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Newspaper article - March 27, 2000

Mr. Nemoto's interview appeared on the Tosho Newspaper on March 5, 2000.

 

"Real restructuring is to be done by creation of new businesses" ~A crisis saved Nemoto

"A certain business will never last for more than 30 years. We have to always keep chasing new business." - My late father used to tell me this thought time to time. This philosophy is emphasized in our Japanese company name, Nemoto "SPECIALTY" Chemicals Co., Ltd.. Some time ago many Japanese companies changed their names to modern ones, but I didn't. Our company name may sound a bit classical and oldish, but I believe it was a right decision.

Our company was established in 1941 to start supplying radioactive phosphorescent paints for military applications, but after the World War II we restarted working for luminous painting on watch/clock dials. Since I took over his position, I have been dedicated myself, following my late father's words, to the diversification of our business into other fields. Not only luminous painting job, we started the production of luminous pigments also, and set up the R & D center in our organization for development of unique technologies and upbringing of creative researchers.

Almost of the luminous pigments used on watches and alarm clocks in the world are produced by us. Making use of our technologies in the production of the pigments, we cultivated the market for security pigments. Specialty phosphors are used for anti-counterfeiting or marking purposes, and our pigments are used for U. S. postage stamps and dollar bills. We could accumulate the vast knowledge in handling radioisotopes through the production of radioactive luminous pigments, and using the knowledge we entered into the life science fields where chemical syntheses of radio-labeled compounds are required for preclinical studies for developing new medicines. Using the same technology related to radioisotopes, we currently produce smoke sensors for fire alarm systems in addition to other regular chemical sensors for carbon monoxide and flammable gases etc.. Our production and sales networks have also been globalized. We have subsidiary companies in Portugal, Dalian, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Korea, Hong Kong, the Netherlands, and Switzerland.

Our company faced a life-or-death situation in 1991. As our self-luminous pigments used on the watch/clock dials contained a radioisotope though its radioactivity was so tiny, a major watch manufacturer announced that they would cease to use our self-luminous pigments and switch to electro-luminescent pigments. It was a fatal problem for us because we might lose a major part of our turnover.

Luminous pigments are classified into two groups. One is self-luminous pigments emitting light by itself with an aid of a radioisotope, and the other one is photo-luminescent (phosphorescent) pigments which absorb and store energy of excitation light and glow in the dark without a radioactive substance. Self-luminous pigments continuously glow semi-permanently but contain a radioisotope, whereas photo-luminescent pigments do not contain any radioactive substances but glow for a shorter period. We therefore presumed that we could survive in the clock/watch industry if we could develop a new phosphorescent pigment which has an extraordinarily long afterglow period without any radioactive substance. Although such a pigment had been thought impossible to produce, we started research works in our R & D Center.

Our accumulated technologies and vast research data in the past indicated us that alumina compounds might have a possibility to achieve our target. After repeated Tries and Errors, we finally succeeded to develop the innovative phosphorescent pigment in early 1993. The pigment does not contain any radioactive substances but glows 10 times brighter and 10 times longer. This "Dream Phosphor" should be a global invention. Being chemically stable and having excellent durability, this new pigment can be used not only for watches and clocks but also for a wide range of other industries such as electronics, interior, automobile, outdoor goods, etc. etc.

I named this innovative pigment "N-Luminous - LumiNova". N stands for Nemoto, New, and Nature (Friendly to the environment). LumiNova won many prizes and awards including Ohkohchi Grand Prize (Japanese Novel Prize), The Nikkei Most Innovative Product in 1993, Grand Prize of Japan Fluorescent Pigment Institute, New Business Award of Ministry of Industry, Technology Prize of Japan Electro-chemical Society, and many others. We were approached of course by the Japanese watch/clock manufacturers and even by Swiss watch manufacturers. Now almost of all luminous watches sold in the world are equipped with dial faces painted with LumiNova. It is not too much to say that Nemoto could not survive without LumiNova.

Nowadays small/medium sized companies must ponder on a way how to survive. Especially for manufacturers, it is not wise to stick to existing businesses only. We have to always look for new fields to which our technologies in possession may be applicable. New fields close to our current business must be hopeful because we can make use of our technical know-how's relatively easier for the earliest success. For that purpose, technical assistance provided by institutes, universities, and research laboratories must be also useful.

"Restructuring" is now wrongly used as a synonym of a personnel retrenchment, but the original meaning is to cut old parts out and take new parts in. Cessation of a business must be compensated by inauguration of a new business. In order to create a new business, we have to always be getting ready for it. There are many things to do such as investment for R & D, daily training of staff members.

I have been proceeding the diversification of our business, and believe that "Selection and dedication" must be on the extension line of the diversification. There are many limitations for a small/medium sized company. When a diversified business comes to a success, the business should be separated as an independent subsidiary company. We have to be dedicated ourselves to our original main business that is manufacturing of specialty fluorescent/phosphorescent pigments. Because of the recent large manufacturers' outsourcing tendency, we would have business opportunities for OEM productions for them. As they would need high quality products with competitive prices, I am thinking of expansion of our overseas plants in Dalian, China, and in Pombal, Portugal.

Management of a small/medium sized company would be required to correctly understand the current business and economic situations and show his employees a right direction to go. He should appeal to them "Let's do like this because the surrounding situations are like this", and "Please be patience because of this reason". He must make them hold ambitions and dreams instead of making them look down. Daily training and reorganization would be also important.

Compared to a river, management must know to which direction the river flows. A small/medium sized company is like a leaf floating on a river. By asking to myself "How many peoples are on the boat?", "How many peoples are rowing?", and "How many rowers should be added to go faster than the stream?", I may be able to find a right answer relatively easily. Only thing to do after finding the answers would be a speedy decision at the best timing.
(Press interview)

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