Masahiro began processing aluminum materials while learning the basics of processing from his father.
Bending was one of various processes, including drilling, cutting, and assembly.
When Chuo Giken was founded, aluminum was just beginning to be used as a building material, and the demand for aluminum building materials was growing. At the same time, building designs diversified, and designs incorporating curves began to become popular.

As a result, requests for bending aluminum building materials increased to realize curved designs.
While responding to customer demands, they gradually increased their bending machinery.
“There are few places that can perform aluminum bending. We shifted to specializing in bending to meet the increasing requests for bending”

As aluminum bending, primarily for building materials, increased, so did requests from other fields.
A major turning point among these was processing for railway-related applications.
“The precision standards for building materials are not that strict, as craftsmen can adjust and assemble them on-site. However, very high precision is required for automobiles and railways”

Precision down to 0.1 mm was required, and there were times when only 3 out of 20 processed pieces passed inspection.
“It was truly difficult at first, but through trial and error to achieve higher precision, we were able to cultivate precision bending technology”

The difficulty of aluminum bending lies in the fact that the hardness of each material piece varies.
If the hardness differs, applying the same pressure will result in different finishes.
“Furthermore, even within a single piece of material, the hardness differs between the right end, the middle, and the left end”
Therefore, after applying pressure and bending, they check the degree of bend with a gauge and reapply the necessary pressure according to the condition.

Moreover, the hardness of a material changes once it has been processed. This must also be taken into account when determining where and how much pressure to apply.
To make accurate judgments, one must accumulate experience.
Chuo Giken starts with simple processing and gradually steps up as experience is gained. Even so, it takes over ten years to completely master aluminum bending.

The reason they were able to jump into the world of manufacturing from a different industry and gain high recognition is because they repeatedly took on challenges.
Even for things they had never done before, they challenged themselves with the mindset of “Let’s figure out how to do it!”.
“The joy felt when something finally comes together after thinking about it so much that it appears in your dreams is, I believe, the true pleasure of manufacturing”
Knowing that joy is precisely why they could continue to positively challenge even the most difficult requests.

Furthermore, they feel the joy of pleasing customers and the joy of seeing products they painstakingly manufactured being used in the world.
To ensure employees also feel such joy in manufacturing, they share words of appreciation received from customers via email or phone with their employees.
“The compliments we receive from customers become our pride. Our employees are also delighted.”

Even simply called bending, the degree of bend, twist, or crush varies depending on the shape of the aluminum material.
Because Chuo Giken has performed bending for various industries and fields, extensive processing knowledge has been accumulated across many sectors.

Abundant knowledge and experience can provide customers with a sense of security. At the same time, they can provide accurate answers and advice when consulted by customers.
Valued for such achievements, they sometimes participate in production from the development stage, even before drawings are completed.

“What creates Chuo Giken’s quality is the sincerity of manufacturing.”
In manufacturing, meeting the product’s passing criteria is a given.
However, even when the passing criteria are met, there are gray areas.
For example, quality changes depending on whether one overlooks a gray area, such as a slight burr even if it meets the acceptance standard, or takes action to address it.
“Remaking takes both time and cost. Still, I believe that responding with the user in mind is ‘the sincerity of manufacturing’.”

Masahiro is concerned that if they continue to compromise to a certain extent, their original quality standards might decline.
Conversely, by thoroughly addressing gray areas, thinking “how can we prevent this from happening next time,” and implementing solutions, it leads to quality improvement.
The ‘sincerity of manufacturing’ deeply rooted in Chuo Giken likely generates not only product quality but also customer trust.

Chuo Giken’s management philosophy includes the phrase: “Let’s spread the beauty of curves throughout the world!”
True to these words, Chuo Giken plans to offer its bending technology to the world.
Currently, they are already performing bending based on overseas requests, but they aim to further expand their sales channels.
“I believe our technology will definitely be needed as emerging countries continue to grow.”

At the same time, they are concerned about the reputation of Japanese manufacturing.
Japanese manufacturing, once highly regarded worldwide, has been gradually declining. If this continues, there is a possibility that trust in the quality of Japanese manufacturing may be lost.
“While it’s not something I can manage alone, I hope we can join forces with other people in manufacturing to confront this challenge.”
Chuo Giken’s beautiful bending technology is a world-class skill. By refining this technology and continuing with “the sincerity of manufacturing,” they will likely showcase Japanese technology to the world.