Japan’s vehicle interior device expert

We’ve seen Japanese companies, like Sony and Panasonic, become market leaders in consumer electronics, however this is being challenged by regional competitors. Can you give us your assessment on Japan’s current electronics industry and what are its strengths compared to these competitors?

Japan is a unique country in many aspects. Foreigners see Japanese people as very shy and not willing to actively voice their opinions, but this is also consistent with how we are behaving in the industry. We don’t make ‘fancy’ products, rather we focus on one thing and excel in it, as reflected in the Japanese tradition of craftsmanship. Over the course of time, we increase the quality and, when it exceeds a certain level, nobody can replicate it. The shape of electrical components that are made by Japanese companies could be replicated by companies in other countries, but it requires a high level of technology to conduct mass production of stable quality-level products. Iriso is no different. We have competitors from Taiwan and China, but we have floating technology with our connectors. It’s easy to replicate their shape, however, we have technologies like high precision press molding, to conduct mass production of stable and quality-level products.

Japan has recently passed the digital procedure law, enabling widespread 5G and AI adoption. Fujisawa has already introduced sustainable towns, an example of next generation societies. Why is Japan a leader in next generation societies and what are some of the key technologies that this nation can show the world?

We must utilise IT to sustain our society. I don’t think Japan can be considered a top-performing country in the world when it comes to this field. Many technologies are not unique to Japan, with them being innovated in other countries. Japan’s strength is being very good at utilising the technologies that become available.

I think that when we focus on creating sustainable societies and look at the nature of Japan, we have been experiencing environmental pollution since modern industrialization started. Before that, the Japanese people had coexisted with nature. That is why creating a sustainable society resonates with the Japanese people. Once leaders decide that we have to do it, it is quickly adopted nationwide. However, it does take some time before Japan decides to act. Other nations such as China, Taiwan and America are better at that.

4% of all cars sold worldwide are EVs (Electric Vehicles), with 15% of those sales being from the EU (European Union). What is your assessment on Japan’s transition to EV and the role that Japanese car makers have on this transition?

Even before the transition to EV, Japan had already begun work on hybrid vehicles in the automobile industry. We need to be aware of the reality of the costs involved; electricity is not as cheap as gasoline, so I don’t believe we will fully phase out gas automobiles in the future.

As you are aware, Japan lacks raw materials to make EVs, but the world is beginning to face this shortage too. We are seeing government initiatives in other countries to promote the adoption of EVs, like in Europe, but in Japan, we haven’t seen a clear policy yet, and it is currently the private sector that is pushing EV adoption forward. Automakers have already developed their technology, and once the government has made a policy decision, ultimately, we are moving towards EV and hydrogen powered cars.

Your connectors are essential for the function of electrical components. Can you give us a brief overview on your company’s products and some of the key technologies that you have?

We have four major groups of products: board-to-board, FPC, pin headers and interface connectors. Our flagship product is the board-to-board connectors and our floating technology.

We value our customer’s opinions, and we have reflected their voice in our products. If they have any issues with our products, we will try to make them more user-friendly, improving our products in the process. We have simulation technology that is able to show how our products will be used. It’s important to understand customer concerns and reflect them in our products.

You made the world’s first floating BtoB connector that allows for 16GB per second transmission. Could you elaborate more on this product and how you are adapting to changes in the automotive industry?

When we were developing this product, there was a demand for telecommunications and high-speed data transfer.  Technology for high-speed data transfer has already been applied to memory cards and PCs, but when discussing floating connectors, another important thing to note is the support for higher electronic transfer alongside hitting a balance with the product’s performance and how it is assembled, preventing it from cracking. Therefore, we conduct very detailed adjustments during the production process to make sure that it delivers the performance that we expect. We started off in the automobile industry, but over time, we understood that our products had wider applications in different fields, such as telecommunications. That is why we developed the world first 16Gbps floating BtoB connector, 10143 series.

The automotive environment is not the most ideal for electronics, as it is subject to noise, weather and other environmental conditions. How do you test your products so that they can perform in harsh conditions?

We follow many international standards in our product testing, which we conduct in-house. An example of a test is that we put a connector under a temperature range of -40 to 125 degrees Celsius and we will stabilise it for 1000 hours, sometimes even 3000. We also mimic vibrations to see if our products can withstand it. We conduct all these checks with all our products.

