Interview

After graduating from university, he joined a plant manufacturer where he was in charge of designing automated machinery. He learned the fundamentals of manufacturing on-site. He then decided to join Cam Co., Ltd. as part of business succession, and joined the company in 2007. In his second year, he served as president of the local subsidiaries in Singapore and Thailand, and was stationed there for one and a half years each.

Through local management, you will gain experience in business characteristics and factory management practices.

After returning to Japan, he worked in sales, then served as head of production and senior managing director, and was appointed president in 2021. He is currently preparing for the construction of a new office building and working to further expand the company's business domain.

Our company was founded in 1980 by seven members who had previously worked at a plastic molding manufacturer. Initially, we received requests from our previous manufacturers and promoted our business as a mold manufacturer, producing and delivering molds for injection molding that met their requests.

However, when current Chairman Yukio Kimura joined the company, he decided that molds alone would not be enough to develop the company, so he established a new molding department and began to take on resin molding work as well.

Our company, which has strengths in molding precision parts, began receiving many requests for camera barrel parts. However, we felt that there was a risk in relying solely on cameras, so we turned our attention to the field of automotive parts.

We quickly opened a sales office in Nagoya, where there are many automobile-related manufacturers. Taking advantage of the advantage of being able to "do business freely with any manufacturer without any ties," we actively conducted sales activities, and gradually the number of requests for automobile parts began to increase.

We have earned the trust of many customers and have steadily grown both our mold manufacturing and resin molding sales businesses.Currently, our business segments have expanded to include optical equipment parts, automotive parts, home appliances, information equipment, and office equipment.

We established local bases in Singapore in 1995, Hong Kong in 1999, and Shanghai in 2000. Our expansion into China was in response to requests from customers we had done business with in Singapore.

In 2007, they expanded into Thailand. Initially, they aimed to enter the automotive industry, but they were unable to penetrate it as easily as they had hoped.

Amidst these circumstances, a major camera manufacturer with whom we had a long-standing business relationship relocated its base to the same industrial park as us, which led to a significant increase in orders in the optical equipment sector. Our business with that manufacturer has expanded to various fields, including game consoles in China and audio equipment in Malaysia.

Our Singapore office has a multinational team, and sales and technical meetings are conducted in multiple languages. Since the late 2000s, following the Lehman Shock, they have focused on customer acquisition and dedicated themselves to building relationships with overseas manufacturers.

As a result, we have begun receiving large orders from overseas, including major foreign home appliance manufacturers. Our business relationships with world-renowned companies have also contributed to the stability of our company's performance.

We have expanded our operations to include Vietnam, Taiwan, Malaysia, and other countries, and we continue to actively pursue overseas expansion. By having multiple overseas bases and manufacturing closer to our customers, we can achieve cost advantages as well as benefits in terms of risk management.

For example, even if production at one location is disrupted due to a disaster, the same parts can be supplied from another geographically close location, thus reducing the risk of supply chain disruptions. We will continue to consider expanding our overseas bases whenever the timing is right.

At overseas locations, simply imposing Japanese methods won't work. It's essential to respect the local culture and employ management strategies that motivate local staff. This allows staff to grow and proactively take actions that generate profit.

Currently, there are no Japanese expatriates at our China office. This is a testament to how well our local staff have been trained and developed.

The technological level of our overseas competitors, including those in ASEAN and China, is steadily improving. In order for us to survive in this environment, we have no choice but to improve our own capabilities and achieve things that our overseas competitors cannot.

One possible path is to go beyond molds and molding to handle secondary processing such as painting and printing on products in-house, further enhancing our integrated system.

We must also introduce new equipment such as 3D printers to solve mold-related issues and take on the challenge of creating products that were previously impossible to create using conventional processing methods.

The circumstances surrounding resin materials are also changing dramatically when it comes to creating new products. For example, as the spread of electric vehicles increases, there is a growing demand for lighter vehicles, and there is a growing trend to replace metal parts with resin.

In response to this trend, new resins with strength comparable to that of metals are being developed and introduced one after another. As materials change, molding technology also requires ingenuity and advanced adaptability.

To gain the trust of our customers, we must continue to achieve efficient, high-quality molding while incorporating new ideas and methods. It is by no means an easy task, but overcoming such high hurdles with wisdom and effort is what gives our engineers the joy of working.

In order to respond to these changes, it is essential to raise the level of each and every engineer. Our company actively encourages employees to take on the challenge of obtaining the national qualification of "Plastic Molding Technician," and to date we have produced 7 certified employees with the special grade, 12 with the first grade, and 22 with the second grade.

Furthermore, in order to handle everything from molds to molding in-house, it is essential to acquire a wide range of knowledge and skills. In particular, if you want to play a leading role at an overseas base, it will be difficult to cope with knowledge in only one field.

Therefore, we are implementing an initiative to allow employees to broaden their horizons by exposing them to a variety of tasks through regular job transfers.

Normally, the molds are made by mold manufacturers, and then the parts manufacturers use them to carry out resin molding, so the work is divided. However, our major strength is that we can handle everything from mold making to resin molding.

If the mold is poorly made, the product will not be good at the injection molding stage. To produce high-quality molds, feedback on what problems may occur during molding is essential.

When processes are handled by different companies, it is not uncommon for information to not be shared smoothly.However, at our company, we handle both mold manufacturing and injection molding in-house, so we can respond immediately if any problems arise.

All of the molds we manufacture are used in our own processes, which deepens the connection between molds and molding and allows us to steadily accumulate technical knowledge. This integrated system makes it possible to create products that accurately capture customer requests.

For example, molds for resin molding need gaps to allow gas to escape. However, if these gaps are too large, not only the gas but also the resin will leak in, resulting in wasted cost and effort.

Because the type of resin used varies for each product, it is necessary to accurately determine the dividing line between "gas release but resin does not flow."

This is where the know-how of a mold manufacturer comes in. It is no easy task to create a highly stable mold that can withstand tens of thousands of moldings.

Our head office is located in Mibu Town, Tochigi Prefecture, but our functions are currently spread across five buildings scattered throughout the town's industrial park. In addition, due to an increase in orders for automotive lithium-ion battery-related parts, the capacity of the clean rooms required for manufacturing is approaching its limit.

In light of this situation, we are currently constructing a new factory that will consolidate our dispersed bases into one location. The new factory will have expanded clean rooms and will also have ample production facilities and lines, creating a system that will enable us to flexibly respond to any increase in production.

By consolidating various technologies at the headquarters, we aim to raise the overall level of our technology. Completion is scheduled for December 2026. The exterior will have a stylish design that differs from conventional factories, and a comfortable cafeteria space will also be installed.

We hope that creating this new environment will encourage the younger generation to become interested in manufacturing, which will have a positive impact on recruitment.

We are looking for people who can work in production technology or sales positions. However, because we have a wide range of technical fields, there is no requirement that you "must be in this position."

We hope that you will be able to utilize your existing knowledge and experience while also acquiring new skills. In addition, there are many opportunities for those who are interested in overseas business trips or overseas postings to demonstrate their abilities.

The majority of our clients are major global manufacturers. We take orders from these companies seriously and strive to develop cutting-edge technology.

Being able to take on such a job here in Mibu Town, Tochigi Prefecture, is surely a great rewarding experience.