When we interviewed President Masaaki Morozumi at METALEX 2020, he told us that, "As of November 2020, we have recovered 100% from the sharp drop in performance from April to June 2020, and the factory is in full operation.”
Kyowa NT (Thailand) exhibited at the Nagano Prefecture Pavilion at METALEX March 2022 which was held for the first time in a year. The company was established in Thailand in March 2013 as a joint venture between Kyowa Kogyo Co., Ltd. (headquartered in Numazu city, Shizuoka) and National Tool Co., Ltd., (headquartered in Chino city, Nagano), exactly 9 years ago.
▲ Kyowa NT (Thailand) factory in Ayutthaya, Thailand
— Has there been any change in Kyowa NT (Thailand) since its expansion into Thailand and up to the present?
President Morozumi：After the construction of the second plant in October 2018 due to strong performance in Thailand, the factory is now 100% operational and has grown from 180 to 250 employees, despite a series of negative events for the manufacturing industry, including the US-China trade friction in 2018 and the beginning of the pandemic in 2020.
I am looking after the sites in both Japan and Thailand, and when the pandemic made it difficult to travel between Japan and Thailand, I took advantage of web conferencing tools. I am amazed at the rapid evolution of web conferencing systems.
Kyowa NT (Thailand) is mainly engaged in precision machining of automotive parts. What is your outlook for 2022 and beyond?
President Morozumi：We would like to work on new fields in parallel with our current automotive-related work. We need to develop new customers in the light electrical field, such as printers. As automobiles are going to shift more and more to EVs, we will strengthen our production capacity.
Kyowa NT has expertise in the automotive industry and can provide precision machined parts in various fields where customers require cutting technology for precision parts utilizing control capabilities that can achieve high precision in the micron range.
Nowadays, it is necessary for companies to address environmental issues. What is Kyowa NT (Thailand) doing about it?
President Morozumi：Our business partners are working on SDG measures, and we are also responding to them.
How would you reduce CO2 emissions and promote energy conservation?
We are constantly thinking about how to reduce the electricity and energy used in our factories and the gasoline consumed in our logistics operations. One of our everyday initiatives is the temperature control of air conditioners.
Good ventilation and avoidance of dense crowding of employees are in effect as measures to prevent Covid-19 infection which may be the cause for the improvement of the air quality in the factory.
We understand that it is difficult to secure workers due to the decrease in the working population in Thailand. How is the situation?
President Morozumi：Although we are not short of labor, looking at Thailand, we feel that the number of skilled technical workers is decreasing. We would like to hire and train machining engineers in new fields.
Any closing remarks?
President Morozumi： Kyowa NT (Thailand) is good at machining difficult-to-cut materials. We are also capable of complex and complicated machining using NC lathes and machining
Please contact us for precision machining that other companies cannot perform. Our experienced staff will respond flexibly.
