With over 60 years of experience in the industry, Yoshida has continued to develop state-of-the-art technologies to fulfill the needs of the world’s top cosmetic brands. And many of these technologies have been used beyond cosmetics in the production of other ubiquitous consumer products. We speak to Yuzo Yoshida to find more about the innovations developed by this Japanese technology leader.
Competitors like China, Taiwan, South Korea are replicating the Japanese monozukuri process, but at a cheaper cost. As experts, how would you define the essence of monozukuri?
Monozukuri is defined by small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) in Japan. SMEs in Japan introduce groundbreaking new technologies, value history and tradition, are commonly family-owned, and family reputation is everything. We introduce new technologies and create value that the competition will always strive to copy and mimic, yet leading innovation will always be appreciated and valued by those who know and strive to lead with excellence. We will continue to bring leading plastic technologies as in the past but now with further awareness of the heightened needs to focus on added value with sustainable and cost-effective leadership to the world.
SMEs are in our view the backbone of the Japanese manufacturing economy, and masters of monozukuri blending modern trends with tradition and craft into the current era of business. SMEs prioritize craftsmanship, superior engineering and high quality to our dedicated consumers.
How do you ensure the quality of your products produced overseas is the same as those produced in Japan?
Yoshida has the largest share of the Japanese beauty industry compact case market. Our basics are providing products built with excellence, sustainability and quality. We believe in the functionality, feeling and personality of each of our products. Although we manufacture using machines and robots, we value human touch in determining the quality and contour to ensure it will feel good in our customer hands. The weight of the component, the opening and closing strength of the compact, are important aspects to the integrity of cosmetic products. Our inspections are not something that have to be conducted in Japan; we train and educate our global quality assurance teams to understand how the products should feel to meet our leading global standard. Our manufacturing technologies are rooted in Japan, and our production capabilities are equal in all of our global manufacturing facilities, and we assure there is no difference in quality between the products we make in our domestic or international production sites.
How are you taking advantage of the growing cosmetics market?
The outlook of the beauty industry, notably the skincare market remains positive. The global pandemic has brought unforeseen challenges moving forward as a global community. We have been a long-time leader in sustainability, the development of recycled materials and launching products that are re-usable and refillable. We believe sustainable manufacturing is the future and our long history of R&D in this space has set us up well going forward.
The Japanese brands have long implemented re-useable and refillable products instead of buying new packaging every time. We are looking forward to bringing our refillable technologies, along with our advanced recycled materials to brands and industries throughout the world. With an open mind we look forward to our partnerships to answer the next generation of sustainability in plastics for we believe our long-term success will be furthering our leadership in this space.
Can you share with us the key milestones of your company’s history?
We are fortunate to be a world leader in the development of new technologies in plastic. Historically we have developed technologies for beauty industry packaging, as well as the mobile phones and home appliances. One key milestone I would mention is the Sony Walkman, and everyday TV Remote Controllers. Our in-mold decoration technology was developed to decorate the surfaces of these electronics in partnership with Sony. This decoration innovation that was rooted in electronics, has blossomed over the years to be one of the most cost effective, versatile and beautiful technologies in the beauty industry. Our YK Print is the global standard for in mold decoration and we have provided this milestone technology to many of the world’s beauty brands, in conjunction with the electronics market. The point being that many of our leading technologies can cross function into different sectors we manufacture products for. Our visions for leading surface decoration for the mobile phone sector today are also applied to some of the finest beauty brands and we take pride in that.
How do you spread your technology to potential customers worldwide?
As a supplier in the beauty and mobile-technology industry, I feel our world-wide exposure is rather limited. We can be found on the internet at http://www.yoshida-group.co.jp/EN/. We value in person interaction and meetings with our clients, yet of course this has been damaged by the current global environment due to the pandemic. We are headquartered in Tokyo but have sales offices in New York and Paris. We would like to continue our growth, and are looking forward to new partnerships within our industries and are always open to new ventures in new fields. Again, our manufacturing and decoration technologies in plastic cross function and I hope our leadership in diverse categories will allow for new endeavors.
What is your best-selling product globally?
We make a lot of compact cases, but globally our bottle packaging for the skincare sector would be our best seller. We see the market continue to grow in skincare in line with our development and further introduction of sustainably recycled materials. The Japanese brands have always excelled in skincare product development, and we of course have contributed by providing their bottle and jar packaging. As the world continues to attempt to reduce emissions, we have seen a growing trend to produce and procure packaging near the filling sites. The growth is in Asia, and many international brands are increasing their filling in the region, and we are well positioned in the region with production sites throughout (Japan, Vietnam, China, Taiwan) As Asian consumer wealth increases we believe skincare will continue to grow. We feel the makeup market and its need for our makeup packaging/compact cases will recover and return.
What is the role of R&D in your company?
R&D is the heart and soul of our company. We continue to push and turn the wheels of innovation, from improving manufacturing efficiencies to our production of decoration and functional innovations. We are disciplined with our spending and investment allocation to R&D. Many of our innovations were born by requests by customers and exploring new concepts and ideas together. We take pride in bringing industry firsts to the international marketplace.
Are you planning to look overseas for co-creation partners?
We keep an open mind when considering overseas partners and collaborations. The opportunity needs to be right and needs to be a win-win and create value for both parties. Some see our leadership in our industries and want to learn from us and practice our management methods. We would only consider partnerships that help support each other’s weaknesses and grow with value together. We have a few things we are currently collaborating on however they remain confidential at this time.
What is your midterm strategy?
We want to enrich and help the brands around the world to understand the requirements of the next generation consumer. We have been well trained in satisfying the packaging needs of the demanding Japanese consumer. We want to bring our leadership in sustainable plastic packaging to the brands around the world that see the heightened need for luxury and elegant function. We feel our products are suited for this consumer of tomorrow.
We hope global brands will appreciate our dedication to the feeling of using cosmetic products with our packaging, and will want to utilize our technologies for their products.
Are there any new industries you are looking to tackle?
As I mentioned we are open to new industries and new ventures in our ever-changing consumer products market and ever-changing world. We are intrigued by opportunities in the automobile and electric vehicle industry - interior touch panels and smart screens for example.
Another possibility would be with the evolving needs in medicine and if our packaging and technologies could potentially support good and efficient health.
Wearable is a more recent space with which we have experience exploring some technologies with some California start-ups as well. My teams are very intrigued by this growing industry.
If you have a need or a concept in exploring the abilities of sustainable plastic, please get in touch with us for we are open ears and always with a pioneering spirit.
What is your current international strategy and are you looking to partner with other foreign companies?
We are looking forward to continuing our growth internationally. We remain dedicated to bringing functional, cutting-edge technologies and sustainability to the beauty industry. We are also looking to expand and leverage our leading plastic producing and decoration technologies to other industries as mentioned above.
If we return in two years, what would you like to tell us and have accomplished by then, and what legacy do you want to leave?
All beauty products decorate their surfaces with their branding, while the consumer is unaware of the manufacturing origin. Over the years many of our valued clients have brought branded products to us and said: “This must be made by Yoshida”. This is the pride and joy of our employees and our worldwide teams as a whole. When our clients and peers appreciate our craft “Made by Yoshida.” That symbol of quality has been made into a brand name itself, and we expect that in the future wherever in the world when viewing products people will see beyond “Made in Japan” quality, and seek the global plastic manufacturing leadership of “Made by Yoshida.”
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