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三矢精工（従業員：日本法人180人、タイ法人30人）は中小企業の海外進出のあり方を考えさせてくれる企業です。同社は軸受を生産しています。軸受は回転する軸を支え、軸を滑らかに回転させることで、摩擦によるエネルギーの損失を防ぎ、有害な発熱も減らします。回転部分は機械の中枢で、軸受の性能が機械全体の機能を左右します。軸受の業界は、外輪と内輪の間に小さなボールなどを使った「ころがり軸受」と軸と軸受との間に薄い空間をつくり、潤滑油をこの空間に入れて運転する「すべり軸受」（「ブシュ」）の業界に分かれますが、三矢精工は「すべり軸受」を生産しています。「すべり軸受」には顧客から与えられた図面通りに製作する下請的な企業が多いのですが、三矢精工はこのパターンには当てはまりません。同社は、次のようなビジネスをしており、これが海外進出の成功につながっています。
①大手自動車部品メーカーと直接取引をしています（自動車向けが売り上げの80％）。
②顧客が示す回転数、摩擦係数などの条件を基に材料組織、形状を設計・提案します。条件が違うと全く別物の製品になります。提案力の基となるのは、鉄などに銅やスズ、アルミ粉、セラミックスを焼結し、用途に合った合金を造るための技術で、同社はこれにより独自の材質を造りだし、JIS規格の標準材での生産は極めて少ないです。この素材技術が同社の強み・差別化の源泉です。
③したがって、製品は多品種少量の高付加価値製品となります。製品は８千種におよび、毎月その１割が出るだけだそうです。ワン・ロット１０個の生産もあります。
1913年創業の同社は自動車部品の国産化が要請される社会情勢の下、板材の丸め加工による「巻きブシュ」の開発に成功（1940年）、軸受メーカーの道を歩み始めました。戦後は日産自動車系のサプライヤーとの取引が中心でした。大手の同業者との競合を避けるため、多品種少量部品をメインとしました。ゴーンさんの系列解体政策をきっかけに顧客の多角化を進め、現在はトヨタ系（販売額の20％）、日産系（同12～13％）の他、ほとんどの自動車メーカー系と取引をしています。それが可能だったのは、上記のような開発力があったからです。顧客のスペックに対応するだけではありません。三矢精工のヒット製品にコストが従来製品の数分の１の部分焼結部品がありますが、顧客の声をヒントに数年かけて開発した独自製品です。
三矢精工はこのように低価格ではなく開発力を訴求点とするビジネスを行ってきたため、海外進出の必要は感じなかったそうです。とはいえ、自動車の海外生産比率は上がり続け、今や国内生産の２倍です。顧客の要望もあって海外進出を決断、2012年にタイ国ライヨーン県のアマタシティー工業団地に「MITSUYA SEIKO(THAILAND)」を設立しました。インフラが整っていることがタイ進出の決め手でした。材料組織の形成工程は日本に置いたままで、タイではその後の加工のみを行っています。ノウハウ流出を防ぐためです。製品は現地で販売し日本へは逆輸入しません。人件費は日本の3分の1ですが、輸送費のため逆輸入のメリットはありません。
工場を立ち上げたのですが、進出を勧めてくれた顧客の現地工場は、取引額が少ないのでわざわざ取引口座を設けることもないだろうと、いささか期待外れの態度。国内顧客の勧めがあっても現地での取引が保証されるわけではないという好例です。しかし、他の日系企業も開拓、現在5社と取引をし、1年目の月商300万バーツは3年目に1千万バーツになりました。高橋尚樹社長は仕事はあると断言します。タイにはたくさんの日系企業が進出し、現地で買えないものはないといわれています。そのような中で三矢精工の販売が拡大するのは、タイでは生産の難しい差別化製品を提供できるからです。日本本社の年商も国内自動車部品市場の伸び悩みにもかかわらず前々期26億円、前期27億円、今期見込み30億円と右肩上がりです。その理由は自動車の海外生産比率の上昇と共に自動車部品メーカーの海外工場向け出荷が増え、そこに開発力が必要なため現地調達の難しい同社製品が含まれているからです。海外で売れる中小企業製品は国内と同じく開発力の必要な差別化製品であり、海外進出し、低賃金を基盤に安く作れば売れるという時代では、もはやありません。
市場開拓は順調と言えますが、悩みは人材です。12人でスタートし、現在30人。社長は高橋氏が兼務し、本社派遣の副社長と製造部長が常駐、他は現地の人材です。事務部門の現地人材は大卒で定着率も良いのですが、問題はタイ東北部出身者の多い現場のワーカーです。
機械に対し日本ではありえない危険な行動をとる、プレス金型に金属くずがついているのに打ってしまう、というようなことがあり、不良率も日本より高いです。トラブルを事前に発見し、問題解決をする能力にも欠けているようです。
ワーカーの定着率が悪いため、技術を習得し、管理職へ昇進するというコースの形成ができず、技術の蓄積が進みません。昇進はインセンティブにはならないので、Aラインができるようになれば手当をつけ、Bラインもできればまた手当をつける――ということをインセンティブにしています。
年末にはビンゴ大会をやり、社長がサンタクロースとして日本から賞品を持っていったり、社員の誕生会をやるといった日本式の家族的経営で帰属意識を高めようとしています。
本社にはタイ法人から材料の販売収入、ロイヤリティー収入（配当収入は未実現）が入るほか、タイで開拓した取引先と日本でも取引が始まるという好影響もあり、国内人員も増加、国内空洞化の懸念はありません。課題は現地人材を育成しタイ法人の自立度を高める――これに向かって奮闘中です。
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Mitsuya Seiko Co., Ltd. (employees: 180 in Japan, 30 in Thailand) is a company that makes us think about how SMEs should expand overseas. The company produces bearings. Bearings support the rotating shaft and allow it to rotate smoothly, preventing energy loss due to friction and reducing harmful heat generation. The rotating part is the core of the machine, and the performance of the bearings determines the function of the entire machine. The bearing industry is divided into two fields: "rolling bearings" that use small balls between the outer ring and inner ring, and "slide bearings" ("bush") that have thin space between the shaft and the bearing filled with lubricating oil in the space for operation, and Mitsuya Seiko produces "slide bearings ". There are many subcontractors that manufacture "slide bearings " according to the drawings given by the customer, but Mitsuya Seiko does not fit this pattern. The company has the following businesses, which has led to the success of overseas expansion.
