In 1999, with the appointment of Jun Toyooka, Orui's uncle, as president, the company began to diversify away from single-client dependency.

“The president said, ‘Relying on a single company is risky,’ and built new connections, actively acquiring new customers through proactive sales and price adjustments. From there, the number of clients gradually increased.”

To meet the demands of new clients, the company also expanded its facilities by adding new equipment such as machining centers.

“Furthermore, we prepared our equipment and systems to increase the number of clients and expanded our business scope.”

This accumulation of efforts led to diversification from single-client dependency and enabled the company to do business with approximately 100 companies annually.

One reason Yutaka Seikou Co., Ltd. is supported by numerous customers is its “challenging attitude.” Even if it's an order for just one piece, we accept it, and even for difficult machining, we pursue the technology required by the customer to expand our range of work.

“The president often says, ‘Our customers have helped us grow.’ Even with difficult projects, we have developed our technology by striving to deliver results that satisfy our customers.”

The attitude of meeting customer demands by utilizing our own equipment and technology, as well as the capabilities of our partner companies, has led to the trust that “if you ask Yutaka Seikou Co., Ltd., they will find a way.”

“We don't have specialized technologies that other companies don't possess. I believe our greatest strength is our sincere approach to each and every company.”

This attitude has led to a wide range of capabilities, from processing materials like iron to resin, and handling sizes from 10mm to 200mm in diameter.

“Expanding our industry and processing scope is also a survival strategy. Small companies like ours are susceptible to industry fluctuations. By accepting a wide range of work, we can minimize those impacts.”

At Yutaka Seikou Co., Ltd., to maintain product quality, we have established an inspection room and introduced 3D measuring instruments and image measuring instruments.

“Since we have a very large number of manufactured items, inspections take an enormous amount of time. That's why we introduced measuring instruments to improve accuracy and speed up the process simultaneously.”

The results of inspections performed with these measuring instruments are provided as inspection reports upon delivery.

“There was a time when we had a defect that caused a problem. It was caused by complacency, thinking ‘it's always fine, so it will be fine this time too.’ To prevent it from happening again, we changed the system itself and started attaching inspection reports.”

Furthermore, along with saving inspection data, all processing data and drawings from the company's founding to the present have been digitized and saved.

“In the past, 3,000 to 4,000 sheets of paper were piled up. We digitized all of them.”

This allows past data to be retrieved and referenced at any time, enabling the reproduction of processing under the same conditions and the arrangement of processing under similar conditions.

Orui joined Yutaka Seikou Co., Ltd. five years ago.

At that time, when he joined a sub-organization of the industrial association, he received harsh words from managers of other companies, such as “You're not thinking about the company at all,” “You probably don't like the company,” and “You shouldn't take over.”

“Although I had seen my grandfather's and uncle's work, I had no idea what they were making or which companies they were supplying.”

Orui knew that Yutaka Seikou Co., Ltd. had no successor, but wanting to do work he enjoyed, he took a sales position for nursing care products after graduating from university. He later changed jobs, but his new position was also a management role at a day service.

The catalyst for his decision to jump from the caregiving industry to the world of manufacturing was getting married and having a child.

“When I reconsidered, I thought, ‘I want to preserve this company that my grandfather founded, my uncle inherited, and that has continued for nearly half a century.’”

Although he had anxieties about becoming a manager and had pursued a different path, he felt that if he were to take over the company, it was the last possible moment to learn the business from the president.

“The president never told me to take over. If I had decided because the president told me to, I might use that as an excuse if something went wrong. That's why I think the president waited until I said I wanted to do it myself.”

Having made his own decision and receiving encouragement from those around him, Orui began to seriously engage with Yutaka Seikou Co., Ltd. once again.

He began to thoroughly observe and constantly think about Yutaka Seikou Co., Ltd.'s work, its customers, and its employees.

Six out of eight employees at Yutaka Seikou Co., Ltd., excluding executives, are in their 30s. While Orui entered the world of manufacturing from the caregiving industry, the employees also do not have engineering backgrounds.

“This is because we believe that if we hire new people, it's better to teach them from scratch.”

This is because some experienced individuals found it difficult to adapt to Yutaka Seikou Co., Ltd.'s methods.

There are likely many difficulties in manufacturing when starting without experience. However, Yutaka Seikou Co., Ltd. has a culture of “not blaming for failures when challenging.”

“The president's philosophy is to encourage employees to keep challenging themselves and learn on the job, even if they make mistakes.”

There is a plan for business succession from the current president to Orui within the next five years. Within this plan, the future vision for Yutaka Seikou Co., Ltd. is also beginning to take shape.

“As the president has advanced, I want to continue increasing our customer base, expanding our in-house processing technologies, and increasing our partner companies, aiming to establish a system where we can accept any request.”

While this also has the aspect of increasing company sales, Orui's primary thought is the desire to protect the livelihoods of current employees and future employees without letting the company fail.

To achieve this, he plans to increase the number of robots already introduced and promote automation. This will enable unmanned night operations while reducing labor, making it possible to handle large-lot production.

Sagamihara, where Orui was born and raised, was once a thriving manufacturing region. However, due to a lack of successors, small factories are decreasing and being replaced by logistics warehouses.

“The vibrant towns that once thrived with manufacturing are becoming desolate. I believe the only thing we can do to revitalize manufacturing is for each company to increase its sales.”

For its customers. For its employees. And for the future of manufacturing. Yutaka Seikou Co., Ltd. will continue to embrace challenges.