Takahashi Metal – whose business segments include parts processing and environmental solutions – makes a range of unique products serving diverse industries, including rolled screws and ionized water.
“Whilst some customers may not know about our company's name, they still come to us for our unique technologies.”
Yasuyuki Takahashi, President & CEO, Takahashi Metal Industries
Price competition is getting tougher globally, but Japanese companies continue to have a large share of niche markets thanks to their multi-product, multi-functional production. Takahashi Metal is one of these businesses, and its unique press technology makes it possible to achieve mirror surface processing only in the press process without plating.
“Conventional screw products only utilize press technology, but our mirror surface processing is a one-stroke process. Takahashi Metal is the only company in the world that has this capability,” explains Yasuyuki Takahashi, President and CEO of Takahashi Metal Industries. “The product’s unique name is Reflector. And whilst some customers may not know about our company's name, they still come to us for our technologies.”
The company – whose business segments include parts processing and environmental products – also makes a range of other unique products serving diverse industries, including its electrolyzed ionized water. “Instead of classifying alkaline water as waste, we discovered that it could remove oil and prevent rust. It is a good and salable product which is uniquely developed by our company,” says Mr. Takahashi. “Also, it helps deal with the progressing environmental concerns. Alkaline water is produced by SMEs like us, and big international companies have started to contact us for our products. Companies that have been using our environmental products started to learn about our parts processing business as well, thereby, increasing our sales.”
In Japan, up to 3.5% of annual GDP goes to research and development, and as a business focused on innovation, Takahashi Metal Industries puts a lot of investment and resource in this area to come up with new solutions for its customers.
“It is quite rare for subcontractors like us to do R&D, but we do,” says Mr. Takahashi. “Our primary R&D division is Advanced Core Technology, and this is where we attempt to create ingenious technologies.”
Its R&D activities rely on subsidies, with the company partnering with many stakeholders, including universities, research centers and manufacturers, and is driven by its commitment to monozukuri. “Another unique feature is our tie-up developments with our customers. The one-stop service plus we offer is one of our efforts to increase our competitive capabilities and our three distinctive divisions. We have been incorporating our know-how into our proposal and development of items and parts. While major manufacturers invite different partners to work on every stage, we maximize our efforts to benefit our customers through a one-stop service activity.”
Across its diverse business areas, Takahashi Metal has already expanded to China and Thailand, giving the company access to international markets for its products. “We work with large-scale international customers working in automotive parts and agricultural equipment, and we will continue to move forward with these companies with our unique technologies,” says Mr. Takahashi. “Our focus for the last few years has been to broaden the field of our activities. The next stage of our expansion, however, involves building strategic partnerships. Hence, we are actively looking for partners to achieve our goals, improve our services and launch new services. During the pandemic, we launched a new business model which is quite ambitious for SMEs. It is now time to seek strong partners and work on something strategic.”
The strength of the Takahashi Metals Group is that it has a system that can provide similar manufacturing, sales, and services not only to Japan, but also to China and Thailand. A whole division of its business is dedicated to environmental products and affiliate companies like global automotive parts suppliers, and is now further diversifying into products including batteries, parts for EVs, and solar panels.
“In addition, I have launched an economic consortium in this area for different companies to join,” says Mr. Takahashi. "Through that, we can welcome a wide range of businesses, products and monozukuri, which contribute to the environment. Our company growth is directed toward providing a global contribution. One of my goals is to ensure that our people are proud of our efforts of truly contributing to the environment, a concept that I want to pass down to the next generations.”
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