中小企業論ゲスト講演 株式会社久田見製作所様

Main ideas & lessons

1) Introductions: Gifu Prefecture and the guest (Okada)

• The speaker introduces himself as Okada from Gifu Prefecture, explaining where Gifu is located in relation to major cities such as Tokyo and Nagoya.
• He starts by addressing common misunderstandings, then provides a touristic/identity overview of Gifu, including:
  • Shirakawa-go (World Heritage Site)
  • Ueda Onsenkyo (hot springs in the Northern Alps region)
  • Hida Furukawa (linked to a Your Name / anime location reference)
  • Kusatsu / Gero hot springs (noted among famous hot springs; he says Gero is in Gifu)
• He distinguishes regional character:
  • Hida region (north)
  • Mino region (south), with references such as Sekigahara
• He mentions Gifu’s population (~1.99 million), arguing it is smaller than Tokyo and that the prefecture’s overall appeal/ranking is relatively low—contributing to population decline.
• He proposes a structural reason:
  • Nagoya’s proximity attracts people due to companies and universities, though this also makes travel easier (a tradeoff).

2) Company overview: Kutani Seisakusho / Kutami Manufacturing

The second speaker introduces Kutami Manufacturing Co., Ltd., described as a small, rural/SME-style manufacturer.

Company background and scale

• Founded 1972 → 50th anniversary (at the time of the talk)
• ~32 employees
• Capital: 10 million yen
• Annual sales: over 50 million yen

Core business (three pillars)

• Development & design
• Circuit board implementation
• Circuit board assembly

Location

• Near the border area in Gifu Prefecture, tied to local cultural/historical context (including a Taiga drama reference and the birthplace story of Akechi Mitsuhide).

Example products/projects

• LED-related products (including Sengoku-character designs)
• A circuit board concept that can work when tapped—similar to a transport-card idea:
  • radio-wave interaction + lighting
• Application examples for their circuit boards:
  • Vehicles (cars/airplanes), vending machines, factories
  • Consumer electronics (tablets/smartphones/computers)
  • Home appliances (e.g., components for vacuum cleaner centers), “white goods”

Industry challenge

• Semiconductor shortages disrupt production, causing delays and limiting access (e.g., shortages affecting the ability to obtain air conditioners).

Strategic/ethical purpose They aim not only to manufacture circuit boards, but to:

• Bring joy to people through business activities
• Contribute to regional development
• Connect employee development, an education center, and users/customers

3) Company philosophy & quality principles (how they work)

• They define “satisfaction” as results that exceed expectations.
• Operating principles include:
  • Design/production responsibility across processes
    • During handoffs (process 1 → 2 → 3), each person takes full responsibility for passing work on.
  • Quality acceptance rules
    • Only high-quality products are accepted from upstream processes.
    • No careless or roughly handled work is passed forward.
  • Design-for-manufacturing mindset
    • Development focuses on making products easy to manufacture and clearly explaining design.

4) How circuit boards are made (detailed workflow)

The talk outlines the manufacturing process (high-level, but with concrete stages).

Circuit board assembly process

1. Print solder paste onto a bare circuit board.
2. Place small electronic components onto the solder paste.
3. Automated placement
   • Many parts are smaller than 1 mm
   • Placement machines use program instructions plus vision feedback
   • The system detects errors, marks them as NG, and corrects/re-attaches as needed
4. Reflow (furnace heating)
   • Heat to about ~200°C
   • The solder paste melts, bonds components, then cools
5. Back-side soldering
   • After mounting, soldering is performed so the final result becomes a hardened metal connection

Hand/analog craftsmanship

• Some prototypes or parts not suitable for machines require manual soldering:
  • Small components are soldered one-by-one by hand using fine tweezers.

Machine assembly

• The circuit board is assembled into a finished product or module:
  • attach into a housing, fasten screws, connect wiring, etc.

5) Macro topic: why SMEs matter for growth (and why Japan’s productivity/wages lag)

The speaker shifts from company practices to broader SME challenges in Japan.

Key claims/statistics

• By number of firms:
  • Large companies: ~0.3%
  • SMEs: ~99.7%
• By employees:
  • SMEs account for ~70% of workers
• Gifu is described as having few large firms, increasing dependence on SMEs.
• He argues that low SME productivity contributes to:
  • low GDP growth / low wage growth
  • declining productivity rankings (referencing economist arguments and global comparisons)

Why “work style reform” is hard for low-productivity SMEs

• Sales and labor time are linked:
  • If you reduce working days/hours, you reduce achievable sales/work volume.
• They describe a break-even point:
  • If sales fall below a threshold, the company becomes unprofitable.
• SMEs with low labor productivity have less margin above break-even, so cutting working hours can be risky.

6) Economic mechanics: fixed vs variable costs (wage increases + work hours)

The talk explains the financial risk using a simple cost model.

