Dedicate to sustainable society towards further growth
Achieved “VISION 2020” ahead of schedule
President & CEO Jun Ozawa
As of 2022, the world situation is being in turmoil with the threat of COVID-19 not that is yet diminished, and uncertain prospects for Russian invasion of Ukraine. We as a foundry company in Japan are also facing unprecedented challenges under such circumstances.
Even in 2015 when I became the president, business environment around us was critical. Due to such circumstances, we defined the mid-term management plan, “VISION 2020” with the aim of creating a corporate foundation resistant to external factors.
This will be the first phase of our plan to celebrate the 100 anniversaries of our founding in 2029 - “We reform existing business and establish a new business model to prepare for any external in order us to become a 100-year company”.
Major activities for our “VISION 2020” are explained below.
1Creating structure for “Ultimate high quality”
IATF 16949:2016, the international quality standard certification has been acquired for a reliable quality assurance system.
We have established a stable mass production system by conducting material analysis and transmission of inside casting with an X-ray CT device to conduct grounded tolerances settings for the design and initial flow which is also a feature of IATF.
Each product has QR code printed to build high quality and traceability function.
2In-house machining and high precision
We have established the system with more than 30 machining centers/lathes by in-house production of machining, the post casting process.
For the parts for “MIRAI”, the Toyota’s fuel car, we achieved 0.03 to 0.04 screw position accuracy against the standard of 0.1 or less for 2.5mm thin cylindrical casting parts.
For checking the process capability after mass production, dimensions of 40 units per day are unattended measured in the middle of the night by linking robots to the 3D measuring instrument.
3In-house manufacturing system for molds and jigs
We in-house design and produce some of the molds and jigs which are important factors in determining product quality and cost. For mold management, we also built a structure to compare and verify the information measured by 3D scanner with the models.
4Mass production of ductile cast iron begins
Our Shinto plant (in Gunma prefecture) newly established in 2022, begins mass producing ductile iron casting by H process to meet our customer demand. This plant is our business partner which also has BCP function of Aizu plant Co., Ltd. (in Fukushima prefecture), the H process casting manufacturer to mass produce products for next generation automobiles. We established “NAIGAI Castings Co., Ltd,” the foundry general trading company with Aizu plant Co., Ltd. in 2019 in order us to provide one-stop order system regardless of aluminum or iron.
5Robotization of production lines
In anticipation of continued decline in the working population in Japan, we promote automation of production lines towards production system based on the basic style of a small number of elites. More than 20 robots as of 2022 are operating at full capacity to achieve efficient production.
We achieve VISION 2020 almost ahead of schedule by the efforts made by all employees as described above. Therefore, we already newly defined “VISION 2025” to work on the theme “Building a business foundation that adapts to the rapidly changing global environment”.
Aiming for growth through sustainable management
We aim for the goals of the SDGs with three stages – “VISION2020/2025/2030” to achieve by 2029 which is Tokyo Foundry’s 100th anniversary of foundation, to keep dedicating to our society and environment from now and in future. Currently we are working on fields such as “economic growth and recruitment”, “technology innovations” and “welfare”.
Economic growth, Technology innovations
In developing business activities go beyond the framework of a foundry company, we work on technological innovation, new framework, and product development. We also promote stable employment even if we are a small number of elites.
In terms of product development, we are planning to mass produce and release “HACOAS”, the highly durable container made of Styrofoam. This is a groundbreaking original product with low environmental impact jointly developed with Kimura Foundry, to aim to transport agricultural products, maintain their freshness, establish cold chain, and keep traceability of high-quality vegetables.
Education
From 2021, we visit Gunma Prefectural Takasaki High school as a lecturer for choosing career path. We talk about the reality of employment demanded by our society, the changing world situation, and the qualities required to become company executives.
Welfare
We recruit graduates of Gunma Prefectural Maebashi Senior Special Needs School and Gunma Prefectural Shibukawa Special Needs School as our permanent employees to work at production sites. After more than five years now, their work performance is excellent, being indispensable to the growth of our business.
We also created a model case of agriculture-welfare collaboration by recruiting employees with disabilities for automated washing work for turnips at PEEKABOO Co., Ltd., the agricultural corporation established in 2021.
As above explained, we would like to continue our business for a long time as a company needed by our society by dedicating to it beyond the limits of foundry industry.
The outlook for the global situation and the business environment is unclear, and there are many issues to be addressed, however, we strongly feel that we would like to show the world the splendor of Japanese castings from Gunma Prefecture as well as that we become a company where our employees and business partners say, “I want my children to join this company”.
