Technology Development

Takuji Nakamura

Director and Senior Executive Officer
Head of Group Technical Development
Head of Innovation Incubation Office

Aligning technology, IP, and management strategy, and offering solutions for every single social issue to show the way to sustainable growth.

Our Strengths in Technology Development and Its Challenges

The strengths of the Toyo Seikan Group lie in the technology we call monozukuri (Japanese concept of manufacturing, or the art, science and craft of making things), centered on packaging and containers and cultivated over many years. In response to the needs of our customers, we continue to develop forms and features well-suited to a diversity of applications̶beverages, foods, and daily goods̶using various materials including metal, plastic, paper, and glass. Even during these times of intense cost competition, we have not downsized our production bases, but instead have upscaled to high-quality, high-value-added development.
In addition, we at the Group are not only interested in technology for packaging itself. Our interests extend to basic research into materials and evaluation of physical contents as well as the design of production equipment, among other activities. We also own various elemental technologies and have the talent to turn them into concrete applications. This is not just about technology related to products and equipment that are visible. It is also about the importance of paying attention to the value of intangible assets, which basically consist of expertise and know-how, and putting such assets to active use. This, I feel, is the challenge for the Group.
As the Japanese economy grew, demand for packaging and containers increased and the Group also continued to grow; meanwhile, the environment surrounding the business has undergone great changes. Given sustainability initiatives and solutions to environmental issues demanded throughout the world today, it has not been enough just to develop technology aimed at the stability of our advantages, i. e., large volume manufacturing and quality. In particular, the efficient use of resources as expressed in the slogan “reduce, reuse, recycle” can at times run counter to the part of the Group’s business model concerning producing single-use containers in large volume. For example, even if new materials are developed that reduce the volume of plastic resins in use, and recycling is possible, and even if a recycling process is established for the materials, it has little consequence unless a collection process is also established. In other words, technology development must consider the entire recycling process starting with product design.
We therefore must carry out technology development and business development that leverages the know-how and intangible assets accumulated from the past in a way that extends beyond the existing technology and business of packaging to develop new business while responding to the diverse issues and needs of society.

Aim for Both Forms of Sustainability: Contributing to the Environment and Corporate Growth

Many social challenges are presenting themselves around the world today. For every social issue in the packaging field, we will offer support in the form of providing the organizational structure and systems necessary to solve the issue. In doing so, we will make full use of our technologies cultivated up to now and exercise an IP strategy that leverages our intangible assets. By aligning our technology strategy, our IP strategy, and our management strategy, we will pursue our hope and vision of serving as a corporate Group that continues to drive innovation, as we have in the past. What I see here is a quick way to realize a sustainable future, not just for the Toyo Seikan Group but for the environment itself.

Forming the Can Bottom Using CBR