{"id":213,"date":"2024-03-11T14:28:00","date_gmt":"2024-03-11T05:28:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/km.lne.st\/?post_type=contents&p=213"},"modified":"2026-03-09T10:07:54","modified_gmt":"2026-03-09T01:07:54","slug":"kobashi_tatsuzaki","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/km.lne.st\/en\/2024\/03\/11\/kobashi_tatsuzaki\/","title":{"rendered":"KOBASHI Group] Evolution of Local Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises Caused by the Shift to Knowledge Manufacturing \/ Creating Businesses Like Startups While Being a 100-Year-Old Company (President x Next Generation Dialogue)"},"content":{"rendered":"

An agricultural machinery manufacturer founded in 1910,Kobashi Industries<\/a>based in Okayama, a subsidiary ofKOBASHI Group<\/a>. Mr. Shojiro Kobashi, the company\u2019s fourth-generation president, has\u2014since assuming the presidency in 2016\u2014formed a capital and business alliance with Euglena Co., Ltd., invested in the venture capital fund RealTech Fund, and established a subsidiary to support startups in product developmentKOBASHI ROBOTICS<\/a>The company continues to spearhead initiatives\u2014such as the establishment of [...], which are reshaping the image of local small and medium-sized enterprises. What kind of future does it envision? Through a conversation with Noi Tachizaki, a \u201cMolting Generator\u201d and next-generation employee at Ribane, we explore KOBASHI\u2019s vision as it takes on the challenges of a new era.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u2192The KOBASHI Group's \"Interviews with Home-Grown Employees\" isthis way (direction close to the speaker or towards the speaker)<\/strong><\/a>
\u2192The KOBASHI Group's \"Roundtable Discussion with Mid-Career Hires\" isthis way (direction close to the speaker or towards the speaker)<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n

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KOBASHI HOLDINGS, Inc. President and CEO<\/strong>\u3000Mr. Shojiro Kobashi <\/strong><\/strong>
Born in Okayama, Japan in 1982, Mr. Kikuchi has been a manufacturer of agricultural machinery since its establishment in 1910. 2017 saw the reorganization of the KOBASHI Group to establish KOBASHI HOLDINGS Corporation, where he was appointed President and Representative Director. Under the philosophy of \"Cultivating the Earth,\" he applies the knowledge and technology he has cultivated over the past 100 years to solve global issues. In 2020, he also established KOBASHI ROBOTICS Corporation and launched \"Manufacturing Booster,\" which provides comprehensive support for start-up manufacturing. The company aims to implement technologies that solve global issues into society as early as possible.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n

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Lifeness Co., Ltd. Molting Generator<\/strong>\u3000Noi Tachizaki <\/strong>
Born in 2004. A member of the 5th cohort of the Masayoshi Son Scholarship Foundation. Began building robots in the third grade of elementary school. Since 2017, he has been a member of \u201cSAKURA Tempesta,\u201d a team competing in the U.S.-based international robotics competition FRC, where he is responsible for robot design. Starting that same year, the team won awards for six consecutive years, qualified for the World Championship four times, and in 2022, he received the individual Dean\u2019s List Finalist Award. In April 2020, he launched Face Shield Japan and donated more than 2,200 face shields he made himself to medical institutions nationwide. In 2022, he was selected for Forbes JAPAN\u2019s \u201c30 Under 30: 30 People Under 30 Changing the World from Japan.\u201d After graduating from high school, he took a gap year and joined the Molting Generator program at Lifeness Co., Ltd.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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The intense \u201csense of crisis\u201d I\u2019ve felt since joining the company is what drives our business<\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

