A Japanese company manufacturing hardware and building components for wood houses and structures is looking for EU distributors under a commercial agreement.

Summary

Profile Type

Business Offer

POD Reference

BOJP20230317019

Term of Validity

17 March 2023 - 16 March 2025

Company's Country

Japan

Type of partnership

Commercial agreement

Targeted Countries

Italy
Belgium
France
Luxembourg
Spain
Finland
Germany
Austria
Ireland
Netherlands
Sweden
Greece
Iceland
Croatia
Cyprus
Estonia
Malta
Czechia
Poland
Portugal
Slovakia
Latvia
Lithuania
Bulgaria
Slovenia
Hungary
Romania
Denmark

Contact the EEN partner nearest to you for more information.

Find my local partner

General information

Short Summary

A Japanese hardware company is aiming to enter the EU market with its patented building components specifically for wood made structures. Their products are resistant and developed to sustain natural disaster events with the purpose of lasting for a long time. The company seeks EU partners who can distribute their products in targeted Member States.

Full Description

Since its establishment 30 years ago, the company has achieved an outstanding reputation in the building industry in Japan, becoming one of the most well-known manufacturers of hardware and building components thanks to its out of the box ideas and technology.

Their products such as washers, packings of house foundation, clips connecting to reinforce steel bars inside of house foundations, are mainly used in residential house or wooden building as well as wooden playground equipment.
Japan being a country subject to many earthquakes of various intensities all year long, the company developed its products to make them strong enough to sustain such type of disasters, as well as fire and other natural events such as typhoons.

The company also developed its products considering cost-effectiveness, sustainability and eco-friendly aspects. These are the reasons why their customers appreciate the company, and its products became very popular not only in Japan but also in overseas countries.
The company in house designed products are all patented to protect their know-how.
The observed advantages of the company products compared to competitors’ one are the reduction of time and energy needed to perform maintenance duties on residential house or wooden buildings, as well as during the construction stage, these aspects leading to the improvement of work efficiency for contactors.

The company is now focusing on the EU market and is seeking distributors with good knowledge of the hardware market in the building industry of their country. The partner should also have experience in wood made constructions. They assume that end users would be house builders, contractors of wooden building / structures, or companies who deal with those contractors. Potential distributors are expected to have a strong sales force who can carry stocks and have a good understanding of overseas trade.

Advantages and Innovations

Main advantages of the products:

- Their durability and resistance to natural disasters such as earthquake, typhoons, and fire.
- A natural design in harmony with the wooden construction (metal fittings are not visible on surface once incorporated to the structure).
- Cost effective since using less material.
- Simple installation.

Washer example
The material and technology used for the washers increases their resistance to deterioration from earthquake. Their installation is simple; just insert the washer into the bolt and fix it with a nut. Re-tightening is not required at all, reducing the burden of maintenance compared to the conventional one and it also prevents bolt dropout, which is quite innovative. This is the only washer in the world, patented in Japan, US, China and other countries.
In an axial force test, they loosened washers 4mm after tightened them hard, axial force of commonly used washers with spring is zero, but their washer axial force is 2.6KN still.
In a vibration test (based on NAS3350), 3 out of 4 objects under the test suffered no loosening and 1 out of 4 loosed but the washer itself was not loosened. The washer only requires light tightening torque of 20N-M compared to standard tightening torque of 75N-M.

Pin system example
Another example is the company special “pin system”, an in-house developed construction method, that brought the Japanese traditional method called “conventional post and beam structural system” one step forward. Keeping their special pins inside the pillars and beams, not only provides an increased seismic resistance but also avoids altering the natural beauty of the wooden architectures. Furthermore, it has an excellent fireproof property and better air-tightness compared to other construction methods. It also offers less problems on looseness, since it does not use bolts or nuts, and drawing or tightening torque controls are easier to do.

Sustainable Development Goals

Goal 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure

Partner Sought

Expected Role of a Partner

The company is looking for partners acting as distributors who can carry stock and sell their hardware and building component products.

Distributors are required to have good relations with builders of houses or wooden structures. A plus will be partners having strong connections with wooden playground equipment manufacturers, potentially widening the targets of end-users.

Type and Size of Partner