Interview with President of Sunco Industries, Yoshihide Okuyama
Can you give us some information about your company?
Established in 1948, Sunco Industries Co., Ltd. is one of Japan's leading leading distributors specializing in fasteners, offering a wide range of fasteners and related products with over 75 years of tradition and experience.
Sunco handles 1.8 million types of items. 51 million items are shipped daily and it serves to 1,200 suppliers / manufactures in Japan.
Sunco is proud with its fast delivery for any quantity of fasteners -direct from Japan, which is highly regarded around the world.
Where are your distribution and sales offices located? Are there any plans for new locations?
All of our distribution bases are concentrated in Higashi-Osaka City, Osaka, the largest fastener production area in Japan, and we are strengthening our logistics functions on a daily basis. Specifically, we have introduced a state-of-the-art shipping system using image processing technology.
By introducing one of the world's largest Rotary Rack in our automated warehouse, we manage to stock more JIS-standard screws (metric size screws) and ship them at high speed. *Rotary Rack is a product of OKAMURA CORPORATION. We believe that these logistics functions will be really useful for our overseas customers.
Our mission is to provide our customers with products as quickly and reliably as possible.
With the remarkable evolution of global logistics, we deliver [as much as you want, when you want it, and as quickly as you want it] from Japan.
We have two sales offices, the Osaka Head Office and the Tokyo Branch Office. We currently have no plans to expand our sales bases overseas. However, our customer order web service, "3QNET" enable our overseas customers to easily check our inventory status, prices, drawings, photos and other information and place orders from abroad.
What are your most ordered products?
We currently have more than 1,750,000 items, including not only all JIS-standard (metric) screws, but also many products unique to Japanese factories, such as nuts to prevent loosening, anti-theft screws. We also have many orders for thin-headed products such as space-saving screws and hex socket screws with washers and spring washers built into the screws. Our strength lies in the wide variety of materials and surface treatments, as well as in the large number of sizes we can offer. We also have a wide range of ROHS-compliant products.
Based on your experiences, what services do customers value the most from the order to delivery stage?
We think it is convenience. We are convinced that customer satisfaction comes from being able to receive products easily, quickly, accurately, as well as by the cost - similar to the experience of buying products from Amazon. We have received awards in the past for our use of advanced IT.
More recently, we have combined mathematical modelling and IT to improve many operations and provide even better customer support.
Are there any advantages to being a Japanese company?
First of all, we have dominated the fasteners industry in Japan for over 75 years. We have business relationships with more than 1,200 high-quality screw-related factories in Japan and our main products are always in stock.
Even a single small screw contains a great deal of technology and we believe that Japanese screws are the best in the world when it comes to a sense of security and reliability in the final product. Over the years this has been proven to be the case and we are confident that it will continue to be so in the future. Additionally, as a result of the recent pandemic and geopolitical reasons, many companies are concerned about supply chains. We believe that we can be of help in this regard in terms of "securing a stable supply chain," which is an important issue in business. Even during this inflationary period, the inflation rate in Japan is relatively low and stable compared to the rest of the world. Add to that the depreciation of the Japanese Yen against the U.S. dollar making Japan a particularly financially competitive supply country for customers who purchase in U.S. dollars.
What differentiates your company from your competitors?
Compared to our competitors in Japan, we are able to handle more items. We have a highly sophisticated supply system that allows us to ship orders in single units and to achieve a short lead time from order to shipment. We also have a huge product database with our website - 3QNET. We are proud of our products catalogues and our customer order web service [3QNET], easy and convenient for our customers to use.
We will send a start kit including catalogues free of charge to customers. If you are interested in this service, please contact us (Contact: tradeinfo@sunco.co.jp). There is no company in the fastener industry in Japan that does not know our company.
What do you think about the development of the fastener industry on a regional basis?
Many countries around the world like Qatar, the host nation of the 2022 Football World Cup, use Japanese-made end products such as railcars, machine tools, and operation machines. Normally, many of these end-machine products use JIS screws. In Europe and Asia, JIS screws are in demand for maintenance of end-machinery products, and in the United States, we provide a wide variety of fasteners that are used for DIY purposes. From the sustainability point of view, the demand for maintenance in the fastener industry will increase in many countries around the world.
In what direction do you think customer demand and trends in this sector will increase?
We do not expect any major changes in demand and trends in the fastener industry in Japan, as it is already a mature industry. However, there should be a stable demand and trends in the mature industry because the product accuracy is very high, product variety is very rich, and there are no substitute products for screw in fastening parts. Therefore, we believe that there should be stable demand and trends.
What are your company's goals and future investment plans?
Our goal is to be recognised as being the best fasteners distributors in the world and to deliver JIS screws globally. To deliver JIS products from Japan to the rest of the world, we are strengthening our logistics function and investing in a system that helps people understand the high quality of our products and the ease with which orders can be placed and processed. For example, we have systems that enable customers to choose between dollar or yen payment as well as the use of English names for JIS screws.
What corporate strategies do you think are necessary to maintain and further develop your position in global and local markets and to further develop?
At the heart of our business ethos is to provide screws in the same way that you would purchase from Amazon or other retailers. We continue to provide services that "there is no screw that doesn't exist" in terms of JIS standard (Metric) screws. In other words, we believe that the company that can provide a true one-stop service will continue to be loved by customers in the future. Our main customers are trading companies and dealers in various countries. Companies in this business category are sometimes not satisfied with EC site because they are mainly designed for the B to C businesses. We would like to be like the Amazon of JIS standard (Metric) screws for [trading companies and dealers in each country].
Which events and exhibitions do you participate in?
M-TECH TOKYO in Japan
