HIDAJournal 2012 AUTUMN

10/18

HIDA Journal No. 1 ● AUTUMN 20128First, please tell us about the background to your company’s expansion into Vietnam.The printing industry has faced stagnant prices and soaring raw materials costs during the recent economic downturn. Our solution to these problems was to establish a company in Vietnam’s Binh Duong Province (located 43km north of Ho Chi Minh City) in 2007 in order to capitalize on the synergy between low cost production and our high quality technologies. We decided on Vietnam because one of our most important suppliers also expanded here.What kind of challenges did you face in establishing a company in Vietnam?We faced challenges financially because a large investment is needed to expand into another country. We consulted with public institutions including our company’s main bank, but we could not find a financial institution that would lend a large amount of money to an SME like us. We were stuck for a time because we could not finance our expansion. Then, we heard from the Japan Finance Corporation, which we have worked with in the past, that we could access financing more smoothly if we received approval for a business reform plan from Tokyo Metropolitan Government. Actually, about ten years ago we were the first in the printing industry to receive approval for a business reform plan for the development of our “Nanamemoru” notepad. However, we found it extremely difficult to prepare the documents for a business reform plan on our expansion into Vietnam because we had no experience with this. During the process we received advice from various parties and we were fortunate enough to receive approval for our plan. Once our plan was approved, we were able to receive a loan under the Japan Finance Corporation’s new business activity promotion funding program.Were you able to set up the factory smoothly?Actually, this was also a difficult process. It took a lot of time to install equipment and train our local employees. In the end it was about two years from the time the company was established until we were able to start full-scale operations at the factory. After the start of operations, employees from our Matsudo Factory were sent to Vietnam to provide training to local employees, but there was a big difference between their abilities and the abilities our company wanted. When I say printing, you may think of simple printing using a color copier, but industrial printing actually involves much more difficult processes. Because colors are not immediately printed on the paper after the printing starts, you need to print out several sheets to let the color soak in and make detailed color adjustments based on the number of sheets printed, temperature and humidity. You also need to align the orientation of the paper when printing on both sides, and ensure the proper positioning is maintained when printing more than one color on the same sheet. These minor adjustments are what maintain printing quality. These adjustments are made while the rotary printing machine is running. These machines are fast and can typically spin around 12,000 times per hour. This means if you are just one minute late in making the adjustment, you will waste about 200 sheets of paper. To prevent such waste, General Affairs Department Manager TeradaExamples of HIDA ProgramsHIDA has two types of programs: the training provided by the former AOTS and the dispatch of experts offered by the former JODC. There are very few companies that use both of these programs. Here, we would like to demonstrate how both programs can be utilized by showing the example of a company that used the two programs this fiscal year. TAISEI BIJUTSU PRINTING CO., LTD. is a printing company founded in 1952. It has a factory located in Matsudo City, Chiba Prefecture. The company’s most famous product is a notepad called “Nanamemoru”. This notepad features a diagonally cut page edge with a custom logo design that remains the same until the very last page. The company has obtained a patent for this design. In 2007, the company expanded into Vietnam and established TAISEI BIJUTSU PRINTING (VIETNAM) CO., LTD. This company has been using HIDA’s human resource development programs to train its local employees in Vietnam. We asked General Affairs Department Manager Hiroshi Terada about the company’s expansion into Vietnam and his thoughts on the human resource development of local staff.[Date of interview: July 30, 2012][TAISEI BIJUTSU PRINTING CO., LTD.]Head office: 1-9-9, Minato, Chuo-ku, Tokyo Established: July 1952Capital: JPY 40 million Employees: 80 (as of July 31, 2012)Description of business: Planning of advertisements and sales promotion items, web development, DTP and printingTraining Program and Experts Dispatch Program (From a Company Hosting a Trainee / Company Dispatching an Expert)TAISEI BIJUTSU PRINTING CO., LTD.

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