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>>>
Mr. Ryuguchi, could you describe for
us your overall impression of the last year
specifically in respect of ZOLLER Japan?
The year was a very successful one for
us. Indeed, the best year since ZOLLER
Japan was founded back in 2010.
>>>
What made it into such a success?
Certainly, there will be several reasons
for that – the positive economic growth
in Japan for example. And of course our
strategy, which is to be local at several
locations with offices and presentation
centers. Initially, we just had one office,
in Osaka, but now we also have premises
in Yokohama, close to Tokyo and in Na-
goya – local presence. This means that
we now have offices and presentation
rooms in all three of the largest indus-
trial centers in Japan. More and more
interested parties are coming into our
showrooms. Customers want to see the
systems before they buy, and this is par-
ticularly true of the big high-end measur-
ing machines.
>>>
Is one of these offices particularly
important for ZOLLER Japan?
All of our offices are superlatively po-
sitioned in strategic terms. Having said
that, the third office in ‚Toyota City‘ (Na-
goya) has a special status – because
here we are directly in the highly de-
veloped epicenter of the Japanese au-
tomotive industry. The success of the
last year is due in large measure to the
high demand at this location for ZOLLER
solutions.
>>>
Keyword measuring machines:
ZOLLER Japan primarily sells “advanced“
ZOLLER solutions, rather than entry-level
presetting equipment. Why is that?
This will be due in part to the fact that
Japan also has a great many large-scale
manufacturers, such as Mitsubishi or
Sumitomo, and our big systems really
do make financial sense for these play-
ers. In this sector this year, we have al-
ready sold a large number of »genius«
equipment items. Manufacturers simply
wish to err on the safe side, and ZOLLER
»genius« offers this peace of mind in the
form of documentation and end-to-end
logging of results (i.e. reporting). With-
out this, it would not be possible to ver-
ify quality standards. Also, since Japan
has many manufacturing facilities for
precision components, the tools need
to be correspondingly precise. And that
has to be verifiable. The protocols (report
documents) provide a guarantee—firm
evidence—of what the end customer
is calling for. Then yet another reason
has a bearing on our success: Over the
years, we have gained many satisfied
»genius« customers, and word tends to
get around.
>>>
Is there anything that you have
to take carefully into account in
the sales process in Japan?
Not that much, I believe, except per-
haps that large corporations tend to
prefer dealing through just one agent.
When I left a large Japanese corporation
to join ZOLLER, and got to know the
ZOLLER way of selling, my first thought
was, “Wow, this is very German“. But I
have to say this: It works! Sales is sales!
This is the best year
since the founding of
ZOLLER Japan in 2010
Osaka
Head Office
since 2010
Nagoya
Regional Office
since 2015
Yokohama
Regional Office
since 2015
Z .WORLD
Z.magazine 2016
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