ふるさとの未来 2024年10月9日 中小企業の救世主・kenmaが登場！
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00:00I hope you will find a company in your growing process in your hometown around the world.
00:07I support everyone who is working hard.
00:10The future of hometown
00:30Let's start!
00:33How far can we go?
00:37It doesn't matter if it's a mess.
00:41My everything
00:54Good evening.
00:55The future of hometown has begun again tonight.
00:57This program is brought to you by KABURU, a book lounge located on the 3rd floor of Kabuto Bay in Nihonbashi.
01:03Today, we will introduce you to a company that is the savior of small and medium-sized companies.
01:09I'm so excited.
01:11Because I love it.
01:13I'm glad.
01:15Small and medium-sized companies are most of the companies in Japan.
01:20It's the power of Japan.
01:22The savior of them.
01:24I think it's the strongest.
01:27Let's take a look at what kind of company it is.
01:31Memoya, which has sold 1 million copies in a series of series.
01:37Kyusui Sponge, which was sold in just a week from the sale.
01:44These hit products are manufactured by different manufacturers.
01:49However, one company designed the product.
01:55The company that helps small and medium-sized companies is the star of the night.
02:02It's a company called Kenma.
02:06It's a venture company with about 10 employees that was founded in 2013.
02:12It's a company that attracts a lot of questions from small and medium-sized companies.
02:19The representative of such a company is Yuhei Imai, a business designer.
02:27It's a company that designs new business for clients.
02:31This is the recipient of the hit product.
02:37The people who worked with him on the business.
02:40I think it was a successful new initiative.
02:44I'm really glad I was able to work with Mr. Imai.
02:47I'm really grateful to him.
02:50With their advice and ideas, we were able to create a new business.
02:55In that sense, I think he is a savior for us.
03:00Clients who are grateful to Kenma.
03:04How does this company help clients' business?
03:09Tonight, we're going to talk to Kenma, a company that designs new business.
03:15What does it mean to design a new business?
03:20What?
03:22What kind of face are you both making?
03:25It's the first time this year.
03:28Is there such a company?
03:31Tonight, we have Yuhei Imai, a representative of Kenma.
03:38Nice to meet you.
03:41Nice to meet you.
03:44Please tell us a lot about Kenma.
03:51Is it right to design a business?
03:55That's right.
03:57I think many designers are aiming for something new, unique, and cool.
04:05Of course, I am, too.
04:08Rather than that, I design a business based on the results and profits of my clients.
04:22Can you do this?
04:24It's a bridge.
04:26I see.
04:27Did you start this company to design a business?
04:32That's right.
04:33Originally, I wanted to be an architect.
04:36That's totally different.
04:38But I had a fatal result.
04:41I was really bad at drawing.
04:44It was terrible.
04:45I thought I couldn't fight with this.
04:49I like what I do, but when I have to get closer to what I'm good at,
04:54I think about planning and concepts.
04:57I thought I might be better at that than other people.
05:01So, the next job I chose was a management consultant.
05:06When it comes to building a strategy for a big company,
05:10even if you think about something interesting,
05:12there are many things that you can't implement.
05:16So, when I thought about what to do,
05:19I decided to work with a management consultant,
05:22but I wanted to design a specific product or create a space.
05:27That's how I came to this company called Business Design.
05:33How does Kenma design a new business for his clients?
05:38Let's take a look.
05:40Kenma has his first hit product.
05:45It's this memo.
05:48It's a concept that you can write anywhere, anytime.
05:53It's a memo that you can wrap around your arm.
05:56You can write directly with a oil-based ballpoint pen
05:59and erase it with an eraser or finger.
06:02So, you can use it as many times as you want.
06:06In addition, it has won many awards, including the Good Design Award.
06:11It's gaining attention as a new memo.
06:16Kenma designed the memo,
06:19but another company is manufacturing it.
06:23It's Cosmotech.
06:28This is a small and medium-sized company
06:31that manufactures and sells special adhesive films to protect sanitary devices.
06:36Why did Cosmotech decide to work with Kenma?
06:41Our sales plummeted in the Lehman Shock about 15 years ago.
06:46Our sales fell by one-sixth.
06:48We had to recover our sales.
06:50At least, we had to maintain our sales.
06:52So, we were looking for ways to apply our technology and products to new areas.
07:01At that time, Cosmotech used its own technology
07:04to manufacture tattoo stickers for fashion.
