Sunco Industries
Yuki Kariya
Miki Hiraoka
Tomokazu Takada
Nono Kobayashi
Why does ‘Japanese quality’ mean 
more than just the product?
What must companies strengthen?
The future opened by Japanese fasteners
Murakami: Nippon Fastener’s quality 
assurance begins with the raw material. 
Its origins as a wire manufacturer and 
longstanding relationships with steel 
producers support strict control from the 
material stage onwards.
Takada and Hiraoka: Sunco handles 
around two million SKUs, centred on JIS 
fasteners, and offers overseas buyers 
small quantities, broad choice and rapid 
delivery. Its Higashiosaka logistics centre 
is particularly valuable when customers 
urgently need products that are difficult to 
source locally.
Hashimoto and Kariya: Japanese 
fasteners are widely trusted overseas, but 
quality is not limited to manufacturing. 
QP Fastening Works combines reliable 
products with fast, attentive responses to 
Murakami: The strongest opportunities 
may lie in high-specification sectors.  
A Chinese machine-tool customer 
explained that cheaper bolts would 
have little effect on the total cost of its 
equipment, so it preferred to pay slightly 
more for dependable Japanese products. 
This illustrates why quality can outweigh 
price in demanding applications.
Hashimoto: Overseas business should 
not depend on one specialist department. 
Unytite wants to communicate its added 
value more clearly and build a company-
wide structure in which every employee 
can respond with consistent speed 
and quality.
Kariya: More direct exposure to overseas 
markets is essential. Companies need 
first-hand knowledge of trends and 
customer requirements, along with 
begin construction of a new automated 
factory in October 2027, with the aim of 
improving competitiveness and building 
a manufacturing system customers 
actively choose.
Murakami: Excellent products cannot 
succeed overseas if buyers cannot find 
or understand them. Nippon Fastener 
is prioritising branding, external 
communication, online visibility and 
search performance alongside continued 
product development.
Takada and Hiraoka: Sunco is creating 
clearer import and export standards 
as sales and purchasing teams 
become more involved. It will also 
broaden its product range, 
strengthen multilingual online 
communication and continue 
improving the delivery of JIS 
fasteners worldwide. 
Taniguchi: Because threaded rods are 
difficult to differentiate and overseas 
manufacturers often have greater 
scale, Nakaumi relies on its culture 
of experimentation and willingness 
to pursue new ideas: “That sounds 
interesting, let’s try it.”
Shiba: Kishu Fastener plans to take its 
domestic strengths abroad, including 
integrated production from wire 
drawing and heading through to plating 
and packaging, combined with high 
service standards.
enquiries. This level of  
service, consistency and care is viewed 
as a competitive advantage as much as 
the product specification itself.
Taniguchi: In the threaded rod market, 
repeated price reductions can quickly 
become unsustainable. Nakaumi 
deliberately shifted one customer 
discussion from price to product 
performance. The customer concluded 
that the products could not be substituted 
and continued purchasing, eventually 
placing large-volume orders.
personal relationships built beyond 
formal meetings through meals and 
regular contact.
Taniguchi: Rapid growth has concentrated 
knowledge in a small number of 
employees. Nakaumi therefore needs 
stronger internal education, information 
sharing and systems that reduce 
dependence on individuals.
Shiba: Labour shortages and cost 
pressure make automation increasingly 
important. Kishu Fastener plans to 
SOCKET BOY Magazine Writer
The well-loved Sunco 
mascot, SOCKET BOY
27

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