Kando, Omotenashi and Kaizen – Three of the Core Principles of Komori As It Celebrates 100 Years

Komori, the Japanese press manufacturer, is one of the two main suppliers of banknote printing equipment. It celebrated its 100th anniversary this year, having been formed out of the ashes (literally) of the earthquake of 1923 that ravaged parts of the country.

Mr Junya Shimada.

With equipment used in over 80 countries now, the company has played a central role in the development of banknote production, with many of its concepts originating from its customers’ ideas and feedback – an ethos that is central to the company. And it has managed to do so by combining an international perspective and technical excellence with a distinct and uniquely Japanese flavour.

Currency News™ spoke to Mr Junya Shimada – Executive Operating Officer and Group General Manager who has worked for Komori for over 20 years – about the company’s foundations, its current focus, its philosophy and how it plans to leverage this to go forward in an ever-changing social and technological landscape.

Q: Can you give a brief history of Komori from its foundation in 1923 up to the present day, including its entry into the banknote market?

A: Driven by the strong desire to spread lithographic presses to people everywhere, Komori was founded just 50 days after the Great Kanto earthquake of September 1923, which devastated the southern Kanto region and adjacent areas. At the outset, Komori repaired presses amid the catastrophic damage caused to printing companies and extended the life of machines with knowledge and ingenuity despite limited supplies. In May 1928, five years after the company’s founding, Komori developed its first manual offset printing press.

During the Second World War, we were forced to stop manufacturing presses when our own factory was damaged, and for a period it was difficult to resume. Even in those difficult times, Komori was able to win the trust of our customers and contribute to the recovery of the printing industry through our culture of putting customers first and treating things with care — as we have done since our founding.

There’ve been some milestones along the way, but the biggest turning point was to receive the first order to supply printing presses for the then Japan Printing Bureau, now called National Printing Bureau of Japan, in 1958. Since then, we’ve rapidly grown within the domestic market and started looking outside of Japan.

In 1982, we established our first subsidiary overseas in the US, followed by the UK and the Netherlands. With the expansion and growth of our business, we sold our first line of security printing equipment outside of Japan in 1996 (to India) and since then we’ve supplied over 150 presses to 36 countries printing over 100 denominations, including our own Japanese yen.

Q: And now to Komori today – can you describe the structure and portfolio of the company – both as a whole and for the banknote and security printing segment.

A: We have over 2,500 employees as of 2023, and have locations in Tokyo (the head office), and Tsukuba (our production plant) in Japan, along with over 85 regional sales offices within and outside of country.

Komori consist of four business units – offset printing presses, security printing presses, digital printing systems and printed electronics. Overall, 27.4% of sales are in the domestic market and 72.6% from exports to over 80 countries.

For our security printing press sector for the banknote and high security printing market, our portfolio includes offset, intaglio, numbering, varnishing and some other combination multi-process printing presses.

Q: How does the banknote market differ from the commercial printing press market?

A: From a manufacturers’ point of view, there are no big differences between banknote and commercial printing presses. We manufacture our printing presses – commercial and banknote – on the same production line.

Our goal is to manufacture quality printing presses by applying our unique lean manufacturing methodology. The banknote printing press market is unique and niche, but we at Komori manufacture each and every printing press with great care, loving each machine as a member of the family, and then delivering it to the customer.

The customer experience is created by Komori employees, who are like family, and their individual episodes make up a global story.

Q: You set great store in listening to your customers. What do they require today that they perhaps have not required before?

A: In terms of today’s requirements, Komori has identified four societal challenges and will focus on each:

• Environmental destruction and waste 

• Decarbonisation

• Changes in social infrastructure due to the acceleration of digitalisation

• Increasing complexity and diversity of the global society.

Komori believes that its role in addressing these four societal challenges is to provide business transformation solutions for our customers through three areas. First is low environmental impact production solutions. Second is automation, digitalisation, and labour-saving solutions. And third are solutions that respond to the diversity of society.

Q: How does Komori see the banknote market changing in terms of volumes?

A: It depends on the country.

For example, In Japan, National Printing Bureau prints approximately 3 billion banknotes per year and our population in 2023 is 123 million. But as you may know, Japan’s population is ageing, and the projected population by 2100 will be down to 73 million, according to the United Nations. So banknote volumes in Japan in future may be decreasing.

If banknote volumes become lower, I think the lifetime value needs to be maximised and the total cost of ownership needs to be minimised more than before.

Q: What is the future of security printing in this digital age?

A: As I explained before, the three solutions we are offering – low environmental impact production solutions, automation, digitalisation and labour-saving solutions, and solutions that respond to the diversity of society – are the future.

Q: Komori has established its Printed Electronics Elemental Development centre. Does this point to a changing print future?

A: Electric vehicles (EVs) are rapidly expanding against the backdrop of an era where decarbonisation is required. Since EVs use a large amount of semiconductors and electronic parts compared to conventional automobiles, the demand for semiconductors and electronic parts production is also expanding.

