

Sumitomo ElectricWhile water, ports and rail infrastruc-ture is important for Asia’s develop-ment, so too, of course, is electricity. Owing to its capability of material development, Sumitomo Electric has developed the world’s best-in-class high-voltage, direct current (HVDC) cable and converter technology.

“As our HVDC technology is characterized by low loss for long-distance power transmission, it will be utilized to connect regions and na-tions alike,” says company president, Osamu Inoue.

“We have also achieved a world record for the most powerful HVDC XLPE cable systems.”

In recognition of Sumitomo’s in-novative technology, excellent qual-ity control systems and proven track record in Japan, the company was proudly awarded a contract for the Nemo Link project, a HVDC subma-rine power cable under construc-tion between England and Belgium, which is a joint venture between the UK’s National Grid company and Bel-gium’s Elia Group.

“We were awarded the Nemo Link project by showcasing our DC 400 kV interconnector using the DC XLPE cable. This HVDC cable can carry up to 1 GW of power, an astonishingly high bulk power for a transmission line. And also, HVDC technology can lower the electrical loss for long-dis-tance power transmission compared with HVAC technology,” explains Mr. Inoue.

This groundbreaking technology combines higher bulk power with lower transmission loss, and will en-able Nemo Link to fulfill the energy transmission demands between the UK and Belgium.

“Throughout its history, Sumitomo Electric has always been a pioneer

in material development and power cable innovation. We were the first in the world to develop numerous era-defining power cables and we will further expand our business to meet the demands of modern societies.”

Meeting the energy demands of a modern society is also the focus of Hitachi Zosen, a company which is among the world’s leading experts in the generation of energy from waste.

“More than ten years ago, we started to enhance the produc-tivity of our energy-from-waste plants and our power genera-tor systems. And now, we have started to incorporate AI tech-nology into our operations,” says president, Takashi Tanisho, who believes that all Japan’s construc-tion firms must adopt new tech-nologies such as AI and robotics moving forward.

“We must increase our produc-tivity through the use of innovative technologies, such as robotics and AI,” he says.

“We must place our efforts in developing the construction tech-niques of the future. Today is the time to create the growth founda-tions for tomorrow.”

“Moving forward, we must place our efforts in developing the construction techniques of the future”

Takashi Tanisho, President, Hitachi Zosen Corporation