A manufacturer of wire harnesses crucial for electronic products diversifies production bases for supply chain resilience

Shifting from just motorcycle horns to handling as many as 60,000 products

All electrical products, from automobiles, industrial robots, and home appliances, to the equipment used to manufacture them, use wire harnesses made up of electrical cables and connectors that transmit power or signals to the various parts inside. These important components can be compared to the blood vessels and nerves of the human body.

Manufacturing and marketing these wire harnesses is FUJIX’s core business. The company was founded in 1951 to develop and sell motorcycle horns. Right around the time Japan’s period of rapid economic growth was drawing to a close and the motorcycle industry was beginning to show signs of a slowdown, a customer that manufactured semiconductors sought advice concerning their harness-related products for motorcycles. This prompted the company to begin in-house production of wire harnesses.

“We had been handling harness-related parts in the production process of horns, so using that expertise, and with an eye to the future, my father decided to move into the business of wire harnesses, which have a wide range of applications,” says NAKAGOME Masaharu, the company’s second president.

Just as the business was expanding, NAKAGOME’s father passed away, leaving him to take over the company when he was still in his 30s. Carrying on his father’s forward-looking attitude, and focusing on business continuity, he pushed ahead with research and development in areas such as rubber production and heat dissipation for industrial equipment, paving the way for the production of not only wire harnesses, but items such as rubber products and aluminum die-cast parts.

The company now deals in as many as 60,000 products. Their customers say: “In terms of the number of items FUJIX manufactures, its organizational structure is on the scale of five small- to medium-sized companies grouped together.”

"We make it a point to respond to our customers’ needs and propose new ideas while always thinking about what only our company can deliver,” says NAKAGOME, whose motto is to aggressively take on challenges and produce results that live up to customer expectations.

Manufacturing a new product is not something that can be done overnight, but they will never tell the customer something is not possible. Everything will be done to meet customer requests. The company has built its impressive track record through such ongoing research and development efforts.

Overseas expansion with “customer first” in mind and building a model factory conforming to local environmental regulations

FUJIX’s “customer-first” policy of responding promptly and precisely to client needs is also at the foundation of its overseas expansion. In order to keep up with the latest trends in automotive parts, and because a client had set up a production base in Chicago, Illinois, the company established its U.S. subsidiary there in 2002. Around that same time, FUJIX’s production base in Japan was becoming unable to keep up with the growing volume of orders.

“For a company such as ours, which is labor-intensive, we cannot expect to grow if we continue to manufacture only in Japan.” This assessment led to the establishment in that same year of a wholly owned production base in Jiangsu Province, China, near Shanghai.

Quality cannot be compromised even while pursuing mass production and cost reduction. “In China, the language barrier presented communication challenges at first, so we transferred our know-how by drawing detailed depictions of the products," recounts NAKAGOME of the various approaches taken at that time. While keenly aware of the challenges of communication, he persisted in his efforts while endeavoring to understand the local culture. He also built relationships of trust with local staff from rural areas by providing them with close support such as employee benefits.

Today, local employees who have been with the company since its establishment have become senior management, and smooth communication is now possible through their mastery of Japanese. Consistent technical guidance provided within the company has brought their production technology to a level surpassing that of Japan.

In order to comply with China's environmental regulations, in 2017 a new production site was established in Nantong, also in Jiangsu Province. While advancing factory automation with the support of a loan from JBIC, the facility also received “model green factory” certification.

The bitter experience of the pandemic prompted diversification of geopolitical risk

“We faced a three-month lockdown in Shanghai due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The situation was such that we couldn’t even go to our materials manufacturer just 100 meters away, making us unable to satisfy our customers’ demands."

That bitter experience made him keenly aware of the risks of a business model that depends on a production base in China to provide products to customers around the world.

In order to diversify geopolitical risks and strengthen their supply chains, the company took action to establish a production base in Vietnam, a country where the population is set to grow and which has a friendly stance toward Japan. The Vietnam factory is slated to begin operations in October 2024. Similarly, a JBIC loan will be used to increase production capacity. Over the next three years, this factory will aim to achieve the same level of quality and supply as its counterparts in China.

“In Japan, we will explore further customer needs and specialize in high-mix, low volume production. In China and Vietnam, we will build a labor-intensive, mass production system for stable supply to our Japanese customers doing business on a global scale. This balance is important," stresses NAKAGOME. To this end, FUJIX is now moving full steam ahead to launch its production base in Vietnam.

Wire harnesses (top left) are FUJIX’s key products, offering configurations optimized for automobiles, industrial equipment, and various other fields. The company is expanding its production to include a variety of products such as rubber and insulation paper (top right), molded resin products (bottom left), and aluminum parts (bottom right).