On the other hand, there are issues such as reducing the environmental impact and reducing waste in the production process of semiconductors and electronic components. There is also a need for automation and IoT to deal with labour shortages at production sites.

In response to these issues, the Printed Electonics (PE) business will utilise print technology and automation/FA technology to improve the productivity of environmentally friendly manufacturing and contribute to the sustainability of social life.

We believe the technology we gain from PE will be fed back to the security printing press business to further create synergy.

Q: You have also opened the Security Centre. Can you talk a little about the rationale for this?

A: This is also about listening to our customers, which is what has driven us to open this new facility.

The KGC-S (Komori Global Center – Security) is a new state of the art facility which has been created as a showroom and training center for our customers, where they can see and touch all Komori’s fleet of security presses. Our customers will be able to experience our presses in unique surroundings, and undertake activities such as print demonstrations, training and R&D in an environment which has been purpose built for these activities.

KGC-S has been developed from the concept of ‘Power to the Print’ and ‘Trust in Print’, these being Komori’s commitment to the durability, inclusivity and longevity of banknotes.

Q: Komori provides all the core banknote printing equipment. What about other products and systems for banknote production – does it offer a full end-to-end solution and if so, how?

A: Komori does not have some of specific equipment in our portfolio, but we have partners who can fill the gaps, and we’ve recently acquired MBO to strengthen our portfolio in the post press field. Together, we are confident that Komori can fully provide what the customer needs to have.

Q: Will Komori ever invent and develop its own security features?

A: If you look at the Komori 100th anniversary house note, we have invented the security features from Level 1 to Level 3 with our trusted industrial partners. Komori will continue to develop a wide range of security features, including print features, at the new KGC-S.

Q: What is the future of digital printing in the banknote market?

A: We believe that the combination of traditional printing technology and innovative digital printing technology will strengthen the overall security of banknotes. As such, they represent the future of the banknote market, and setting new standards by challenging the norm is Komori’s task.

We always welcome new partners who can work with us to empower the market in this way.

Q: How important is software to the future of printing and what capability does Komori have in this area?

A: We deem connectivity to be the future of printing. Well-tailored process management systems will reduce work and labour for overall production processes by linking and coordinating printing presses, MIS, prepress and post press equipment.

Our IoT solution, KP-Connect Pro, which was originally released for the commercial printing industry, has recently been re- developed to match the needs of security customers. It will enable customers to access and share detailed press operating information, and remote, real-time visibility that will maximise press usage, improve productivity and increase profitability with, of course, security.

Q: Is Komori seeing environmental sustainability on its customers’ agendas and how important do they view it?

A: Yes, environmental sustainability is becoming more and more important when you look at the market – both the suppliers and the printers.

In our case, we have always focused on sustainability and set a target of a 50% reduction of CO2 emissions by 2050 versus the 2010 level. We have already been successful in generating over 635,000kWh using solar panels installed at our Tsukuba plant which will be followed by more and more, with the aim of becoming a fully ECO Factory and contributing to environmental preservation.

Q: What is Komori doing to celebrate its 100th anniversary?

A: Komori has announced the establishment of a new group purpose in 2023, which is about ‘delivering Kando – ‘beyond expectations’ – by contributing to society with print technology’.

Kando is a Japanese word and concept for the feeling of satisfaction and excitement that people experience when they encounter something of exceptional value. In our case, it applies to that key aspect of delivery ‘beyond expectations’.

Komori always listens to the customers’ voices and think of the people who will use Komori equipment in order to deliver Kando.

The present age is called the age of VUCA (volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity). We have entered an ambiguous socio-economic environment where changes are drastic and predicting the future is difficult. We must survive in these difficult times. As Komori has approached the 100th anniversary of our founding, we believe that we need a compass for our continued sound development.

The purpose of the Komori Group that has now been established is a clear expression of our reason for being, as one that asks of ourselves – what are Komori’s strengths, what are our potentials, and how can we contribute to society?

Komori will move forward over the next 100 years with a purpose that can resonate with all stakeholders.

Q: Somewhat difficult to look ahead for the next 100 years, but where do you think Komori will be in the next 10 years.

A: We will continuously be delivering Kando – delivering fulfilment that is truly moving. Kando has been the belief at the root of the actions of Komori employees since our founding, and this corporate philosophy will remain, even for the next 100 years.

Every day Komori works to improve the quality of our presses and services with the spirit of ‘Omotenashi’ – the hospitality unique to the Japanese people. Omotenashi means always being close to customers, listening to their views, thinking of the people who will use the presses, caring about them deeply with the heart of empathy, and considering the machines’ ease of use.

Continuous improvement, Kaizen, is also part of the daily work of all Komori employees. Kaizen is said to be forever and without limit and is part of the Komori way.