Ryoyo Electro Corporation: a clear vision towards a bright future

Founded in 1961 at the dawn of the semiconductor era, Ryoyo Electro Corporation has grown in tandem with the electronics industry and today is a global leader in the sale of semiconductors, devices and ICT services and solutions.

Guided by the new principle ‘Value and Pride’, this Tokyo-based firm has thrived over the past half century by constantly adapting to an ever-changing market. From its roots as a seller of semiconductors for Mitsubishi, Ryoyo is now at the forefront of the development of the latest IoT, smart devices and cloud technologies, working with prestigious partners such as Microsoft, Intel, Hewlett Packard and NVIDIA.

In line with the new vision set by president Moritaka Nakamura, the company is moving forward with a comprehensive strategy, encompassing everything from semiconductor devices to networks, cloud computing, servers, software and operation and maintenance services for a broad spectrum of industries.

“Today, companies such as Microsoft are no longer discussing OS and simple devices, but the cloud; HP focuses not only on servers and storage, but intelligent edges. Hence, our solid working relationships with these important players and our expertise in IoT, AI and other technologies will lead to significant profits,” explains Mr. Nakamura.

“In order to do so, we look forward to creating new technologies, which will entail a solid mechanism behind IT, human resources, employee commitment, and the training of future leaders.”

After some difficult years, in 2018, Mr. Nakamura, who came from the retail industry, was installed as president of Ryoyo and quickly moved forward with restructuring the company, implementing a new vision and initiating a three-year business plan in a bid to ensure that Ryoyo not only survived, but thrived in this new era defined by cutting-edge technologies.

“Having deeply explored problems and analyzed fundamentals, our three-year business plan now allows us to have a clear competitive advantage, and a clear strategy to ensure the best plausible outcome for the company,” explains the Ryoyo boss.

The first part of the strategy entails taking advantage of Ryoyo’s long-lasting relationships with its local and international clients who hold a big share of the international market, supporting those clients by providing high-quality products on time and with the necessary volume.

“This allows us to firstly ensure our presence as a trader, but also focus our attention on other activities which will create value for these companies and will increase our competitive advantages – for example, by increasing the efficiency of and providing solutions to the factory automation (FA), retail and medical segments,” says Mr. Nakamura.

The strategy’s second pillar is focused around the idea of ‘ONLY RYOYO’, which involves the company developing more of its own unique ideas and products through larger investments in R&D. As such, Mr. Nakamura wanted to create the ideal workplace environment that allows the creativity and imagination of its engineers to thrive. A testament to the success of this initiative is the fact that since 2018, Ryoyo (which had never previously registered for a patent) has submitted a double-digit number of patents for registration, with four patents being successfully approved.

Part of this development strategy has also involved working in collaboration with other companies, such as Iris Ohyama Inc. Ryoyo developed the speech recognition device for the Iris Ohyama ceiling light. Speech recognition for consumer electronics can be used with a smart speaker, but generally requires Wi-Fi and a smart phone connection. However, Iris Ohyama’s ceiling light can be used immediately after plug-in.

”Hence, the difference between Iris Ohyama and Amazon Echo, for example, is that we no longer need Wi-Fi or any other internet connection, therefore, allowing certain demographics to use the ceiling light with speech recognition,” adds Mr. Nakamura.

“For a trader to collaboratively work together to create a product with a client is quite rare. Nonetheless, it is quite a valuable collaboration in the history of our company and a great milestone for us to be able to work with a company that is exceedingly respected in Japan and to have been praised and favorably evaluated by its executive director.”

Moving forward, Ryoyo aims to expand partnerships and alliances, seek out M&A opportunities and grow its international presence, with sales offices already in place across Asia, as well as in Munich, Germany. The company is also considering opening an office in the USA.

“My vision is to be a company focusing on the client’s business – a well-financed company with high consulting ability, under the unique brand of a solution provider that will support customers’ business challenges and ultimately have an impact on the end-user,” Mr. Nakamura explains. “I am proud to say, our employees are more motivated and excited about the future than ever.”