Vol.01 We Created a New Group Called “Metal One” Vol.01 We Created a New Group Called “Metal One”

Bolstering the Group’s overall strength is the key to the Metal One Group’s sustained growth. With that in mind, we held a roundtable discussion with Senior Executive Vice President Yoshihisa Miyamoto, who has oversight responsibility over all our business divisions: Executive Officer Takeo Nukui, who is also president and CEO of MM&KENZAI Corporation; and Metal One Sumisho Tubular Products Co., Ltd. President and CEO Tatsunori Kirihata. With the Metal One Group’s overall strength as the main topic, we asked them to discuss the Group’s strengths, issues and future outlook.

Understanding the Metal One Group’s
overall capabilities

We’d like to ask you about
the Metal One Group’s overall capabilities.
What do you think are
the Metal One Group’s overall strengths?

Yoshihisa Miyamoto speaking.

Miyamoto

When thinking about the Metal One Group’s overall strengths, I’d say the business foundation we possess is the most crucial thing. The credibility that both Mitsubishi Corporation and Nissho Iwai Corporation (now Sojitz Corporation) built up over many years before establishing Metal One in 2003 is the basis for this. We would be unable to demonstrate our capabilities and services without this credibility. The breadth of our footprint, with partnerships in all kinds of industries, is another great strength. The Metal One Group as a whole does business with tens of thousands of companies. Having a thorough grasp of the diversity of this huge customer base’s requirements, demonstrating the capabilities that markets and customers demand, and being able to propose solutions for issues are also great Metal One Group strengths. Naturally, global networks and intellectual property to support all this are indispensable elements of our overall capabilities.
Yoshihisa Miyamoto speaking.

Nukui

I believe the individual strengths each employee possesses are crucial, but what is essential after all is the extent of the strength we can demonstrate as a team. That’s what is essential when thinking about the Group’s overall strengths. Regarding the ability to present proposals to customers, as Mr. Miyamoto mentioned, I think our great versatility is another of the Metal One Group’s strengths. Not merely limited to trading, the diverse operations that can provide many different capabilities and services—including manufacturing, processing and distribution—sustain the Metal One Group’s overall capabilities. That diversity also includes diversity in human resources, of course. There are many employees with abundant expertise, experiences and talents in the Metal One Group. I believe that is the wellspring of our overall strength.

Kirihata

Exactly. The Metal One Group handles a wide range of things, from all sorts of steel products to scrap and processed items and parts. There are many specialists with expertise and experience in each of those sectors. That is not just on the business side, either. Our personnel in the administrative departments also perform highly specialized work, and they all have a strong sense of professionalism. In other words, the Metal One Group is a professional group of such outstanding, talented employees, and that is exactly the Metal One Group’s overall strength.

Every industry uses steel.
Our business
has broad footprints in all of them.

It has been twenty-one years since Metal One was established.
What do you feel when you look back to that time?

Tatsunori Kirihata speaking.

Miyamoto

General trading companies build businesses in all sorts of industries. Metal One was one among those as a spinoff formed from the steel products operations of two general trading companies. Businesses involving steel products have broad footprints and relations with various industries, since every industry uses steel. Which is to say that the Metal One Group partners with a wide range of industries, operating businesses both in Japan and throughout the world. We could not do it without comprehensive capabilities. Compared to when Metal One was founded twenty-one years ago, the times have been changing greatly in every aspect. Global issues—such as “green transformation” leading up to carbon neutrality, energy transitions, digital transformation, evolving mobility and geopolitical risks—have close connections with our businesses, and each of them has difficult issues to address. However, I believe that precisely because general trading companies formed Metal One’s backbone, we have overwhelming advantages when it comes to our abilities to gather data, plan and offer proposals compared to, for example, a manufacturer’s trading company.
Tatsunori Kirihata speaking.

Kirihata

As Mr. Miyamoto says, Metal One was established in 2003 through the merger of the steel products businesses of Mitsubishi and the old Nissho Iwai. Our history of integrating the cultures of these two companies and creating a new set of values over a long period is also a major strength that other companies lack. For example, Metal One Sumisho Tubular Products, where I am the president, was established through the merger of the domestic steel pipe businesses of the Sumitomo Corporation Group and Metal One. We had already experienced a partnership between different companies from the time of Metal One’s establishment. I feel that that experience is a big asset for Metal One.

