Giving shape to
our technologies and
presenting them to the world

Going from responsive to proactive

K.S.M.T., please tell us once again about the role of your New Product Development Office.

M.T.We are a manufacturer that mainly processes aluminum. And we've been using our advanced technologies to produce high-quality products in response to our customers' needs. However, we have not done much in the way of developing original products.
So the purpose of the New Product Development Office is to create new products based on our technologies.
For example, we’ll start by asking ourselves, "What are the technologies that the Ena Plant is proud of?"

K.S.The Ena Plant has traditionally been good at metal forming and surface treatment by anodizing.

M.T.Yes, so instead of responding to customer inquiries about sheet thinness, we want to proactively promote our thin sheet forming technology and propose new solutions.

Tough requests fuel the engineer spirit

K.S.As a new product development office, we naturally spend seventy percent of our time with M.T. talking about new products.
We often discuss how we can accentuate aluminum’s inherent qualities and our unique technologies.

M.T.Yes, it's all about expression. We have great technologies but they haven’t been shown to their full advantage. So we want to create prototypes that showcase what we can do.

K.S.M.T. will anticipate the customer's needs, bring us a project, and ask, "Can you do something like this?"

It makes me feel like my competence as an engineer is being tested. And it makes me determined to have a prototype ready in time for our next monthly meeting.

M.T.I do make unreasonable requests, but that’s because I know I can rely on them to deliver.
We hold monthly meetings at the Ena Plant, but maybe we should have them more often.

K.S.No, no. I need time to make prototypes. (Laughs)
But the most demanding projects are the most rewarding and interesting for me as a technician. It’s my job to gather samples and prepare prototypes before your next visit.

M.T.New products are born by taking what they make here and matching it with customer needs.

K.S. I handle the technical side of things, so it’s hard to grasp what our customers or society as a whole is looking for. Thankfully, the sales team brings us that information, resulting in our technologies shining all the brighter.

Combining existing technologies to reach the next level

M.T.That's just it. How can we make the technology we already have shine? The technicians are doing amazing things, and I think it's a shame they don't realize it.

K.S.That's true. At another plant, we have technologies related to the heating degree of printing machine plates. We use the far-infrared effect to treat the surface of alloys made with special materials.
I've wondered if we could bring it to the Ena Plant and apply it to anodizing in a wide range of temperatures.

M.T. I think that one of the roles of the New Product Development Office is to bring together the characteristics and specialties of each plant and take them to a new level.

K.S.This prototype that we’re currently working on together is one such example.
The 17 goals of the SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals) are represented by a different color. The anodized colors and detailed processing are made possible by a combination of our many technologies.

M.T.By simply showing this prototype, we can communicate our many technologies to customers. And seeing it might spark their imagination in turn.

K.S.In this way, it’s crucial that we put technologies that are hard to see into a form everyone can recognize.
By working with M.T., we can send our technologies out into the world with confidence. Having said that, I don't enjoy being pulled along by the sales team or the New Product Development Office, so I hope to create new things under the leadership of the technical department.

PROFILE

Assistant Manager 　K.S.

(Joined the company in 1995)

Manufacturing Group,
Manufacturing Department
Production Division Ena Plant

Born and raised in Gifu Prefecture, K.S. started in the manufacturing division and has been there ever since.
He’s made it his mission to share the Ena Plant's technologies, including surface treatment and drawing, with the entire company.

After the crosstalk
K.S.　 M.T. is constantly pulling the plant forward with his enthusiasm, so today’s conversation renewed my motivation.
I hope to play a role in the progress of the entire UACJ Metal Components Corporation. As a technician, I am very happy that I can still feel a thrill of excitement at my age. I want newcomers to experience this excitement. I want them to know that our generation will build a base for them to take off from and that we want them to freely explore new things.

M.T.　 K.S. and I can work at a high level because we are able to talk straight with each other about what we want to do. We’re on the same wavelength and can quickly catch on to what the other is thinking.
In both sales and technology, the ability to communicate and listen is very important. It's also important to be proactive and make things happen.
I would like to see people who want to change the company, not just belong to it.

PROFILE

General Manager　M.T.

(Joined the company in 1997)

Sales Division
New Product Development Office

M.T. has been in charge of sales for a long time, despite having a background in engineering (materials engineering).
Utilizing both the perspectives of an engineer and a salesperson, he became the manager of the New Product Development Office, which was newly established in 2020.