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Since the end of World War II, Japan has developed its detail-oriented manufacturing and Kaizen Our philosophy of continuous improvement is known all over the world. This is nowhere more evident than in the ink and printing industry, where Japan holds a leading position. As a company specializing in inks and coatings, can you tell us why you think Japanese companies are successful in these niche B2B fields?
We believe that this is because we are able to continuously and stably produce high-quality products. This is a characteristic of Japanese people. Japanese people are very serious, so they follow the set rules. That is the strength of us Japanese, and we continue to make and provide high-quality products. However, if we continue local production in Japan, the cost will inevitably rise.Therefore, Japanese companies Manufacturing This allows you to create products abroad and sell them in foreign markets. By doing so, you can reduce costs. By transferring our strengths overseas, we can also reduce labor costs. Japanese companies are good at this.
Japan’s declining population is now a major problem for all Japanese companies. Not only is the population aging, but the fertility rate is 1.37. By 2060, Japan’s population is projected to fall below 100 million. What steps is your company taking to address these demographic issues?
what you said is correct Japan’s population continues to decline and I believe Elon Musk was talking about the extinction of Japan. It may be an exaggeration, but I agree with the idea that national power will weaken due to population decline. We, Jujo Chemical, are not a large company. We hire 4-5 people a year, so we don’t do mass hiring. As a result, we do not feel a sense of crisis regarding recruitment due to population decline. However, hiring the best people is of course important. We are currently focusing on production efficiency and factory automation. That’s what we focus on.
I would like to add one more thing. As Japan’s population declines, the people’s purchasing power and domestic demand will shrink in tandem. In the future, we will have production bases overseas and will focus more and more on overseas markets. The development base is in Japan, and the production is overseas. I believe this trend will continue to grow in the future.
At last year’s COP26, a rulebook was finalized on how countries are held accountable for implementing climate action. Japan’s former prime minister, Suga, also said Japan needs to cut its carbon emissions by 46% by 2030.
Carbon neutrality is now in high demand by the market and clients, and the trend is growing. From 2021, 100% of the electricity used in our factories will come from renewable energy from hydropower. This accounts for over 90% of the total electricity we use as a company. As a result, we were able to significantly reduce CO2 emissions.
The next step is the development of new products that do not emit CO2. Examples include UV inks and water-based inks. We also look forward to making the power we use in our factories more energy efficient and reducing the overall amount of actual power we use.
Please tell us about the products that are synonymous with Jujo Chemical.
There are many competitors in the screen ink market. We believe that our strength lies in the highest quality UV inks. As a result, we have been able to receive high evaluations from our customers, and most of our sales come from UV inks. Functional inks such as inks used for conductivity and insulation are also highly evaluated.
When it comes to ink technology, we know that inkjet-based printing is replacing older formats such as toner and offset. There are many variations of inkjet printing and they relate to the curing method, or how the ink dries. Of course, because UV inks dry very quickly, they also cure very quickly. There are other types, such as the electron beam format (EB), which is much slower but ideal for food packaging applications. What technologies are you working on in your company, and are you considering diversifying his EB inks for different applications?
Currently, Jujo does not develop or manufacture inkjet inks or EB inks. Inkjet is a competitor to screen printing, and we see it as a threat to replace screen printing. As for EB, yes, it is used in some food packaging applications, but the initial investment in printers is very high and as a result, we see that EB has not caught on quickly in the industry. Therefore, at this time, he has no plans to expand into the EB area.
We know your inks have many uses. For example, your inks are applied to automobile instrument panels. Looking at the automotive industry, we are now in a time of great change. The transition to electric vehicles (EVs) is progressing at a very fast pace. As the automotive industry changes, what opportunities and new applications do you see for EV inks?
Yes, automobiles are changing rapidly with the shift to EVs and autonomous driving, and this has had a major impact on our company. On the downside, it used to have a printed speedometer, now replaced by an LCD display. A self-driving car may not need a speedometer, or the speedometer itself may cease to exist. These are certainly downsides for us.
Nonetheless, as a company, we would like to take on the challenge of these new trends in the automobile industry. Currently, automobiles are a major theme in our research and development department. For example, a car has a very heavy electrical wiring harness, which makes it even heavier when the vehicle is electrified. How to reduce the weight of the harness is a big ongoing issue. Regarding this point, we are considering whether it is possible to replace the harness with printing or develop ink with higher conductivity. And, of course, an electric car needs a battery. Batteries require a laminated material that is made by laminating aluminum film and plastic film. We aim to develop the lamination material, and have installed machines for coating and lamination. This is a major theme that our research and development department is currently working on.
Please tell us about your R&D strategy and how you develop products. What new releases would you like to share with your readers?
The screen printing market in which we are entering is shrinking. Therefore, we are focusing on development towards the invention of new products. We are passionate about innovating. There are two important themes in our research and development. The first is automobiles. Specifically, conductive ink that can replace wire harnesses and laminate materials for EV batteries. The second theme is the response to the environment. Both of his themes require radical changes, and of course this comes with challenges. When it comes to the environment, we need to come up with new environmentally friendly products. These may be water-based products or products with biomaterials. We are also developing conductive layers using conductive inks for perovskite solar cells, which will become widespread in the near future. This is the second pillar of our R&D strategy.
To that end, look for partnerships, perhaps with companies overseas, or with academic institutions abroad, in Europe or the United States, that could help create more environmentally friendly products using new biomaterials and water-based materials. Do you have?
Yes, we are considering such a partnership. We do not currently have deep partnerships with other companies, but we would like to consider them if the opportunity arises. The areas we are talking about are very challenging and require very difficult development. It would be very difficult for one company to do it alone. If we can team up with various companies, the development speed will increase and the quality will also increase. Therefore, we are open to future partnerships.
Which countries/regions are you focusing on in your medium-term strategy for continued growth?
Given the current population of the region or country and the future growth of these populations and markets, our targets are China and Southeast Asia. As you said, we already have bases in Taiwan, Thailand, China, and India, which will be our bases in the future.
Imagine we come back on the last day of your presidency and interview you again. What dreams and goals do you want to achieve for the company by then, that interview? Please tell me what
It’s difficult to put into numbers, but I want to make the company a place where employees feel rewarded and work energetically with their own goals. I would like to create such a working environment. And when it comes to sales, of course, the more, the better. I think that sales are an index that shows the contribution from customers and society. This is because we believe that the more customers are happy to purchase our products, the more we can contribute to society. We hope that our customers will use our products and contribute to society.
Regarding overseas business, one of the characteristics of our overseas business is that there are no Japanese workers in our overseas factories. This was true even before the Covid situation. At our overseas factories, top management has the nationality of the country where the factory is located and is fluent in Japanese. For example, the head of Aguascalientes is from Mexico, but he can also speak the Kansai dialect.
I think the best way forward is to localize. That way we can serve our local customers and support them with local mindsets and procedures. By doing so, we can maximize the power of local employees and provide the best service to local customers, so I would like to continue this.
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