Aircraft parts maker recognized by Boeing. Earning trust and experience for a global push

From soy sauce brewing to plating plant. Business expansion with the development of the aircraft industry

“We have a system in place to transfer the know-how we have accumulated in Japan on airframe components to overseas markets. India will be the next big market, followed by Africa.”

YAMANAKA Yasuhiro, President and CEO of Asahi Kinzoku Kogyo, explained the company’s vision and showed us around their Gifu plant, which he has nurtured with his own hands.

The company is known as a manufacturer that performs surface treatments such as machining, plating, and coating for aircraft and rocket parts. The company was the first in Japan to receive Nadcap accreditation, an international certification for special process control related to the aerospace industry, and has earned the trust of major customers that include the U.S. company Boeing and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. The company has operations in Kyoto, Gifu, Malaysia, and the U.S.

The company is headquartered in Kyoto, where it was a soy sauce brewery until World War II, when it was converted to a plating factory. “We coated soy sauce barrels with coal tar to make plating tanks. As the number of jobs increased to meet the demand for reconstruction, our company was asked to assist the aircraft division of Shimadzu Corporation, which is also in Kyoto.”

The company supplied parts to the Japan Air Self-Defense Force and built a new plant in Kyoto to meet the growing demand for aircraft-related products with the arrival of the Boeing 747 jumbo jet. Since then, as Boeing developed new aircraft models such as the 787 and 737, the company has expanded its own production system.

A new plant for machining engine parts, and a “plant that will last 300 years” at the core

The Gifu Anpachi Plant, currently the company’s main site, consists of three buildings: the West Plant, the 300-Year Factory, and the East Plant. In 1992, the West Plant was established, with room for future expansion and good access to both the Kansai and Kanto regions. Operations began at the 300-Year Factory in 2002 and at the East Plant in 2011. The total area of the three plants exceeds 21,000 m².

The 300-Year Factory, the core of the three, derives its name from being “a structure that can maintain production for 300 years.” The structure is pillarless so that equipment can be replaced and the layout can be changed according to operating conditions. By establishing a production system that integrates the processes of material input, machining, pre-treatment to improve corrosion resistance, and coating, the company is working to further shorten delivery times and lower costs. In addition, a fourth plant, which will focus mainly on machining engine parts, is scheduled to begin operations in 2023.

The aircraft industry, which involves cutting-edge technologies and safety standards on which many lives depend, would seem to require extraordinary technological capabilities to win the trust of the public, but YAMANAKA shakes his head.

“It’s not that the standards in the aircraft industry are unusually high. Automobiles have automotive quality requirements, and electronics have electronics quality requirements. But we have built trust and confidence through our honest efforts to meet the required specifications, and this has led us to where we are today.”

That said, solid technology is certainly the key to trust. For example, in the parts inspection system, the use of a special fluorescent solution has achieved an accuracy that detects microscopic scratches and cracks (measuring in microns) that cannot be seen by the naked eye. These advanced technological capabilities, which have been accumulated over the years, are also utilized in the manufacture of rocket parts and medical devices.

The aircraft industry makes another leap forward ― continuing to invest with confidence

Another characteristic of Asahi Kinzoku Kogyo is its aggressive stance toward market development not only in Japan but also overseas. In Japan, the aircraft industry is basically structured such that large heavy industry companies, which are contracted by Boeing to manufacture airframes, outsource their parts processing and assembly to small and medium-sized suppliers. Expanding direct transactions with overseas companies is also important in terms of diversifying management risk.

In 2015, in an attempt to gain a foothold in the Asian market, the company established a subsidiary in Malaysia in response to the entry of an aircraft fuselage manufacturer into that country. The company also took advantage of a JBIC loan in anticipation of expanding the plant in 2021.

“Malaysia is sure to be one of the centers of the aircraft industry going forward. We will continue to make the necessary investments while keeping a close eye on Boeing.”

The aircraft industry has been struggling in recent years as the pandemic hit the industry. Cross-border travel was restricted, and domestic and international airlines were barely operational. “Although the freighter market was still moving to some extent, the passenger aircraft market dropped to about one-fifth of its peak, and the company’s sales were also down.”

Nevertheless, the company has not stopped making capital investments and expanding overseas, with reliance on the technology and trust it has cultivated and its confidence that the aerospace industry will make another leap forward.

“COVID has now subsided, and aircraft deliveries have begun to move again. In the future, there will be a growing trend toward decarbonization, such as increased use of hydrogen and biofuels. And aircraft are being developed with electric motors, like electric cars. In the world of aerospace components, specifications are everything. The key is how quickly, cheaply and accurately these specifications can be met. We feel that the stage is now set for us to demonstrate our strengths because of the trust we have earned from our customers.”