On October 1, 2023, Mikuni Corporation celebrated its 100th anniversary.
We would like to express our sincere gratitude to our business partners, local communities, shareholders, and all the stakeholders for their support so far. Thank you.
In October 1923, in Yushima, Tokyo, shortly after the Great Kanto Earthquake, our founder, Masakazu Ikuta established the Mikuni Shoten, a limited partnership company, with the spirit of rebuilding Japan. The business that began with importing bicycle parts and the like, transitioned to the import of engine parts in anticipation of the arrival of the age of automobiles, and eventually spread into manufacturing with the wave of domestic production of engines. While the products we handle has changed to meet the changes in society and the age, currently, our main products are automobile parts for four-wheeled and two-wheeled vehicles and leisure vehicles, gas control devices, driving assistance devices for the disabled and welfare and nursing care equipment for people who need nursing care. In addition, in the trading company business, which inherits the business model from the founding stage, we are trying to expand to other fields, while focusing on aerospace parts and turf-care equipment. With the growth in these businesses, our sites have increased both in Japan and overseas, so that we now have 38 sites in 11 countries and regions around the world. In entering our 100th year, we reviewed our history once again and revisited what we have done so far and what we will do in the future.
What has not changed since our founding is the thought of “contributing to the creation of a prosperous society,” that is included in our corporate philosophy, and this will remain unchanged in the future. At the same time, we strongly recognized the importance of our brand power. There was a time when we were known as “Mikuni of carburetors,” and we acknowledge that what is missing now is this brand power. We thus reached the decision to once again make our brand shine, and we thought thoroughly about our brand.
In this period of change, said to be once in a hundred years, we are faced with how to respond to issues on an earth-wide scale, while at the same time, we are asked to adjust to unprecedented changes. Under these circumstances, what is the unchanging value of Mikuni? What are the contributions that Mikuni will make to society? What is the reason for the existence of Mikuni?
The answer that we arrived at in response to these questions is “to create, to preserve, and to open,” that we will announce on this occasion as our brand message.
Carburetors, which were our main product at one time, were an important component that supported motorization from its very foundation. We “created” those carburetors with the skill of craftsmen, and we “preserved” people with the technology of safe combustion and contributed to “opening” the world of motorization.
We also think that from the age of carburetors to the present, along with the evolution of technology, we have been working hard at Monozukuri*, “preserving” people's lives and the environment by supplying and providing products and services related to safety and security while sticking to quality and “opening” up new paths while adapting to the changes of the times.
We will continue to “create, preserve, and open” and will contribute to the creation of a prosperous society. And we will make this the core of the Mikuni brand, and by positioning it as the foundation of our management, we will enhance our brand power.
If we return to the spirit of our founding, that spirit was to “find, develop, and nurture promising products with future potential.” In the future, the key to this will be strengthening our competitiveness using the idea of system design and digital technology and taking on new challenges such as new ways of doing business, new ways of working, and new businesses and markets. Based on the policy of reinforcing our core with these two pillars, strengthening our competitiveness and taking on new challenges, we plan to formulate our vision and route for the next decade by the end of March 2024, and will present it to you as our growth strategy up to the year 2033.
We will take the first step of a new 100 years aiming to be a company that is trusted by everyone as well as a reliable partner for everyone.
* Monozukuri is a Japanese term to describe the process of creating superior products through the pride of workmanship, manufacturing excellence, and continuous improvement.
Hisataka IKUTA
President, CEO & COO