Insight

Just three years ago, Japanese fastener supplier SUNCO Industries began to focus on overseas sales. Since then, the SUNCO brand has become well-known in the fastener industry – with international customers recognising the benefits of having a wide variety of products delivered in small quantities, as well as using SUNCO as an extension of their own warehouses.

Oversea sales for SUNCO have grown by 200% – 300% per annum over the past two years, with domestic sales also increasing 10% to US$2.6 million (€2.4 million). “We are positively feeling the impact of a brand recognition project, which we believe is a major factor in our current success,” comments SUNCO. “We feel this is the result of our continuous efforts to educate potential customers on both our services and products, and customers are realising that it is convenient to do business with us. We will stock the sizes and products customers
don’t want to – and then supply them quickly and efficiently.”

This includes SUNCO’s JIS (Japanese Industrial Standard) products, working with over 1,300 high-quality Japanese manufacturers to have over 300,000 high-quality product types always in stock, including small sizes and various types of stainless steel products. In order to be able to supply these smaller quantities, SUNCO has invested heavily in unique dedicated rotary racks for shipping products in smaller cartons, as well as dedicated small box racks, which have made picking more efficient – 2.5 times faster than before. “Looking ahead, we plan to introduce one of the largest automated warehouses in the industry,” explains SUNCO.

SUNCO adds: “Our motto of ‘your special is our standard’ reflects our commitment to fulfilling our customers’ unique requirements. We are here to help you. Recently, overstock has really started to become an issue for European distributors and we believe SUNCO is the answer because simply put – overstock doesn’t need to be a problem. SUNCO will stock and deliver products in any quantity. Using our own mathematical models to manage stock based on past performance and demand forecasts, we also work with economic analysts to assess market conditions and adjust the total value of stock to reflect the situation.”

This is made possible due to SUNCO’s IT system and 70 strong purchasing team. The IT system is used to place orders on a daily basis to ensure stock levels are maintained at an appropriate level. Recently the company has also made inventory levels available to its suppliers to help them manage inventory more efficiently. 

Customers are also able to access and check stock levels with SUNCO’s 3Qnet web catalogue, which features prices, drawings, inventory  and 360° images of products in ‘real time’ and enables orders to be placed easily. Customers can also shop in various currencies including Japanese Yen, US Dollars, Euros and British Pounds. “We made the decision for customers to be able to shop in their own currencies in order to take advantage of the current exchange rates. Production and transport costs have certainly risen but inflation in Japan is still in the 2% range, which is different from a lot of international countries where inflation is rising. This, combined with the weak Yen, has given us a price advantage which, whilst not being as cheap as other Asian countries, we hope will encourage new customers that Japan is definitely a key supplier for the fastener market,” comments the company. 

As well as a key supplier, SUNCO wants to use its knowledge and expertise to support fastener companies when it comes to the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) regulation. “While, like other countries, Japan faces challenges from the CBAM legislation, we want to widen the circle of support by actively hosting CBAM study sessions and providing hands-on support to key suppliers. Our commitment to the fastener industry is both local and global and, as part of that commitment, we need to provide additional value to our customers. It’s never been more important for us to work hand in hand in this industry.” 

With sustainability a key topic, Japan’s materials are mostly sourced through electric furnaces, with companies already making huge progress in decarbonising their products globally. SUNCO has also expanded its range of plated products with lower environmental impact, as well as introduced company wide initiatives based on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). 

SUNCO concludes: “As we look to the future, environmentally friendly products are going to continue to be at the forefront of the industry, but as well as that we see closer globalisation coming into play. We need to make sure that customers have the confidence to buy from us and by doing so, our products and services match up as if they were buying domestically.”