07:09It seems that various design companies came up with ideas for new products made with these tattoo stickers.
07:16However...
07:17We are also thinking about new applications of tattoo stickers in our company.
07:24We already have ideas for other companies other than Kenma.
07:29However, only Kenma came up with an idea that we couldn't come up with.
07:33When it comes to tattoo sticker technology,
07:36it's about putting the sticker on a part of the body and the design.
07:42In the end, it's about the appearance.
07:44Even if you compete with the appearance, it will look the same.
07:48So, when I think about what to do,
07:51the fastest way is to flip it over and think the opposite.
07:56Imai thinks the opposite.
08:00How does he come up with ideas?
08:03It's a very simple formula.
08:08It's called A to B.
08:10A is common sense and B is new common sense.
08:19In general, tattoo stickers are often used for fashion.
08:28However, we came up with a function.
08:33This is a functional sticker.
08:36It's natural that you don't wear a memo,
08:42but it's a wearable memo.
08:47That's how we came up with this formula.
08:51Do you always think about this formula when you start a project?
08:56Yes, I always think about it.
08:59What we think is important is the starting point.
09:03When we get a theme from a client,
09:05we try to come up with an idea right away.
09:08However, we don't come up with an idea right away.
09:11When we come up with an idea,
09:13we try to come up with an idea that we haven't thought of before.
09:17That's how we come up with new common sense.
09:21That's how we come up with ideas.
09:23He doesn't think about the appearance of the tattoo sticker,
09:26but the function of the sticker.
09:28He decides the direction of the idea.
09:31Imai proposes a tattoo sticker that can be written on Cosmotech.
09:37If it's a sticker, it costs a few tens of yen.
09:42If it costs a few tens of yen every time I write a memo,
09:45I don't hesitate to use it,
09:48but I don't think I should use it that much.
09:52If I put the sticker on top of the silicone band
09:56and make it a set of a silicone band and a sticker,
10:01I think the price of the sticker will be confusing.
10:05I was doing a test last night.
10:08I was wondering what would happen if the sticker came off.
10:10I tried writing on the silicone band.
10:12When I rubbed it with my finger, it disappeared a little.
10:15I thought it was really good.
10:17I called Takamizawa right away and said,
10:19I think I can do it.
10:21He said, yes, you can.
10:23Imai's idea and Cosmotech's coating technology
10:28completed the memo.
10:31This product is sold at the HANS stationery section.
10:35It's constantly selling,
10:39so I've been putting it in the memo section for a long time.
10:44There are many people who use it,
10:47but I think it's often used by nursing staff
10:50or people in the front line.
10:54I've seen a lot of people in the food industry,
10:58but most of the people in the memo section
11:02are people in the medical field.
11:04But it's not just the people in the medical field.
11:06For example, the people who are dispatched
11:09also write the amount here.
11:12The medical field is the target,
11:14but we call them the workers of the front line.
11:18The memo is reported to the front line people
11:21who work in the memo section.
11:24It's not just the users who made this product.
11:28Including the memo and the memo variations,
11:31the sales have increased little by little,
11:33and now it's over 1 million copies.
11:35Now, as a whole,
11:37it's up to about 15% of the sales,
11:40so I'm very grateful.
11:42Small and medium-sized companies are large companies,
11:44and they are the ones who are still alive.
11:46What I learned this time
11:48is how we make our own business.
11:51I'm always very worried about that.
11:53But I happened to meet Mr. Imai and Mr. Kenma,
11:56and I was able to create a new business
11:59with their advice and ideas.
12:01In that sense, I think they are the saviors for us.
12:06In addition to the band type that surrounds the arms,
12:09various variations of memos are developed.
12:13As a result, it hit a million copies in the series.
12:18This is not the only hit product designed by Kenma.
12:23After this, the hit products designed by Kenma will appear.
12:29Memos that have exceeded 1 million copies in the series.
12:33This is not the only hit product designed by Kenma.
12:39It's this Sutta.
12:42It's a sponge that can absorb a lot of water drops instantly.
12:46The water drops that have been wiped off will not drip.
12:49Wow, that's amazing.
12:51If you squeeze it, the water absorption will be restored immediately.
12:54Therefore, you can use it repeatedly without waiting for it to dry.
12:59The company that manufactures this Sutta is
13:02ION Co., Ltd.
13:06A company that manufactures high-performance water absorption sponges
13:09from industrial products to home appliances.
13:15ION Co., Ltd. asked Kenma for the reason.
