ArTechX.ing (formerly Kansai Plastic Industries) ~ A long-established company aims to build a hopeful future through semiconductor technology under new leadership

Interview with President Tonan Kazumasa

We spoke with ArTechX.ing President Tonan Kazumasa.

New Headquarters

Last year (2023), the company rebuilt its headquarters and established Mission Statement 2023. This year (2024), it changed its name—one major decision after another. It must have taken a clear vision and careful preparation.

Tonan (honorific omitted)

Not really. I guess things just happened as they did.

Even with the headquarters, until fairly recently our company was all men. But gradually, the number of female employees increased. That’s when the toilet problem became an issue.

We only had one, so we needed to add more. And because the offices and factory are spread out, we had to build them here and there. But there was no space.

As we drew up plans, thinking about what we could do, it all turned into a brand-new building (laughs).

Mission Statement 2023

Mission Statement 2023 really expresses President Tonan’s heartfelt thoughts.

Tonan

That’s not quite right.
Some time ago, I wrote down our management philosophy in my own words.

But the thoughts of a third-generation president aren’t all that significant. They don’t compare with those of the founder, who built the company from scratch. So we decided to make the statement about what all our employees think. And this is what came of it.

I was reluctant to include “semiconductors” in our mission.

Most of our business is semiconductor-related now. But some employees are responsible for other work. So I thought we couldn’t include it, even if we wanted to.

Then everyone said we should include it. Even employees who don’t work in that area said, “It’s our company’s main business.”

I was happy. It also made me resolve to keep working in semiconductors.

I heard that “Our employees’ dreams are our driving force” is something you’ve said for a long time. It really reflects your thoughts, doesn’t it?

Tonan

People are what matter, after all, so we’ve made declarations such as becoming a “Healthy Workplace.”

The only other things I added based on my own thoughts were the Okayama dialect in parentheses in the vision and, I suppose, The 7 Habits. I related to The 7 Habits after attending a seminar.

Then all the employees studied it. They thought it was good, so we also used it for the names of rooms in the new headquarters.

New Company Name

Could you tell us about the ideas behind the company name ArTechX.ing?

Tonan

The employees came up with this one, too.

I’ve always been particular about technical expertise, but then we realized that “that alone isn’t enough.” We need to have love for our products and the people who use them.

So we asked ourselves, “What is love?” and came up with various keywords, such as “beauty” and “kindness.” We replaced these with Art, and thought that Tech was inseparable from it, that X represents the power to change through DX, and that ing represents the power to keep going.

Putting it all together gave us ArTechX.ing.

Community Activities

Could you tell us about your cultural initiatives and social contribution activities?

Tonan

I want to support local sports teams, and soccer is a sport my family and I can enjoy together, so I support Fagiano Okayama.

I let employees use the complimentary tickets we receive as a club sponsor. I have a season pass.

Tonan

We collaborate with Okayama University and Okayama Prefectural University.

Through Okayama Prefectural University’s “Kibi no Mori” Creative Strategy Project, we hosted graduate students and upper-year undergraduates working on practical assignments for our company.

In fiscal 2023, we asked them to work with us on using digital signage. We’re now showing the resulting video on our signage.

It would be even better if this led to recruitment, but both the employees and I are getting a lot of inspiration from it.

Roots

I heard you gave out igusa glass to commemorate the completion of the new headquarters.

Tonan

We looked for something local. It’s beautiful, isn’t it? I saw it once and decided, “This is it.”

And I thought there must be a connection with igusa (rush grass), after all.

Will the name Kansai Plastic Industry remain?

Tonan

It’s a name that served us well for 68 years, so we decided to preserve it in the form of a stone monument.

We have made donations to the Kojima Torajiro Memorial Gallery at the Ohara Museum of Art, the new Kurashiki Chamber of Commerce and Industry Hall, and the roof replacement of the main hall of Ashitaka Shrine, and the former company name has been engraved on stone monuments at each site.

From the Writer

We’ve introduced the history and present-day story of a long-established company in its 76th year of operation.

A signed card from former Fagiano Okayama player Sano Kodai is casually displayed in the president’s office. A young striker from Tsuyama City, he made a permanent transfer from Fagiano Okayama to NEC Nijmegen in the Netherlands.

It also felt as though the future of the new ArTechX.ing was reflected in it.

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