BUSINESS / DAVOS SPECIAL 2017

Home to cutting-edge technology and innovation

Publicity

Jan 17, 2017

Saitama City, a major bedroom community of Tokyo, is home to many leading technology companies that Japan can be proud to showcase to the world.

That Saitama is such a hotbed of technology is lost on most people because many of the companies are manufacturers of components and materials, rather than end products. However, the components and materials go into many products that support people's day-to-day lives.

One reason for this concentration of technology is the city's convenient access to the capital; it is just 20 to 30 minutes by train to major destinations such as Tokyo and Shinjuku stations. This ease of access has attracted many types of businesses, creating the demand for many different technologies.

Connections with Tokyo and other areas of the country Japan via highways and railways have been well developed and Saitama's location makes it less susceptible to natural disasters than other regions, an attractive point for many of the domestic and overseas companies that have their offices there.

Saitama boasts five shinkansen lines and an orbital expressway, and there is ongoing work to improve traffic flow through additional railway and road development.

As proof of the city's popularity as an attractive business location, the inflow of corporate headquarters into Saitama minus the outflow of them was 61 in the 10 years through 2015, ranking it third among 20 major cities that are so-called ordinance-designated cities.

Geographic advantage, a lack of a coastline and minimal elevation differences make Saitama a suitable location for businesses to have continuity operations in place because such features reduce disaster risks, such as floods.

The Saitama Shintoshin urban area is a nationally designated wide-area disaster prevention center and is an administrative district that is home to national government offices.

Not only does Saitama City have such varied advantages for businesses, it provides local businesses with the opportunity to expand into the world.

The city takes various measures via the Saitama City Foundation for Business Creation to support local companies by providing consultation, financial aid and dispatching experts to assist them, among other activities.

Leading-edge certification

In one of the programs to help local companies, the city began the "Saitama City Leading-edge Companies Certification and Support Program" in April 2008. To date, the program has seen 35 companies designated as leading edge.

These companies are allowed to tout their certification as a leading-edge company and use the official logo, which incorporates a hand to signify the importance of human input in high technology, in their advertising an PR materials.

In addition to using the logo, the companies also receive support from the city in a variety of forms. For example, the city promotes them at international trade shows and in an annual pamphlet it publishes, titled "Saitama City Leading-edge Companies," in Japanese and English. Additionally, the city assists certified companies in development of new technology, sourcing new business, expanding overseas and employee training.

The 35 certified companies boast cutting-edge technologies that cannot be easily copied by overseas companies, which approach them to buy their components, use their technology and form alliances to penetrate markets overseas.

The following companies are just four of the certified companies that have enjoyed global expansion.

Arai Helmet

Arai Helmet Ltd. was the first Japanese company to produce motorcycle helmets. The company is well known for its serious dedication to safety and focuses on research and development, as it is always working to improve some part of its production lines at every factory.

Exports account for about 60 percent of its Arai's production and customers outside Japan include those in Europe, the U.S., Brazil, Canada and countries throughout Asia. Arai has sales and maintenance headquarters in the U.S. and the Netherlands.

"Half of our exports are for Europe, and the target area will continue to be Europe," said Takahiro Takahashi of Arai Helmet, adding that Italy and France are the origin of motorcycles and thus important markets.

However, Arai's market share in Europe is "not so high," and the company is sending its Japanese employees to its overseas offices to educate them on how to better explain Arai's proven record of excellence in safety, he said.

The company's helmets are mostly handmade and Arai wants wearers to be aware of the skill of their craftsmen.

Helmet makers are required to sell helmets that meet the safety standards of the countries that they are sold in, but Arai's helmets must to pass the company's own standard, which is much stricter than most countries' requirements.

"We take pride in our craftsmanship," Takahashi said.

Hamamatsu

Hamamatsu Co. Ltd., which is certified as a Saitama City CSR Challenge Company, is a leading company making, selling and maintaining surface gloss processing machines. It makes order-made machines, creating glossy coating on papers and other materials, and starts making them only after it receives orders.

Hamamatsu's leading-edge technologies have attracted customers from outside Japan. For example, in 2007, the company sold pressure-bonding machines to process the surfaces of direct mail postcards to Australia Post. It is also planning to sell the machines to the EU as it has attained several certifications necessary to sell its products there.

Hamamatsu will continue to manufacture machines to meet the needs of its customers. The company does not use chemicals that may harm people and it is developing technologies to enhance the quality of printing processing.

"The city's leading-edge certification is very helpful in terms of the company's branding," said Mikiko Hamamatsu, an accounting manager. "As we do business with a wide range of companies, from small to large, we need strong sales promotion on our website and pamphlets. We include the certification on our business cards."

Nissin Kasei

Nissin Kasei Co., Ltd. possesses high technology for optical communication connection devices, such as MT Ferrule, and has and excellent reputation overseas. The company aims to expand not only domestically, but also in markets overseas since it launched optical products under its own brand.

Manufacturing MT Ferrule takes a high level of precision in plastic processing and requires very exacting technology that is attainable by very few companies in the world.

The company, which has affiliates in the U.S. as sales offices, often attends international trade shows, such as The Optical Fiber Communication Conference and Exhibition (OFC) in Anaheim in March 2016, the China International Optoelectronic Exposition (CIOE) and the European Conference and Exhibition on Optical Communication (ECOC) in Dusseldorf in September.

It sees rising demand in Europe for optical communications as the continent lags behind Japan and the U.S. in its usage of the technology.

The company is trying to enhance the quality of connectors used in the traffic of both of short and long-distance optical transmission cables. This presents a challenge because the amount of data that needs to be transmitted is continually increasing. The company is also working to broaden its product lineup from the low end through the high end and improve through extensive research and development to meet changing needs.

Saiden Chemical Industry

Saiden Chemical Industry Co., Ltd. specializes in sophisticated functional resins such as adhesives, paints and coatings. It prides itself on quickly developing and manufacturing order-made products.

It has factories in Thailand to provide products to Japanese customers that have factories in the Southeast Asian country. However, the heart of its production is mainly in Japan and about 20 percent of sales are exports from Japan. These exports are mainly destined for China, South Korea and other Asian countries.

The company's main exported products are adhesives for the lamination of glass plates in LCD monitors. The production process is difficult as different makers have different manufacturing methods and use different components.

Saiden Chemical Industry's goal is to create a solid financial basis, train people with high skills and continue to develop and manufacture order-made products in a timely fashion, which large companies often find difficult.