[June 12, 1980, Thursday - Nihon Kogyo Shimbun]
The fact that the special procurement boom caused by the Korean War played a major role in the bottom-up of the post-war Japanese economy is being talked about in many places.
Its scope spanned literally every industry sector. For example, the field of industrial sewing machines was involved in the following way. One element of the increased demand was the sewing of jute bags for sandbags used on the battlefield. A large number of sewing machines were needed to sew the bags of food and other items brought into Japan from overseas into sandbags.
Inoue thinks that he was lucky to have made a successful business in such an era. In October 1955, immediately after the new factory was established, we were able to escape from the era of a private company and become a corporation, and set about establishing NEWLONG SEIMITSU, not least because of the fact that they were able to take advantage of the moment.
Nonetheless, in the manufacturing of sewing machine parts, the items were small, and the unit price was low for the amount of precision required. Even during the era of special procurements from Korea, there was no way to go beyond the boundaries of simply maintaining the company. This is the biggest reason why Inoue decided to develop his own original product. What is interesting is the composure with which Inoue, who now has his dream product in his hands in the form of the screen printer, can say "those fifteen years went towards the improvement of our technical skill and the development of our staff."
In 1967, the year after switching to screen printers, NEWLONG SEIMITSU reached the 100,000,000 yen mark in annual sales. This was due to the high reputation since the first model, which soon led to orders for two or three units per month.
After that, sales grew steadily for seven years until 1973, when the oil crisis broke out, and in 1973, sales grew to reach the scale of 600,000,000 yen.
......
At this peak of growth, Inoue even thought, "If sales continue to grow like this, it will be a disaster." There will be more and more temporary demand. Inoue's thoughts are only natural, given that the situation was that full production was always taking place with the demand for more than half a year ahead.
In 1969, the Komae Factory was newly established in Komae City, Tokyo. Due to the flood of orders, the assembly space at the head office factory was completely cramped. At that time, they purchased a one-story factory building of 290 square meters (ninety tsubo) at an auction. It was a foreclosure of a radio and audio-related assembly plant that had fallen into financial difficulties. It was a piece of history that reflects the harsh changes of the world.
The development of new products progressed at a rapid pace as the technical capabilities and production facilities were in place. In 1966, the LS-45A, which is currently a top seller, was sent out. This type of machine, along with the LS-102A and 60A, which were developed around the same year, played a central role in ushering in the era of mass-production screen printing in Japan. In the era of mass production, the born in 1968 LS-30A and 7AN became immovable, but today, the 45A, 30A, and 7AN still boast strong power as Newlong Seimitsu's top 3 products.
All of them are pillars with stable product power, and are the most successful machines for standardization.
The 7AN is a so-called compact flat screen printer, and it is a product that has become a vanguard in pioneering new fields in IC and ceramic printing technology. Screen printing technology was the opportunity to emerge as a great double of today's cutting-edge electronic industrial technology.
Since then, we have continued to develop new products in response to the changing times. Newlong Seimitsu's technical capabilities, from fully automatic printing machines born against the background of the labor-saving era to custom-made products that meet user needs, are now making a strong impression of their toughness.
(Titles of persons omitted)
<Written by Kunio Michida>
From June 3, 1980, to the 16th, over 2 weeks; Nihon Kogyo Shimbun (now:FujiSankei Business i.), reprinted with permission.