small bridge<\/strong>\u3000I first met Ms. Tachizaki at the Ribane 21st Anniversary Party held in June 2023. With many international guests in attendance, I was deeply impressed by how confidently she delivered her speech in English. I understand she is currently working at Ribane as part of her gap year after graduating from high school, but how did you two first meet?<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Tachizaki<\/strong>\u3000Ever since I was a child, I was the kind of kid who would get excited just from having my parents buy me screws and nuts at a home improvement store. Around the age of 5, I started building things like radios through electronics projects, and when I was 9, I was so thrilled to have built a robot just by imitating what I saw that I became completely absorbed in robot development. Then, as a gift for my 11th birthday, I started attending the Ribane Robotics Lab, where a Ribane employee who served as my instructor became my \u201cmentor.\u201d From there, I was invited to participate in \u201cScience Castle,\u201d a conference for middle and high school students organized by Ribane, and they also supported my personal projects\u2014which is how I\u2019ve arrived where I am today.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

small bridge<\/strong>\u3000I see. So this completes a major cycle in which the next generation, nurtured by Ribane, joins the very company that helped develop them.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Tachizaki<\/strong>\u3000Yes. And after joining the company, we adopted the mission statement: \u201cTo realize an autonomous social system for forests and people.\u201dLifeness Forest Project<\/a>And I was also able to work with KOBASHI ROBOTICS.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

small bridge<\/strong>That's right. We had them design a device for the tree-planting drone we developed jointly with Ribane that drops \u201cseed balls\u201d\u2014tree seeds encased in soil\u2014onto the ground.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n

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A seeding drone for reforestation jointly developed by KOBASHI ROBOTICS and Ribance<\/figcaption>\r\n<\/figure>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Tachizaki<\/strong>I\u2019ve been wanting to ask this for a while: Why is KOBASHI\u2014which started out as a manufacturer of agricultural machinery\u2014so actively pursuing new business ventures, such as drone development?<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

small bridge<\/strong>\u3000It all comes down to a \u201csense of urgency.\u201d Let me go back a bit: I joined Kobashi Industries in 2008 at the age of 26. Since the company was founded in 1910, it was already about 100 years old at that point, and my father was serving as the third-generation president. In other words, Kobashi Industries is a long-established family business, and from the moment I joined, I was determined to take over the family business.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Tachizaki<\/strong>\u300026 years old! You made that big decision at an age not much different from mine now.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

small bridge<\/strong>\u3000At that time, my father told me, \u201cKobashi Industries is a truly great company,\u201d but I couldn\u2019t take his words at face value. It\u2019s true that the company\u2019s financial health and business profitability were strong. On the other hand, 100 percent of our customers at the time were farmers, and the number of people working in agriculture in Japan had been declining sharply for some time, with an aging workforce becoming a serious issue. The more I analyzed the actual data and thought it over, the less I could see any bright spots for the future. In other words, my father, who was passing the baton, and I, who was receiving it, were looking at things from different time horizons, which is why I couldn\u2019t fully share his feelings.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Tachizaki<\/strong>\u3000And so, a strong sense of urgency set in\u2014that \u201cthings can\u2019t go on like this.\u201d\u2026<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

small bridge<\/strong>\u3000You\u2019re absolutely right. I realized that a business that deals exclusively with domestic farmers and sells only agricultural machinery cannot be a company that will last forever. So what should we do? With the agricultural sector as a whole on a downward trend, if we don\u2019t increase farmers\u2019 incomes, there won\u2019t be any money flowing back into our core business of agricultural machinery. Therefore, fundamentally, we need to start by figuring out how to raise farmers\u2019 incomes. We arrived at the conclusion that Kobashi Industries\u2019 new business ventures should be the ones to take on that role. Our collaboration with euglena, with whom we formed a capital and business alliance in 2017, is a prime example of this. If we can cultivate microalgae\u2014which can be used to produce biojet fuel\u2014on fallow fields, it will become a new source of income for farmers.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n

