Source:
https://scmp.com/country-reports/country-reports/topics/japan-business-report-2020/article/3107361/yamato-kogyo Country Reports
Yamato Kogyo continues global legacy as leadership focuses expansion on Southeast Asia
- Replicating its strategy around the world, the company is seeking to create synergies with dominant steel industry players in developing countries with robust infrastructure projects requiring structural steel
Supported by:
Discovery Reports
Mikio Kobayashi, president
Country Business Reports interviews and articles by Discovery Reports
With Hiroyuki Inoue at the helm, Yamato Kogyo experienced phenomenal growth in the global steel industry. Established by his family 75 years ago to manufacture aircraft parts, the company later diversified into trackworks and steel production for railways, construction and shipbuilding. Inoue began a rapid globalisation programme in the 1980s to pursue the concept of local production for local consumption. The strategy was a success as the family-owned company today dominates markets in and around the United States, South Korea, Thailand, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain. When Inoue passed on the reins to Mikio Kobayashi in 2017, the new company president faced the challenge of carrying on the legacy of Yamato Kogyo for future generations.
“Everybody looks up to Inoue’s character, strength and charisma, and our mission is to keep the ‘Yamato Spirit’ burning on by going beyond what he has accomplished,” Kobayashi says. “The new generation must continue where Inoue left off.”
Kobayashi is steering Yamato Kogyo into new markets in Southeast Asia. Replicating its strategy around the world, the company is seeking to create synergies with dominant steel industry players in developing countries with robust infrastructure projects requiring structural steel. In March this year, Yamato Kogyo acquired 49 per cent of Vietnamese steel maker POSCO SS Vina, a subsidiary of global steel giant POSCO of South Korea. The new company, POSCO Yamato Vina Steel, is Yamato Kogyo’s strategic move in the Asean region, which has been the company’s focus for new investment. Yamato Kogyo wishes to educate designers, engineers and architects from countries such as Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Malaysia about the advantages of structural steel over concrete. These benefits include savings on space, faster lead times and earthquake-proof qualities of the product.
“Among Japanese steel companies, we’re highly distinct as we’re very active in overseas investment and business development,” Kobayashi says. “We’re always looking for growth opportunities globally, and whenever we find excellent partners, we don’t hesitate to enter into joint ventures with them.”
Potential collaborators and clients stand to benefit from Yamato Kogyo’s superior technology. With core expertise in steel making, rolling, casting and heavy-industry machining, the company’s integrated production system can transform raw materials into fully finished products completely customised to the clients’ requirements. Yamato Kogyo’s facilities are highly automated and compliant with Industry 4.0 trends as they are designed to promote comprehensive labour savings and utmost efficiency for lower production costs.
The company is also among the few players worldwide that uses direct-current electric furnaces, which emit only one-sixth the carbon released by traditional blast furnaces. Its 130-tonne electric furnace was the first ever equipped with a multistage preheater, which maximises scrap melting for higher energy savings. The equipment was modified to a single stage preheater last year.
Such technological leadership is complemented with utmost concern for customer satisfaction. Yamato Kogyo’s production line in Himeji can roll H-beams of any specified material and size. Besides short delivery lead times, the company also boasts of being able to accommodate clients’ last-minute changes if production has not yet commenced. To allow customer feedback to be easily conveyed to the production facility for immediate implementation, Yamato Kogyo has closely linked its sales team with the production staff.
Yamato Kogyo readily shares these best practices and state-of-the-art technologies with partners, driving the success of its subsidiaries and affiliates worldwide. These include Nucor Yamato Steel in the US and Siam Yamato Steel in Thailand, which are leading structural steel suppliers in their respective markets.
“We’re constantly seeking partners who share with us the same values of respect for employees, customers and society, while possessing a high regard for safety and quality,” Kobayashi says. “Our policy is to do everything for the best of our joint ventures and not just for the sake of one particular partner. For us, that’s the most important policy in a sustainable partnership.”