NEWLONG SEIMITSU KOGYO CO.,LTD.

　

After the oil crisis in 1973, Japanese companies were required to take new measures. NEWLONG SEIMITSU, which had yet to reach an annual sales figure of one billion yen, was no exception.

The market, which had seen strong provisional demand, rapidly cooled down, and they had to struggle to secure inventory funds. Due to the rapid changes in the economic environment, financial institutions were becoming more rigorous in their responses, and by the middle of 1974, the generosity up til then had completely disappeared.

However, even in such a harsh environment, Inoue's spirit of challenge did not waver. Inoue decided to double the capital by 20,000,000 yen, even as the bank would not consider any dealings.

Their capital at the time was 40,000,000 yen. As was mentioned before, the company's scale in the industry was rare. Companies will never grow big if they are only on the defensive just because they are in pain. One of the qualifications of a challenger is how much power you can exert in difficult times.

So says Inoue.

“There is no end to the worries of a manager. I own more than half of our company’s stock, so a capital increase would require a lot of money. Hmm, there are a lot of areas that salaried workers would never think about. In the future, I don't think I can handle any more capital increases on my own..."

Even a company that started as a sole proprietorship has no choice but to establish a foundation for organizational management as its scale grows. The turning point differs depending on each company, but Inoue has also been working on the creation of organizational management systems from early on, such as introducing an employee stock ownership system from 1969. Such confidence will probably lead to a capital increase during difficult times, but in this way Inoue continues to move forward step by step, searching for new paths.

Diversification of market needs calls for diversification of machine types. As the number of types of machines increases, economies of scale will inevitably be lost. Under such circumstances, the question is how to create a standard type with stable marketability.

“I would like to always have five or six different standards. If there are products that sell on average, we can run a stable business based on them. You can raise your level by one rank.” (Inoue)

Naturally, Inoue did not put much effort into automatic machines. This is because automatic machines do not have versatility.

However, since about two years ago, I have become unable to say so much about my own convenience. The demand for automatic machines has increased, and it has become clear that we cannot survive unless we meet the needs of the market. The goal of technological development changed as to how to add versatility to automatic machines.

“To give you an answer, we have managed to break through this wall. Currently, the weight given to automatic machines is one-third of the total, but in the future, we plan to increase this to half.” (Inoue)

After overcoming several obstacles that stood in his way after the oil crisis, Inoue now sees a clear picture of the future.

The market is ever-changing. Ten years ago, demand related to the electronics industry finally became clear, and today it has reached over ninety percent. Demand is diversifying, from ceramics to various glass printing, and the degree of adhesion to life is increasing.

“I believe that our fifty fifth fiscal year will be a peak. Our goal is to reach the 1,500,000,000 yen mark, and we can manage to do so. In terms of the market scale in five years, I believe it will be about twice as large.” (Inoue)

(Titles of persons omitted)
<Written by Kunio Michida>

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From June 3, 1980, to the 16th, over 2 weeks; Nihon Kogyo Shimbun (now:FujiSankei Business i.), reprinted with permission.