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In 2017, the company formed a business and capital alliance with Euglena Co., Ltd. and began operations of the world\u2019s first ridge-type microalgae cultivation pool, built using ridge-coating technology.<\/figcaption>\r\n<\/figure>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Is it worth staking my life on that management philosophy?<\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Tachizaki<\/strong>\u3000In 2019, the company\u2019s management philosophy was redefined as \u201cCultivating the Earth.\u201d When I saw those words, my immediate reaction was, \u201cThat\u2019s so cool!\u201d I\u2019ve always loved robotics and have been working in the field for a long time, but at the same time, I felt that what I was doing was somehow disconnected from the Earth and all life. However, with the phrase \u201cCultivating the Earth,\u201d I felt like I finally had a place here. How did the company arrive at this philosophy?<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

small bridge<\/strong>\u3000When I became president in 2016, my father told me, \u201cI\u2019ve passed on everything I needed to. Believe in yourself and give it your all.\u201d That also meant that the entire 100-year history of KOBASHI had been entrusted to me. With that in mind, I asked myself: What is it that I want to dedicate my life to? I pondered what was necessary to shape the next 100 years. And what I arrived at was the philosophy of \u201ccultivating the Earth.\u201d Until now, Kobashi Industries has been cultivating \u201cfarmland.\u201d From now on, I have decided that we will be a company that approaches our work on the scale of the \u201cEarth\u201d itself, guiding humanity toward solutions to its challenges.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n

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In 2019, we redefined our long-standing philosophy of \u201creplacing manual labor on farms with machinery.\u201d<\/figcaption>\r\n<\/figure>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Tachizaki<\/strong>\u3000A philosophy he\u2019s staked his life on\u2026 That\u2019s amazing.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

small bridge<\/strong>\u3000For me, my company and my life are one and the same. However, it took me three years to settle on the phrase \u201ccultivating the Earth.\u201d I came across this phrase relatively early on, but I couldn\u2019t quite commit to it. So, with the mindset of \u201ctaking this phrase with me wherever I go,\u201d I kept sharing it constantly\u2014in various regions, situations, and with all kinds of people. As a result, it wasn\u2019t until three years later that I became convinced: \u201cThis is definitely it,\u201d and \u201cNo matter how I look at it, this is the only phrase that works.\u201d I sincerely hope that at the end of my life, I\u2019ll be able to say, \u201cI cultivated the Earth,\u201d and leave this world with that thought.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Tachizaki<\/strong>\u3000One of Ribanes\u2019 codes of conduct is \u201cAlways Give a Presentation.\u201d So I, too, make it a point to talk about my dreams whenever I meet someone, and I feel like my words are gradually becoming clearer. Is this a similar feeling?<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

small bridge<\/strong>\u3000Exactly. Furthermore, simply establishing a company philosophy isn\u2019t enough. I believe it\u2019s crucial for that philosophy to permeate every corner of the organization and become so ingrained that it guides our actions instinctively. Since I cannot achieve \u201cCultivating the Earth\u201d on my own, I need to gather a team. Even in the folktale of Momotaro, a group of companions came together under the common goal of \u201cdefeating the ogres.\u201d In the same way, people who resonate with the aspiration to \u201ccultivate the Earth\u201d are joining forces to tackle the challenges facing humanity and our planet together. Such companions are now beginning to gather at our company.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Staying true to our convictions through a firm set of principles and medium- to long-term strategies<\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

small bridge<\/strong>\u3000Please tell us about your dreams, Mr. Tachizaki.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Tachizaki<\/strong>\u3000I\u2019ve long wanted to \u201chold a robot competition in space,\u201d and my thoughts on the matter deepened a few months ago when I participated in a workshop themed \u201cLife in Space in 2050.\u201d For example, it\u2019s more efficient to \u201cbuild robots in space\u201d rather than \u201ctransport them to space.\u201d To achieve this, we\u2019ll need \u201crobots that handle assembly,\u201d and we\u2019ll also need to consider \u201cwhat standards should parts have to be easy to use in space.\u201d At this point, my goal is to \u201cautomate every aspect of the manufacturing process.\u201d If this can be realized, not only will a \u201cRobocon in space\u201d become a reality, but it should also give rise to \u201ca world where everyone can freely create things.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

