Co.Hachioji - Buoyant Business Interview

81 Miruc Optical Co., Ltd.

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Utilizing Intellectual Property and Aiming to Create a Global Standard

Subject	Miruc Optical Co., Ltd. ( president: Hiroaki Muramatsu )
Address	34-24 Matsuki, Hachioji-shi, Tokyo
Phone	042-679-3825
E-mail	info@miruc.co.jp
URL	http://www.miruc.co.jp

We visited President Muramatsu of Miruc Optical Co., Ltd., who took over after his father founded the company in 1963 as a spin-off from an industrial binocular microscope maker. Miruc Optical maintains the core technologies it has established in the microscope manufacturing field as well as developing a wide range of new products. We asked President Muramatsu to discuss the history of his company and its basic principles.

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"If at First You Don’t Succeed... "

  "I graduated from the Government and Economics Department of my university, and my first job was in the real estate field. I'm the very model of a liberal arts-educated man.
  My father fell gravely ill shortly after I joined the company 18 years ago. He had founded the firm, and I'd wanted to strike out on my own anyway, so I thought it would be a good opportunity to try my luck."

  President Muramatsu was still just 23 years old, and the factory was in Suginami-ku, Tokyo. His father, Raitaro, founded Miruc Optical as a spin-off from a mid-sized manufacturer. Deciding that he didn't want to do the same thing he’d done at his last job, he steadily established the company’s track record of product development. While respecting the industry that had nurtured him, Raitaro Muramatsu used his creativity as an engineer in the development of products such as a monocular erect-image microscope whose viewing image orientation and movement matches that of the object being observed in all directions.

  President Muramatsu grew up seeing his father's work in their home’s first-floor workshop. Although not reluctant to take over from his father, he had little work experience and didn't know the first thing about management, so every day was a challenge for him.

  Then the economic bubble burst, hitting the company hard. Sales fell to half what they had been at their peak, and support from financial institutions reached its limit. It was in 1995 that he pulled up roots, left the family homestead in Suginami, and moved to Hachioji.

  His father was an engineer who made what he wanted to make, whereas President Muramatsu himself thought more about products from the standpoint of market needs and meeting customer demand.
  Despite some major disagreements, the father-and-son team shared the same love of creating things, and united in managing the company.
"My father and I seriously considered closing the business down. Even now, I can't forget the scene of us loading everything into a truck and leaving the factory behind."

  This experience served as a springboard, with President Muramatsu rebuilding the company's business foundations to give manufacturing one more try in the new territory of Hachioji. He energetically made the rounds of his clients, thoroughly immersing himself in a project to determine their needs and develop suitable products. As a result, the depth of the company's lineup of microscope components manufactured using core technologies continued to grow.
  President Muramatsu attended numerous seminars and voraciously read related trade magazines. Before he knew it, sales had quadrupled from their lowest point.

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"Dovetail Stages" Poised to Become a World Standard

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IP Strategy - Protecting Japanese Manufacturing

  In order to increase the added value of the company’s products and prevent imitations, President Muramatsu takes an active intellectual property mix approach, utilizing intellectual property rights such as multiple patents, trademarks, designs and the like from a variety of angles.
"There are running costs involved, so we can't just apply for everything, but we use intellectual property to stop foreign imitation products at the border. This improves customer confidence and gives the trading firms who handle our products a sense of security."

  The company's lobby is lined wall-to-wall with patents and design registration certificates. President Muramatsu says that this year they will take an even more active approach to IP applications in order to support new product development.
"Tokyo has a vision of the Tama area as its Silicon Valley. As industry flourishes here, I want to make it Japan's intellectual property center."
  President Muramatsu understands well that intellectual property strategy is critical for the protection of Japanese manufacturing in the future.

  The ideas behind the majority of the company's products came from the president himself. We asked him about what inspires these ideas.
"I'm always thinking. I always keep a memo pad near my pillow because I often get ideas right before bed or when I'm in the bath. Yesterday, I got an idea from a toy truck bought for my 4-year-old son. It was simple, but I looked at the design and thought, 'Ah-ha!' I'm planning on using the idea in an upcoming new product. I got another idea from an explanation of something I happened to see on a condominium advertising flier. Patents are pending for both ideas. After all, I don't know what kinds of harsh environments our products, especially our measure scopes, are used in."

  President Muramatsu constantly thinks about the future of his company and its employees, both while awake and asleep, as well as new products and new services. It’s been said that the person with the most ideas in a company is its president – a view that is definitely true in this case.

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The Pride behind the "Made In Japan" Label

  Miruc Optical's products and operation are highly regarded by both the national government and the Tokyo government as well as by regional financial institutions.
  It was selected as one of the 300 Vital Small and Mid-Sized Manufacturing Companies of 2009 ( Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry ), is a Business Innovation Plan Acknowledgement recipient ( Tokyo ), and won the 6th Tama Blue Green Award incentive prize, among others. These intangible properties add value and create confidence in the company in the same way as its intellectual property strategy.

  "We do a lot of product development, but it can all be traced back to the core microscope technological abilities acquired by my father over the years. We strive for high quality, accuracy and durability in all the products we develop, and provide them at prices lower than their real value. It is my wish that people not merely leap at foreign-made goods due to their low cost, but instead take a good look at their qualities and the degree of importance placed on them during their manufacture. That's why our company relies on unique and niche products.
  That last micron of accuracy doesn't come from a machine but from a person's hands. That's where true craftsmanship comes in. I think Japan's strength in manufacturing compared to other nations lies in the precision of its masterful skills. I'm thankful for the support of the government in helping us showcase the high quality of the Made in Japan label. "
says President Muramatsu. Although he speaks with a quiet, measured voice, behind it you can sense a strong corporate philosophy.

  Three years ago, Raitaro Muramatsu - his father and the founder of Miruc Optical - passed away.
"My greatest regret is that he didn't live to see these new headquarters, or to see the company receive a national award,"
laments President Muramatsu. However, the Miruc Optical corporate philosophy created by his father lives on in him.