As the skills and techniques of the previous generations are passed on, the industry continues to evolve.

The 1st floor sign is an acrylic board with holes drilled into it, which were embedded with cut metal. The finished product is so precise, you can’t even see the seams between the metal and the acrylic board itself.

This piece was produced by Shinano Sangyo, which specializes in plastic cutting. They have gained a reputation for their elaborate machining, and often receive requests from University research labs and Business Research and Development labs for assistance in creating their prototypes.

The president of the company, Mr. Furusawa, is 30 years old and employs many female employees.

The light-weight resin treatments don’t require a lot of physical labor and the attentive nature of women is well-suited for this kind of work. They also manage to keep the factory tidy and in order which is also a merit.

Furusawa actively works to continue to improve their technique, and showed us several prototypes that can perform extremely accurate drilling techniques.

The machine tools they use to cut the metal and the resin are the same, but different materials require a different skill set to maneuver. Over the years, they have continued a process of trial and error and gathered data, which they have implemented in their current processing techniques. This data has continued to accumulate over the years and their predecessors’ knowledge has now become their strength.

In recent years, the role of factories has shifted and they are being asked to make more prototypes and more elaborate products.

Within this shifting environment, Shinano Sangyo, with their accurate machining, will continue to produce for years to come.

Ōta-ku, which had its golden age following the war, is taking the lessons it learned from its predecessors into the next phase of its life.