Made in Kawasaki: Why we insist on manufacturing in a city where factories are disappearing
Kawasaki City, Kanagawa Prefecture.
This city was once the heart of Japanese manufacturing. But now, those factories are disappearing.
There are no successors. They cannot win the cost competition. They are being swallowed by the wave of overseas products. Craftsmen who have insisted on precision down to 1/10,000th of a millimeter are closing their businesses without being able to pass on their skills to anyone.
I have seen that reality right before my eyes.
That is precisely why I chose to go against the grain.
I chose to continue insisting on "Made in Kawasaki" in the beauty equipment market.
A story that began in Kawasaki City in 1992
Toku Create Co., Ltd. was founded in 1992.
At first, we were not a beauty equipment manufacturer. We started as a company that developed and manufactured industrial inspection equipment, such as "talking portable voltage detectors" that could be operated even in the dark.
Our base is Kawasaki City, Kanagawa Prefecture. It is a city where major manufacturers like Fujitsu, Toshiba, and Mitsubishi Fuso have gathered and supported Japanese manufacturing since before the war. Kawasaki City still has many "mom-and-pop factories" that have continued for decades as subcontractors for such major companies. These are the factories that thrived during the post-war economic boom and supported Japanese manufacturing from the ground up.
However, many of them are now shrinking. There are not a few factories that are closing down because there is no successor.
Even so, real technology remains there.
There are still craftsmen in Kawasaki who insist on precision down to 1/10,000th of a millimeter.
Rather than flashy, we choose rugged.
In recent years, the number of "planning manufacturers" that do not own factories has increased. Stylish branding, sophisticated packaging, and looks that are photogenic for social media. That has its own value.
But we chose a different path.
Toku Create handles everything from planning, development, design, and manufacturing to sales in-house.
At our in-house facility "Beauty Tech Lab" in Kawasaki City, we carry out everything from research and development to prototyping. From prototype production using 3D printers to quality checks at our assembly facility—we manage every step of the process from the birth of an idea to the finished product with our own eyes and hands.
Each part is manufactured by handing over blueprints to specialized factories within Kawasaki City. Precision machining, sheet metal work, electronic components—the craftsmen who are obsessed with 1/10,000th of a millimeter accuracy in their respective fields are Toku Create's partners.
We don't just plan and outsource the manufacturing. We have our own lab and work with Kawasaki craftsmen to build genuine machinery. Facing manufacturing in a rugged, honest way—that is Toku Create's motto.
What TILLET has proven
In 2020, Toku Create released its own brand of beauty equipment, "TILLET."
It is a professional-grade beauty device that utilizes the highest level of technology sought by professionals with high aesthetic sensitivity. It is currently used on the front lines in various settings, including beauty clinics, aesthetic salons, hair salons, chiropractic clinics, and AGA clinics.
What TILLET boasts is a defect rate of just 1%.
Anyone involved in beauty equipment should understand how high a standard this figure is compared to the industry average.
We often receive comments like this from our customers.
"Because it doesn't break, I can use it for a long time."
"The after-sales support when I accidentally broke it was truly helpful."
Product quality and the support that follows. We believe that only when these two are combined can you call it a "genuine brand."
We can achieve this because we design from scratch at the Beauty Tech Lab and work face-to-face with the craftsmen in Kawasaki City. If something happens, we can go to the site immediately. We can directly turn our detailed requirements, like "I want this part to be like this," into reality.
If we had outsourced it to an overseas factory, this would not be possible.
Why domestic manufacturing now?
Japanese manufacturing is still strong today.
The source of that strength lies in the national character of the Japanese people. Diligence, sincerity, and a thorough obsession with detail. The artisan spirit of constantly asking oneself "Is this really good enough?" rather than "This is fine" resides in the quality of the products.
You can see it by looking at cars. Japanese cars are still loved all over the world today. They are safe and do not break. That reputation is the crystallization of the hard work of craftsmen who have built it up over decades. On the other hand, in the United States, there is a saying that "cars made on a Friday are of poor quality." It is a story unthinkable in Japan, where a drop in morale before the weekend directly affects quality.
Western countries could not beat Japanese cars for many years. That is why they promoted EVs. They have fewer parts and are easier to automate. They figured they could compete if the product did not require the hands of a craftsman. However, EVs have a mountain of problems. They are constantly trying to change the rules to bring things into a field where they have an advantage.
The composition is the same for beauty equipment.
Precision beauty devices are difficult to automate. The assembly of delicate parts, fine adjustments, and final quality checks—these can only be done by human eyes and hands. That is precisely why 'Made in Japan' remains a strong market.
However, there is an issue here that cannot be overlooked.
While claiming 'Made in Japan,' there is a loophole where products are actually manufactured overseas, and by performing only the final screw tightening in Japan, they can be labeled as 'Made in Japan.' As the number of manufacturers who do not understand the reality of the production floor increases, industrial hollowing progresses, creating a structure where companies are forced to outsource overseas.
This must not continue.
Our continued commitment to our factory in Kawasaki is also a quiet resistance against this trend.
We believe that achieving the number one sales ranking for beauty devices in Kawasaki City's hometown tax program for three consecutive years is the result of these efforts.
To business operators who want to have their own brand of beauty devices
For beauty salons, aesthetic clinics, and healthcare brands—there are three reasons why Toku Create is chosen by business operators who want to have their own equipment.
Because we handle planning, development, design, manufacturing, and sales entirely in-house, we can totally control quality and delivery times.
Because we have a network of specialized factories in Kawasaki City and our own Beauty Tech Lab, we can handle prototyping and development starting from small lots.
We have a quality standard with a defect rate of 1%, as proven by TILLET, and a comprehensive after-support system.
We have continued to respond to the voices of professionals who say, 'I am worried about overseas products' and 'I want to use genuine domestic equipment.'
What we will be sharing from now on
In this NOTE, I will write about the reality of the production floor where we create beauty and health equipment as the Made in Kawasaki brand.
・Behind the scenes of domestic manufacturing
・What business operators who want to have their own brand of equipment should know
・The real difference between overseas products and domestic products
Rather than difficult topics, I will write exactly what I have felt on the production floor.
If you follow us, I think you will find it useful.
Yu Watanabe, Executive Director, Toku Create Co., Ltd.
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#BeautyEquipment #Manufacturing #KawasakiCity #MadeInKawasaki #Esthetics #DomesticManufacturing #TILLET #BeautyTechLab #ProfessionalBeautyEquipment #MadeInJapan