Nukui

I think that making a completely new company name, “Metal One,” and creating a new brand has also been a big distinction. Naturally, Metal One inherited personnel, business rights, assets and many other things from both companies when we launched. At a time when other steel trading companies were also being reorganized, only Metal One tried to build a unique culture by coming up with a new company name.

Miyamoto

The company solicited suggestions from employees when deciding on the “Metal One” name. There was really something extraordinary in the thoughts and spirit behind it. Looking back on it, even now it stands as a great decision.

A group of professionals who possess
abundant expertise and experience

As the heads of Group companies,
what do you think about the Metal One Group’s overall capabilities?

Takao Nukui, Executive Officer and President of MM Kenzai Co., Ltd., speaking.

Nukui

I have much to learn from Metal One’s example, including such aspects as management expertise and governance arrangements, and the company might serve as a fine role model for other Group companies as well. I get a renewed sense in my current position that this is also one of the Metal One Group’s overall strengths. Additionally, talking about MM&KENZAI, I feel there is a lot of merit in being able to use the capabilities not just of Metal One, but also of the Mitsui Bussan Group. Ten years have elapsed since MM&KENZAI was launched, and I think that new Group capabilities are arising as we smoothly integrate the respective companies’ personnel and cultures and continue to grow.
Takao Nukui, Executive Officer and President of MM Kenzai Co., Ltd., speaking.

Kirihata

More than two decades have already passed since Metal One was established, and I feel that “Metal One-ism” has permeated Group companies. Being able to share a standardized philosophy within the Group is a big strength. Speaking about Metal One Sumisho Tubular Products, we naturally plan to establish a Metal One Sumisho Tubular Products style rather than a Metal One or Sumitomo style. The basis for that is the existing experience of establishing the new company, Metal One, twenty-one years ago, and avoiding both Mitsubishi style and Nissho Iwai style. I have a renewed sense from outside Metal One that that kind of distinctive idea is alive even now at Metal One.

Making a group in which we have
a real sense of contributing to society

We would like to conclude by asking you
for messages to all the Metal One Group’s employees.

Nukui

What society asks of companies changes with the times. We formerly prioritized maximizing shareholder profits under shareholder capitalism, but now there are calls to cater to various kinds of stakeholders. That’s why we have to think about all kinds of aspects such as compliance, human rights, the environment, and contributing to local communities. We will contribute to society within this context, properly responding to what society asks of the Metal One Group and with all employees striving to fulfill their individual roles. I’d like to ensure that we have a true sense of that in the Metal One Group.

Kirihata

If we can incorporate the Metal One Group’s philosophy into the company’s management itself or show the way that the Metal One Group does its work and its employees’ way of life to society, we might become a great corporate group. The industry has history and traditions, and precisely because there is a company that started with a great name, Metal One, I believe there are things that we can do. If we do, new ideas and businesses will arise that are completely different from other companies.

Miyamoto

First, employees should all thoroughly understand what the Metal One Group’s overall capabilities are. Next, they should confidently convey that determination and pride everywhere. That is vital. There are probably some young employees who wonder what the company will do to encourage their personal growth. However, your own career is something that you think about and create yourself. At the least, the Metal One Group offers enough opportunities and programs to support individual growth. How to make use of them is up to the individual. My belief is that no matter how the times change, it is the cumulative efforts of employees that will create the Metal One Group of the future. Finally, the Metal One Group’s real overall strength involves individual Group employees making full use of those overall capabilities, and demonstrating them to respond to the needs of industry and society, creating value. I think that individual employee’s power is our true overall strength.

Thank you very much for your time today.

Three speakers are smiling warmly and chatting pleasantly.

SPEAKER

  • Yoshihisa Miyamoto

    Senior Executive Vice President,
    Metal One Co., Ltd.

    Yoshihisa Miyamoto

  • Takeo Nukui

    President & CEO,
    MM&KENZAI
    Corporation

    Takeo Nukui

  • Tatsunori Kirihata

    President & CEO,
    Metal One Sumisho Tubular Products Co., Ltd.

    Tatsunori Kirihata