Recently, people have suddenly heard of it in the outdoor world, saying, "Japanese outdoor manufacturers are passionate." This major trend is often Teton Bros , Mountain and Road , Pergo Works , and Locus Gear become more diverse and blossomed in the 2000s, and of course, we would like to continue to pay attention to these new sensibilities on this site.
But today's story is a little different. Despite this excitement in the mainstream, this is a story about a Japanese manufacturer that has been supporting the cutting edge of the world's outdoor industry for nearly 40 years.
The company is Nifco, which develops and manufactures buckles, which are essential fasteners for backpacks and other products .
To be honest, when I first heard of Nifco, I didn't really understand what company it was or what it has to do with the outdoors, and when I was told that it was a company that makes buckles, I realized that I had always thought up the idea of it as a given, without even realizing anything (sorry).
However, it is also true that after I started looking closely at various backpacks, I was strangely impressed and attached to them, saying things like, "This buckle is good" and "This buckle feels good." I just recently came across the fact that there are people who "make those" that buckle, and when I first started to truly face the part called a buckle, I suddenly became interested in it. I want to meet this!
We were able to interview Nifco at the opportunity to cover this, so this time we would like to send you a valuable report from Japan's proud "outdoor" manufacturers.
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We visited Nifco's showroom - Making a buckle with Nifco
One day in January, I visited a showroom inside the Nifco Technology Development Center in Yokosuka. First we arrived at the premises, and suddenly a huge building greeted us in front of us. In fact, Nifco will be 50 years old next year, and is a huge global company that has led over 50 group companies around the world. The scale of the site is different.
Nifco Technology Development Center (reference photo). Surrounded by greenery, it suddenly appeared in the spacious grounds of the near future.
The true identity of the seemingly plain parts manufacturer is a challenger who is full of venture spirit
First, I called Nifco a company that makes buckles. However, since it is such a large company, of course, it is not just a company that makes buckles.
What kind of company is Nifco? Why the outdoors? Why the buckle...? Before getting into the heart of the passionate story surrounding buckle, let's start by looking at the showroom and introducing the company Nifco.
The zipper that can be fastened just by pushing it in is the source of technology that leads to the later buckle.
started out as a zipper business launched in the late 1960s by Ogasawara Toshiaki , an entrepreneur and founder The "plastic industrial zipper" developed by ITW, the American company, which is cutting-edge with its technical capabilities at the time, is a groundbreaking product that has previously had to be screwed from both sides, but can be fastened by simply clicking and pushing it in from one side. This part was particularly intended to be used as fasteners for the future, in production lines for automobiles and home appliances.
Nifco, which quickly acquired the right to manufacture and sell this product in Japan, immediately began sales activities with manufacturers all over Japan. However, it was apparently not selling well at first, contrary to expectations (※). Despite being rejected many times, as I continued to steadily improve and propose with my beliefs, my business eventually grew dramatically. Nifco products have become responsible for various parts of automobiles, and products that utilize Nifco's technology have expanded to business areas other than automobiles
*From the January 2001 issue of NIKKEI VENTURE
At the entrance, you will be greeted by car objects shaped with Nifco products, which are built into every corner.
For example, the home appliance industry. Nifco products are used in many plastic parts used in precision equipment such as AV equipment, PCs, and printers.
Nifco's work allows you to send paper one sheet at a time, and allows you to freely adjust the opening and closing angle of your laptop.
The mechanism that makes the doors of the cassette deck, which are now nostalgic, "slowly open" was also invented using the new hydraulic damper technology developed by Nifco.
And of course, the expansion has progressed into the theme of this time, the outdoor industry. As you'll probably understand now, if you get to this point, your entry into lifestyle industries, including the outdoors, was also a result of the development of Nifco's "connecting" and "holding" technology. Nowadays, they are widely used in all kinds of outdoor, sports and travel goods, including side release buckles, essential for backpacks, cord locks and adjusters, which are extremely useful in fashion and apparel.
A story of manufacturing, built into each and every small buckle
The outdoor product corner of the showroom is lined with parts such as buckles and cord adjusters that have been developed up to now. Of course, only a small portion of the products on display here are the products. New models are constantly being created every year, and it is said that nearly 40 new products have been released each year.
As you can see from the number of new products, many of the buckles and cord adjusters used in a variety of outdoor gear are developed by Nifco after following the concepts of each outdoor manufacturer and model, and sincerely and carefully addressing the manufacturer's thoughts and requests (of course, we sometimes use ready-made buckles, but there are a terrifyingly diverse designs ).
For example, even if they develop a buckle for the same lightweight backpack, one manufacturer simply slashes the inside of the buckle to the fullest, and strives to reduce the weight. On the other hand, another manufacturer has made it lighter, but does not give in enough strength to withstand external impacts, creating buckles that slightly reduce the amount of hollowing out (photo). At first glance, it looks almost unchanged, but there are differences that are never incompatible. It is said that both products cannot be achieved unless they are in this form.
The right buckle is hollowed out to the extreme, and the left is slightly reduced in thickness. Even if the appearance doesn't change much, it's not good to have the same thing (sorry for the difficulties to understand the photos).
Certainly, the parts that Nifco creates are by no means the highlights. However, behind the solid excitement we experience as a product quality, the pursuit of uncompromising quality with these small parts. When measuring the quality of things, we tend to focus on the elements that stand out, but I am truly heartwarming at the many exhibitions that remind us of the obvious fact that "the true quality of a product is created through the accumulation of these things."
If you've never noticed anything before, be sure to take a look at this small part again. The small parts, only a few centimeters, are packed with serious manufacturing, with the manufacturer and Nifco focusing on 1mm or 1g.
What is the progress of the Buckle Division, packed with realistic episodes contained in each product and the hardships they have had so far?
I would like to continue to report on in-depth stories to those who are actually in charge of product planning and development. The dates and other details are yet to be decided, but please look forward to the sequel!