(1) They deal directly with major automobile parts manufacturers (80% of sales for automobiles).
(2) They design and propose material composition and shape based on conditions such as rotation speed and friction coefficient indicated by the customer. If the conditions are different, it will be a completely different product. The basis of the company's proposal power is the technology for sintering copper, tin, aluminum powder, and ceramics into iron, etc. to produce an alloy suitable for the application, and the company creates its own material by this technology. Production with JIS standard materials is extremely small. This material technology is the source of the company's strength and differentiation.
(3) Therefore, the product is a high-value-added product with a wide variety and small quantity. There are 8,000 kinds of products, and only 10% of them are released every month. They sometimes produce 10 pieces in one lot.
Founded in 1913, the company succeeded in developing a "rolling bush" by rounding plate materials (1940) under the social situation where domestic production of automobile parts was required, and began to pursue the path of a bearing manufacturer. After the war, they were mainly dealing with Nissan automobile suppliers. In order to avoid competition with major peers, they mainly focused on high-mix low-volume parts. With the dismantling policy of the affiliated companies by President Ghosn of Nissan, they have diversified their customers, and currently deal with Toyota (20% of sales), Nissan (12 to 13%) and most automobile manufacturers. It was possible because of the development capabilities mentioned above. Mitsuya Seiko does more than just meet customer specifications. Their hit products include partially sintered parts that can be made at a fraction of the cost of conventional products. This is a unique product that Mitsuya Seiko has developed over the years, inspired by customer feedback.
As mentioned above, Mitsuya Seiko has been engaged in business that emphasizes development capabilities rather than low prices, so they did not feel it necessary to expand their business overseas. However, the overseas production ratio of automobiles has continued to rise, and the amount is now twice that of domestic production. Therefore, the company decided to expand overseas in response to customers’ requests, and in 2012 established "MITSUYA SEIKO (THAILAND)" in the Amata City Industrial Estate in Rayong Province, Thailand. They decided to expand into Thailand because of its well-developed infrastructure. The forming process of the material composition remained in Japan, and in Thailand they only process the subsequent processes to prevent the outflow of know-how. The products are sold locally and are not reimported to Japan. Labor costs are one-third that of Japan, but there is no merit of reimporting because of transportation costs.
They set up a factory in Thailand, but the customer's local factory, although they recommended the expansion overseas, took a somewhat disappointing attitude that it would not bother to open a trading account because the transaction amount was small. This is a good example of the fact that local transactions are not guaranteed even if recommended by a domestic customer. However, they have also approached other Japanese companies and is currently doing business with five companies, with monthly sales of 3 million baht in the first year reaching 10 million baht in the third year. President Takahashi Naoki asserts that there are jobs in Thailand as well. Many Japanese companies have set up operations in Thailand, and it is said that there is nothing that cannot be bought locally. Under such circumstances, Mitsuya Seiko's sales are expanding because they can provide differentiated products that are difficult to produce in Thailand. The annual sales of the Japanese head office are rising to 2.6 billion yen in the year before previous fiscal year, 2.7 billion yen in the previous fiscal year, and 3 billion yen in the current fiscal year, despite the sluggish growth of the domestic automobile parts market. The reason is because the overseas production ratio of automobiles rises, shipments from automobile parts manufacturers to overseas factories increase, which includes the Mitsuya's products that are difficult to procure locally due to the need for development capabilities. The products of SMEs that sell overseas are differentiated products that require development capabilities, just like in Japan. We are no longer in an era in which we can sell if we go abroad and make cheaply with low wages.
It can be said that the company's market development is going well, but the problem is human resources. The company started with 12 employees and currently has 30 employees. Mr. Takahashi serves as the president both in Japan and Thailand, the vice president and the general manager of the manufacturing department are sent from Japan as resident management, and the others are local employees. The local human resources in the back office are university graduates and have a good retention rate, but there is a problem with on-site workers who are often from northeastern part of Thailand.
They take dangerous actions against machines that cannot happen in Japan, such as sometimes hitting the press die with metal scraps on it, and the defect rate is higher than in Japan. They also seem to lack the ability to detect problems in advance and solve them. Due to the poor retention rate of workers, it is not possible to form a course to acquire skills and promote them to managerial positions, and the accumulation of skills does not progress. Promotion is not an incentive for them. They are stimulated by getting allowance if they can do the A-line, and if they can do the B-line, they will get an allowance again.
The president is trying to raise the sense of belonging through Japanese family-style management, such as holding bingo tournament at the end of the year when he brings prizes from Japan as Santa Claus, or holding a birthday party for employees.
For the head office in Japan, they can receive sales income of materials and royalty income from the Thai corporation, (dividend income has not been realized), and there is also a positive effect that transactions with business partners cultivated in Thailand triggers business in Japan, so the number of employees in Japan has increased and there is no concern about hollowing out of domestic business. The challenge is to develop local human resources and increase the independence of Thai corporation. Mitsuya is now struggling toward this new challenge.
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