Today's Notables

On 24th May (Friday), we celebrated the opening of the 2nd phase of our plant expansion. As we have done in the past, we had traditional Honmyo Guji of Izanagi Shrine perform the ceremony. Izanagi Shrine comes from the characters, 竣功 not 竣工, which incorporates the concept that working hard yields an excellent job done, which leads to further future successes.

Mr. Okuda (36) of OHArchitecture was commissioned for the design of the 2nd plant, and construction was done by Taiyo Kogyo. Mr. Okuda, was the head of the Suppose Design Office, which was responsible for the design of the main headquarters building 4 years ago. Despite Suppose Design being in Hiroshima, he was able to come from far away to put together such a major project in a very wonderful way. Following upon his success, Mr. Okuda established a design office called OHArchitecture in Kyoto with two friends from college. As we did with the previous construction, we wanted to engage the thought and creativity of a young architect. A younger architect is more likely to challenge new ideas and concepts with innovative design to introduce a sort of vitality making one feel the opposite of tired. This is even moreso true of a company that is newly established. Their work is full of energy and ambition. I enjoy giving talented young people the opportunity to fully express their talents. We also had ties to Taiyo Construction that go way back. When Minoru Furuichi, Primix Chairman, was in his 30s and 40s, he was friends with Mr. Ryutaro Nomura, who was the second generation of Taiyo Kogyo founders. Together they collaborated on making contributions to the Kansai business community. Mr. Kotaro Nomura, who is the third generation, has also been a key part of my learning about the many facets of the Kansai Productivity Headquarters. Around summer of last year when we were considering many various methods of constructing the 2nd phase of the plant, I happened to meet Mr. Araki, the current president at one of the Kansai Productivity Headquarters meetings. I mentioned our plans and he responded that he was definitely interested in submitting a proposal for the job.

I knew that Taiyo Kogyo was proud of their world class technology, and had a strong track record in tents. I was particularly impressed by the number of pavilions and buildings at the 2010 Shanghai International Expo that used Taiyo Kogyo tents. Tokyo Dome was also built by Taiyo Kogyo. According to the Taiyo Kogyo proposal, the roof would be a film structure to allow for minimal supports because it is lightweight. Then the space would be much more open and flexible without pillars, in addition to being much faster to construct. Since the main function of the 2nd plant is to assemble large equipment, the open space allowed us to move a 20m wide crane around the inside of the plant in both directions, and it is easy to get trucks in and out of the building. This is a great advantage. After Taiyo Kogyo’s proposal, I asked Mr. Okuda of OHArchitecture to study the film roof structure in greater detail. There were several requirements we had with the respect to the design, but one in particular was how to make the steel frame look beautiful. When you look up, you see a grid not only vertically and horiztonally, but diagonally, making quite a thing of beauty. The outer walls on both sides have a sort of pleated form that alternates between a folding screen and indented part, constituting a very unique look. With the film structure, there was some concern about insulation material, but we found a solid insulating material that is essentially aluminum foil affixed to polystyrene foam in the wall surface was quite effective. Ideally, the exterior wall was to be covered with stainless steel, but because of cost, we opted for just the front being stainless and the rest finished with galvanized steel plating. We used stainless SUS405, which is resistant to salt corrosion. What was really surprising is that the construction period started in December and was completed in 5 months. The finished product is amazing with the stainless steel reflecting the color of the sky, giving it a blue hue. The film roof structure keeps the plant bright during the daylight hours, so lighting is not necessary. The window on the south side offers a panoramic view of Osaka Bay, making it a plant with beautiful scenery. We offer our greatest appreciation for those involved in seeing this project to completion. Thank you very much.