small bridge<\/strong>\u3000That sounds interesting! KOBASHI would definitely like to work on this with you.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Tachizaki<\/strong>\u3000Yes! I'm sure this project will also contribute to \"cultivating the Earth.\"<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

small bridge<\/strong>\u3000As long as we share the same vision, we can work together no matter what our respective roles are. When a joint project comes to fruition, I\u2019m sure we\u2019ll have a few requests, but those will be suggestions from a place of partnership\u2014like, \u201cWouldn\u2019t this be even better if we did it this way?\u201d\u2014rather than us dictating exactly what needs to be done. This is also a fundamental principle of KOBASHI\u2019s hiring philosophy. If we share the same vision, it\u2019s more effective to let everyone bring their own unique strengths to the table from there on out.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Tachizaki<\/strong>\u3000That's lovely.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

small bridge<\/strong>\u3000In that sense, I strongly identify with Ribane\u2019s concept of \u201cknowledge manufacturing\u201d\u2014the idea of combining our collective knowledge to create new insights that solve unresolved challenges\u2014and I believe this approach should spread throughout society as a whole. At the same time, however, I feel that society as a whole is not yet ready for this. In this environment, I hope that by demonstrating our uniqueness\u2014what makes \u201cKOBASHI\u201d special\u2014and serving as a successful model, we can provide the impetus for this concept to spread throughout society as a whole. To that end, through our holding company structure, we circulate the management resources generated by our existing businesses within the group to create new ventures\u2014in essence, we are practicing \u201cintra-group knowledge manufacturing.\u201d Furthermore, by remaining a privately held company, we are not constrained by short-term profits and can continue our business from a medium- to long-term perspective\u2014a value shared by our family. How can we realize \u201cbusinesses that may not seem profitable but are necessary for society\u201d? I believe one answer lies in regional family-owned businesses.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Tachizaki<\/strong>\u3000I think this ties in with the question of \u201cwhat we want to achieve in the medium to long term,\u201d but from our generation\u2019s perspective, the mindset of \u201cfor the sake of the Earth\u201d feels very natural. The Earth doesn\u2019t belong to humans alone, and I feel that I want to use my future abilities to \u201chelp keep the Earth in as healthy a cycle as possible.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

small bridge<\/strong>\u3000Remember how, on school field trips when we were kids, our teachers would tell us, \u201cLet\u2019s leave the place cleaner than we found it\u201d? For me, \u201cfor the sake of the Earth\u201d means exactly that\u2014it\u2019s about \u201cpassing on an Earth to the next generation that\u2019s more beautiful than the one I was born into.\u201d I don\u2019t believe every company should adopt a long-term perspective, but at the very least, for a family-owned business like ours, I think it\u2019s a philosophy that aligns very well with our values.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Tachizaki<\/strong>\u3000Finally, could you tell us what kind of future KOBASHI is aiming to create?<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

small bridge<\/strong>\u3000We are committed to making \u201cCultivating the Earth\u201d a reality. However, KOBASHI cannot achieve this alone. By continuing to share our philosophy, we hope to bring together many partners\u2014not only from within our company but also from outside\u2014to work together toward this goal. We also hope that as more and more small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) emerge\u2014inspired by the belief that \u201cIf KOBASHI can do it, so can we\u201d\u2014the management of SMEs will gain greater attention, thereby helping to strengthen the Japanese economy as a whole. If the number of such SMEs continues to grow, the future will surely be bright.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Tachizaki<\/strong>\u3000It\u2019s truly \u201cA New Era of Knowledge Manufacturing<\/a>\"Right?\" I'd like to be a part of that, too.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

small bridge<\/strong>\u3000Of course. Let's build the future together!<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n

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 <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The KOBASHI Group, based in Okayama, traces its roots to Kobashi Kogyo, an agricultural machinery manufacturer founded in 1910. Masajiro Kobashi, the fourth-generation head of the company, has served as president since 2016, and during his tenure, Euglena Co., Ltd.\u2026<\/p>","protected":false},"author":9021,"featured_media":300,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[55],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-213","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interview"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t