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As an important partner of YMD, Inc. (headquartered in Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture), which handles "high-precision jig/tool parts," Asia Maintenance (AMA) is engaged in the maintenance of the company's various products, mainly jig/tool parts, in Thailand. We interviewed Mr. Kitamura, President of YMD, about the business and initiatives in Thailand.
We supply components for specialized machines manufacturing mass-produced products to major automotive parts manufacturers. The quality requirements of the orders we receive from our customers are extremely severe, and most of them are made-to-order. Without prototyping, we have to look at the drawings and finish the parts almost in one-shot deal, and supply them with the required quality.
There are so many special orders, but it is our job to realize such requests. In order to meet the required standards, we devote a considerable number of people to inspections and have a potent inspection system in place. Therefore, regarding the inspection system of the AMA, we at YMD inspect and guarantee the jigs made in Japan, but for products procured locally in Thailand, we proposed an inspection room that can check the inspection sheet at the AMA, and we passed on our know-how at the time of launch.
Because our products are made-to-order, it is difficult to compare with other companies products, but we are proud that we are highly regarded for our reliable quality as well as our delivery time and cost. In terms of custom-made and parts procurement volume, we are at the top level in the Tokai area, supplying several hundred-million-yen worth of parts every month.
The fact that we are able to handle such a large volume with quality and speed may be said to be our strength.
In addition to being a manufacturer, we also function as a trading company that procures a wide range of products. What we pursue is "optimal procurement”. We procure products that we believe are most appropriate for our customers by utilizing the factories and extensive networks of our group companies. In order to realize "optimal procurement," we focus on ‘monozukuri’ (the art of making things) and also in the education of our sales department.
We are collaborating with AMA mainly on high-precision, high-difficulty parts that are difficult to manufacture and procure locally in Thailand. There are still many locally procured products that cannot meet the high-quality requirements of major auto parts manufacturers operating in Thailand.
We not only supply products with an emphasis on the three elements of quality, speed, and cost, but also focus on proposing improvements. This is because simply improving the setup and setting method when using a jig at a customer's work site often extends the life of the product and makes management smoother.
The skills of workers in Japan and Thailand are not the same. Improvement proposals are a way to avoid problems and troubles that tend to occur due to differences in skills, and are valued by end-user customers, so we will continue to focus our efforts on this area.
For a company of our size, it is not easy to expand overseas business alone. We have been doing business overseas by exporting parts, but there is an interrelationship between parts and maintenance. Simply delivering parts is not enough.
In that regard, collaboration with AMA, which has an abundance of engineers and understands is close to Japanese technology, is very helpful for us. AMA engineers often come to YMD for technical training, and I believe that they have a high level of understanding of each custom-made product and are able to provide advanced maintenance support through the mutual exchange of technologies.
As Thai processing skills are improving, there is a growing trend to procure locally as much as possible, and we are supporting this trend, but at this stage, it is not possible to cover everything with local products alone. Because of the issues of training and inspection systems, the trust in Japanese jig manufacturers is still high, and there is a definite demand for "made in Japan" when it comes to difficult parts. We would like to continue to make good use of each other's strengths, and as a good business partner of AMA, we would like to be able to respond to our customers's needs as well as we do in Japan.
YMD Co., Ltd.