High-speed data transmission requires high-density interconnections. How have you adapted your technologies for the automotive field towards the new technology that is 5G?

The technology that we apply to automobiles, we also use for other consumer electronic products. When there is new technology, we test it on other products. There are many new technologies being utilised in the automobile industry – people could live in a vehicle as they would a house. 80% of our sales were towards the automotive market, and wanting to build a second pillar of business, and for 5G, we need high-speed electronic transfer. As a result, we started developing products that would meet these criteria, and now we have started delivering our products to 5G network stations.

Your power train sector and safety components have doubled in sales. How are you looking to move into different sub-sectors within the automotive field and what differentiates your products from the competition?

We are heading into a future of EV cars and auto-piloting technology, which will change the automobile industry and product development. We believe that we need to be one of the major players supporting this transition to EVs, with safety technologies that allow for self-driving being extremely important. Regarding infotainment, automobiles are becoming more electronic, and everything is connected by the electronic network within the car. This network feeds into a vehicle equipped with an integrated cockpit system and drives the need for more components from our company

In terms of competitors, our floating connectors are the top of the industry, and we have a competitive edge here. When discussing components within smartphones, we may be behind some of our competitors, but with automobiles and supporting EVs, we are in a strong position through using our floating connectors as leverage.

You are focusing on safety, power-train motors, infotainment and two-wheel services, based on the automotive transition for them. You mentioned that you have a simulation service for your clients. Could you discuss the added value you provide through this service?

Our Z-Move® is the reason why we have our anti-vibration simulator. You need to correctly understand the number of times it will vibrate within the car, otherwise it could disconnect. Because of this, we decided to create a simulation service to accurately determine the vibrations, allowing us to find solutions for any problems that might occur. The Z-Move® was first installed in Toyota’s Prius in 2015, with the simulation showing the vibration frequency at 100 million, proving that our product would not disconnect under extreme duress.

Can you tell us about some of the things that you are working on in your R&D? What are some of the key technologies that you like to share with our international readers?

Two key technologies that we are developing are the high-speed electronic transfer components, for which there will be a growing need in the coming future, and the Z-Move®. We would like to support more varieties of connectors, allowing more EV manufacturers to adopt our products. Apart from those two, we would like to expand into new market fields and our R&D department is developing our products for them.

In the world, there are about 750 companies, like us, who make electronic connectors, with the total market size being approximately 7 trillion yen. If we can achieve 100 billion yen in sales, or slightly exceed it, then it will enable us to become one of the top ten companies in the world. We have set a long-term goal of 100 billion yen in sales, and we are improving our R&D performance to achieve this goal.

What role does co-creation play in the development of new products? Do you need partnerships in foreign countries where you can combine your technology with theirs to cater to new fields?

At the moment, we are not looking for partners when developing next generation technology because it is internal to us. However, to hit our target of exceeding 100 billion yen, if there are technologies that we do not possess, we would gladly seek partners, both domestically and internationally.

You have a plan to construct a Mexican plant. What is the purpose of that and what new markets will you be able to tackle with that plant?

Our purpose is to further increase sales in the automotive market where we can leverage our strength. One recent challenge that we experienced during the pandemic was that our Vietnamese plant was locked down, meaning we couldn’t supply our products to customers in a timely manner. To avoid that from occurring again, we want to create local production systems for local consumption that will be able to supply all the products to our customers all over the globe. Our main customers are currently in Japan, China, Europe and the US, which is why we have acquired land for construction of our Mexican plant.

You are looking to be a one stop service for your customers with the fastest action in the industry. How will you achieve this? What actions are you taking in order to meet that demand?

One important thing will be to provide many kinds of products to serve different needs. We are doing a lot of direct sales, retailing to different customers and being in contact with them year-round. However, the bottom-line is that we need to be on top of our competition and have the best products to maintain trust with customers and continue to do business with them.

Imagine we come back in five years for your 60^th anniversary and have this interview all over again. What would you like to tell us? What goals would like to accomplish and what are you dreams for Iriso?

There are two main goals that I have in mind. The first is that I want to have a new plant constructed, but we need one more plant to help us achieve the 100 billion yen in sales. We are currently at 85 billion yen in terms of production capacity, but we need the extra plant for capacity reasons. The other is I want to make sure to create a happy workplace environment for my employees.