The Art of Monozukuri

Aichi prefecture in the centre of Japan is the home of Japanese ‘monozukuri’, in Japanese, ‘craftsmanship with inexhaustible enthusiasm and science’. It is also the place where major international players in the automobile, power-tools and chemical manufacturing industries have been founded. Here too, Myzox also came into being, founded upon and carrying with it all the tradition of ‘monozukuri’.

The founder began the company in 1950, originally as a small woodworking plant. In 1954 a licence was obtained to manufacture measuring instruments by approval of the Japanese Ministry of International Trade and Industry, and the company started producing wooden staves, drawing boards and products related to the surveying industry. In 1959, Mizoguchi MFG was officially established and began researching, developing and releasing many products that had not previously existed on the market. The most break-through of these was the aluminium staff, which had usually been made of wood before Mizoguchi MFG introduced aluminium in 1973. Myzox was the first company in the world to create a completely aluminium staff. It was simple improvement, but an epochal innovation at the time. Then a new brand, Myzog, was born in 1976. In the 1980s Mizoguchi MFG started producing laser products. Mizoguchi MFG expanded the wide sales network in Japan, and Myzog became a known brand.

In 1990 Mizoguchi MFG was renamed Myzox, and during the 1990s released new products such as prisms, barcode staffs, and precision 2nd-class rod and line lasers. Since the millennium the company has continued to develop new products mixing traditional and high technology.

Independent
Myzox is an independent company. Not belonging to any group means being free of constraints and able to create products with originality. From market research, product planning, product design and verifications to sales, including after-sales services, Myzox is led by twelve teams in four main divisions. There are eighty employees in head office, four branch offices, a factory and Inspection Centre. While the company is not big, business is extensive, with 800 dealers in Japan and exports to more than fifty countries.

Myzox has four major advantage points in the market. Firstly, the General Products Guide carrying more than 3,600 items, and widely distributed in the industry. This is connected to the Myzox website at the dealer's site. Dealers can check stock availability and order products any time, receiving them next day. Secondly, new product planning and fast materialisation through reflecting market voices. Customers' requests on products are collected on a daily basis and the feedback used to create or improve a new product within short time. Thirdly, and especially for international markets, whole precision products undergo double inspections: a first inspection at the factory, the second at the Inspection Centre in Japan. This severe QC process means Myzox can deliver products without any anxiety regarding quality. Fourthly, there is the MPM service (Myzox Precision Maintenance/after-sales service system). From picking up a product to sending it back to the customer after repair or calibration work, the whole operation is done within a week maximum.

These advantages are forged by a sprit of: "Myzox and Myzox products are growing together with markets" and "All in development, all in marketing". The sprit is based on Myzox company's statement, "Create worthwhile products with stable quality and supply them with sophisticated services, and contribute to build and improve a foundation of society."

Asian at Heart
From the sales side, Myzox assumes the target markets for surveying accessories are in Asia, especially south-eastern Asia, southern Asia, and the Middle-East. Developing and investment situations for infrastruc-ture or city planning projects are changing with time and place. It is important to gain fast feedback from markets. Myzox is an Asian company and contributes to the development of Asia. In actual sales, the demands from these areas are increasing and the number of deals is rapidly growing, especially in west Asia and south-eastern Asia. Many Myzox products are being used by surveyors or builders in these areas. As comprehensive surveying accessories manufacturer, Myzox continues to promote its activities with enthusiasm.

In terms of dividing markets on a product basis, one main target is Europe for laser or measuring machines. There are currently OEM customers, and the products are doing well on the European market under customers' brands. Following customers and markets requests, Myzox will develop new products to equip new technologies.

There are two sides to targeting on area and product categories. But one factor common to both is the need to focus and deepen the market. Though new technology can be added to products and distributed to any markets equally, some markets do not accept high-spec products; an example is a fully automatic washing machine with dryer in some Asian countries. World markets are big and have great potential. But how to enter and take hold of those markets is the important thing.

Challenges Ahead
The future holds two main challenges for us now. One involves the decreasing growth of Japan as a country. Population here will drastically decrease over coming decades, and government investment for new or improved infrastructures is also falling along with the decreasing population. This is not a challenge facing only Myzox; almost all Japanese companies face it. Secondly, there is the lack of a need for traditional surveying accessories as new and innovative instruments and solution systems bring their influence to bear on surveying work styles. The fast-evolving market for surveying instruments and GPS machine control means a decreasing trend for some traditional accessories such as staves, prisms, etc., or pile driving for ascertainment of construction errors in civil engineering or machine-control systems.

To attain further growth and rise above challenges, Myzox sees three options. One is to expand the business to overseas markets. The growing markets are changing with the times. Myzox has put its priority on Asia, and being flexible enough to focus on those markets enthusiastically involved in national development. Second is development of new types of accessories to meet the requirements of advanced surveying instruments. Though the latest technologies do not need traditional accessories, they still need different featured accessories. Accessories are developing together with instruments, systems and markets. There are always hints of what is coming next in the progress of instruments, and answers lie in the markets.

Third is to create a new market with knowhow from experience and converting manufacturing ability. As has been seen in the history of product development at Myzox, a new product which people have never seen before both creates and standardises a new market. But a market-creating product does not always have to be audacious, it often sits just nearby to an ordinary product. This means it is important to eternally build upon small steps in progress or improvement.

With active improvements in infrastructure and expansion of public investment in rising Asian and other national markets, private demands will increase. Products developed and manufactured by Myzox with ‘monozukuri' in mind will contribute to development of those areas.

Every month GIM International invites a company to introduce itself in these pages. The resulting article, entitled Company's View, is subject to the usual copy editing procedures, but the publisher takes no responsibility for the content and the views expressed are not necessarily those of the magazine.