13:21We have been making water absorption sponges for a long time.
13:27If you just put it in a store,
13:30it's very difficult to differentiate it from other products.
13:35If you use it, you can see the advantages of our sponge.
13:40If you just put it in a store, it's very difficult to differentiate it from other products.
13:44So we went to consult with the company
13:49to see if we could come up with something new.
13:56What did Kenma come up with this time?
14:02I thought the material called Sophras was interesting.
14:06ION Co., Ltd. has only used roller-shaped sponges for business purposes.
14:12ION Co., Ltd. has never used roller-shaped sponges for household appliances.
14:20I think ION Co., Ltd. has never thought about it.
14:25So we decided to think of a product for household appliances in the form of a roller.
14:32What Kenma came up with was a urethane sponge called Sophras.
14:37Its water absorption is about three times that of a normal sponge.
14:42ION Co., Ltd. has only used roller-shaped sponges for business purposes.
14:46Kenma came up with a new sponge design.
14:51I was surprised.
14:52I often think of that.
14:54I had no idea that a roll-type sponge could be used as a household appliance.
15:03What surprised ION Co., Ltd. was not only the eye-catching point of CEO Imai.
15:11In the case of Kenma, the product design is not the end.
15:15The key point is how to spread the product design to the world.
15:28I was able to appeal to the media.
15:33I was able to sell Sophras in a certain program.
15:37I was able to sell Sophras for about half a year or a year.
15:47Of course, I was aiming for a hit from the beginning.
15:52But it was also meaningful to make a unique product with a water-absorbing sponge.
16:00I was able to appeal to the media.
16:07I was able to appeal to the media.
16:11I was able to appeal to the media.
16:20Kenma's philosophy is to create a new symbol that is the flagship of the company.
16:29It is the philosophy of Kenma that makes the client shine with the flagship.
16:37Do you get a lot of inquiries from manufacturing companies?
16:41Yes.
16:42About half of our inquiries are from manufacturing companies.
16:46So there are a lot of companies that are well-established.
16:50Yes, there are a lot.
16:51Japanese manufacturing companies have great technology.
16:55They have a lot of sharp technology.
16:59If you use it as it is, you can change a little bit of what you couldn't ask for in the current world.
17:07It's like the new common sense that appeared in the VTR earlier.
17:10It's a new value just by changing the perspective.
17:14I want to work with manufacturing companies as much as possible.
17:19But there are a lot of times when ideas go to waste, right?
17:24Yes.
17:25There may be more waste in the company.
17:29Basically, all projects are designed to be thought of by everyone.
17:33I think about 10 ideas per person, and I get 80 or 100 ideas from 7 or 8 people.
17:38At that point, there is a lot of waste.
17:41I see.
17:42So there may not be much waste for the client.
17:46We really come up with a lot of ideas in Kenma.
17:51We come up with ideas that are different from each other.
17:55That's right.
17:56I feel like I'm thinking about it all the time.
17:58It's impossible to do that alone.
18:00I'm going to do a lot of Kenma in Kenma.
18:02You look so down.
18:04After that, Kenma's income source was clearly...
18:07Fat.
18:11Kenma, which designs new businesses.
18:14Representative Imai told us about the source of the income.
18:18We get two types of money.
18:23For example, we get a fee for working on this project for 3 months.
18:30The other is that we get 2% of the sales of this product as royalties.
18:36We get those two.
18:38I see.
18:39By the way, if you get a patent, is it from a client or from Kenma?
18:45It's from a client.
18:47As a royalty fee, we have a contract to give you all the patents, costumes, and tickets.
18:59That's a lot of money.
19:01I think that's the biggest problem.
19:03Yes.
19:05I don't think it's a good idea for us designers to have the client's resources.
19:12It's best to get the client's results.
19:15But I think it's better for you to have it and use it freely.
19:21If you have it, you'll get in trouble.
19:25That's right.
19:28This week, we introduced a product that helped small and medium-sized companies.
19:33Actually, Kenma not only designs the product, but also produces the whole store.
19:40The whole store?
19:42We'll show you the pattern next week.
19:45I've seen it on TV.
19:47Thank you, Imai-san.
19:51Next week
19:52This program is brought to you by the company that is growing in Japan.
19:58If you're starting a new business, please visit our website.
20:20This program is brought to you by the company that is growing in Japan.
20:30If you're starting a new business, please visit our website.
20:40This program is brought to you by the company that is growing in Japan.