• Fixed costs (incurred regardless of sales):
  • salaries, rent, facility-related fees, etc.
  • If wages rise, fixed costs rise
• Variable costs (scale with output/sales):
  • example analogy: a ramen shop’s ingredient cost increases with the number of bowls sold

Implication

• For low-productivity firms, increasing fixed costs (wages) can push the firm toward deficits quickly—even if sales don’t change enough.
• Workforce attraction link:
  • If a firm cannot raise wages or provide time off, it struggles to attract workers, creating long-run survival risk.

7) What their company did to improve productivity and profitability (methodology)

They present a practical transformation approach to raise labor productivity and stabilize performance.

A. Improve “labor sensitivity” and productivity

• Goals:
  • secure high profit margins
  • secure stable sales

B. Make profits visible (DX + management control)

• They introduced systems on the production line:
  • Tablets let employees record the beginning/end of processes.
  • The system calculates:
    • output count per product
    • time required per product
    • profit per product per day
• They use a profitability classification method (ABC-style):
  • A: profit margin 15%+
  • B: 10%–15%
  • Low B: 1%–9%
  • Items generating no profit are also assessed
• They use results to decide:
  • stop unprofitable work (described as “stop doing them altogether”)

C. Standardize and reduce low-value work

• They divide tasks into:
  • High-value analog/craft work (requires skilled humans)
  • Routine “everyday work” (can be done by anyone)
• Initiative:
  • increase high-value analog work
  • decrease routine tasks that do not create value

D. Use 3D inspection and DX to automate inspection

• Replace/augment human inspection:
  • use 3D inspection devices for quality checks
  • automate most basic inspection steps
  • shift human experts to higher-skill tasks
• Claimed outcome:
  • “6 out of 7” can perform high-value analog work
  • reduce wasted time/unnecessary work
  • grow internal craftsmen rather than relying on large external manual labor

E. Take on higher-margin and broader roles

• Instead of only manufacturing, they expand into:
  • design, planning, and product development collaboration
• They build internal development capability:
  • created an in-house development department (starting around 2019)
• Key philosophy:
  • designs should be easy to manufacture, reducing delays and rework caused by poor manufacturability assumptions

F. Stabilize sales through diversification

• Risk: sales once depended heavily on vending machines
• Response:
  • enter other industries/sectors to reduce concentration risk
  • example: automotive becomes <10%, so losing it won’t destroy sales
• Current diversification (as stated):
  • customer count increased from ~10 companies to 60+
  • largest customer share is <30%, and many are <10%

G. Build future growth: AI and 5G

• Collaboration with academia/tech institutions:
  • Nagoya Institute of Technology
  • Gifu University
  • government/education support is referenced
• AI use-cases mentioned:
  • AI-based maintenance planning to reduce staffing needs by automating when inspections/repairs are needed (e.g., air conditioner/duct maintenance)
  • traffic-light automation on construction sites to reduce reliance on human guards and improve safety (including heatstroke risk)
• 5G initiative:
  • work on infrastructure to make 5G more usable, aiming to leverage strengths in the 5G market

H. Targeted labor productivity goal

• Quantitative goal:
  • increase SME labor productivity from around ~5 million yen/person to ~10 million yen/person by 2027
• They frame their reforms as enabling “healthy work style reforms” and better personnel management.

I. Workforce/HR claims

• Wages and overtime:
  • average wage reported over 25 million (with nuance: average wage ~3.8 million yen; Gifu average ~4.75 million yen is also mentioned—framed as employees’ salary being above the Gifu average)
  • longest overtime: 53 hours
  • average overtime: 32.6 hours
• Family support:
  • maternity leave accommodations were mentioned.

8) Final recruitment/career message about SMEs and rural industry collaboration

• The speaker argues SMEs—especially outside major cities—must thrive for Japan to improve.
• Key points:
  • rural SMEs have higher dependence/importance, so they are crucial
  • rural SMEs can collaborate with local resources/industries to create new products/services (examples tied to local sake cup/masu and a “light-changing” product concept)
• He encourages students to visit/investigate SMEs to discover strengths and opportunities.

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Speakers / sources featured (as named in the subtitles)

Speakers

• Okada (from Kutami/Kutani Seisakusho / Kutani Seisakusho Co., Ltd.; also referred to as President Okada during an add-on)
• Kagami Noru (introduced as the person giving company background; born 1974 in Takayama; later also appears as representative director)

Sources / referenced people & institutions

• Jun-san (referenced via the company’s place name; described as connected to “science department” and “Kitamachi Rocket / Hanzawa”)
• Daily and Adkinson (economists referenced for the productivity/SME argument; names may be auto-transcribed inaccurately)
• Gifu Prefecture / Gifu Small and Medium-Sized Enterprise Introduction Association (event organizer/recommender for the guest)
• Nagoya Institute of Technology
• Gifu University
• MEXT (Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology)
• Komazawa University (host venue referenced)
• C-Learning (attendance/learning system referenced)