The mission of the Group is to provide a stable supply of medical supplies such as medical gloves and surgical masks. In 2019, the Group changed its in-house development system for medical materials, and since 2019 has been promoting development and sales under the unified name of ASOURCE SELECT ® SELECT. The on-site conductor talked about the development intentions and features.
*The interview was conducted in August 2020.
President and CEO Medius Holdings Co., Ltd.
Director and Managing Executive Officer
General Manager of Corporate Headquarters
marketing
Communication Headquarters
Planning and Marketing Manager
It's been almost two years since Nishikawa ASOURCE SELECT started selling in earnest. Looking at the number of items handled, sales, and gross profit, we have grown significantly since the first year, and the response at each operating company has been excellent. "ASOURCE SELECT has the same quality as the manufacturer's products, and the fact that there are few defective products and the price is kept down has led to repeat customers." We are actively promoting sales.” The advantage of our own brand is that young employees can use it as a "door knocker" for customers.
Ikeya By strengthening the PB strategy and establishing a unique manufacturing route, we were able to secure a certain amount of supply amid the shortage of medical materials due to the spread of COVID-19 infection.
Ikeya I remember that the first PB product was a tongue depressor. Shortly after becoming a holding company, Kyowa and Kurihara put together what they had sold independently. One of the reasons why we started to strengthen the PB business from around 2018 is to make products that are cheaper and can be directly maintained and managed with high quality. Convenience store PBs are also becoming higher quality, so I thought that not only cheap but also high quality is indispensable for future PBs. Another thing is that the medical device industry at that time had different rules for each prefecture, and there were restrictions such as things that could be sold in Tokyo could not be sold in other prefectures. I also aimed to make it.
Miyaji: At first, I was worried about the impact on the relationship with our business partners, but there was also the expectation that if we could make really good products, make achievements, and meet the needs of our customers, we would be able to contribute to medical care. In addition, since the Group is proposing total medical efficiency improvement from both aspects of medical materials and their management solutions, it is also a fact that the aim was to improve the profit margin of our company by converting medical materials to PB. is.
Miyaji In order to promote PB development smoothly, we first changed the existing in-house organization. In order to gather the needs of each operating company, we regularly hold a sales promotion committee that includes the sales manager who has the authority to make decisions for each company, and by making strategies, contracting with purchasing manufacturers, sharing information, etc. Commercialization has been dramatically speeded up. Among them, we put particular emphasis on package design and concept creation.
In the early days of Nishikawa PB, the colors of the logos printed on the cardboard boxes varied, and even the names of the employees differed. There were also voices from within the company saying that this would not be loved by customers, so we asked for a name. The concepts of "on-site ideas," "reliable quality," and "cost-saving" gradually took shape while listening to the opinions of the on-site workers. The "α" mark of "ASOURCE", which indicates the MEDIUS Group's own brand, was designed and developed with the image of a magnifying glass looking for good products.
Miyaji: It is reasonable to say that spending money on package design is not a good idea, but many of the nurses who use our products are women, and some use them because they are cute in their hands. I want to create something with a good design that can also be used by consumers. I think that the fact that members with such a way of thinking were present in the sales promotion meeting was the source of ASOURCE SELECT.
A package with enhanced design to differentiate it from other companies' products
Nishikawa Regarding what to commercialize, there are many products that are not profitable based on customer feedback obtained through daily sales, questionnaires to sales employees, and new product information at academic societies and exhibitions. We will select products that have a mixture of suppliers and have problems with sales efficiency. While conducting sales performance and market analysis, we also negotiate prices with an emphasis on quality for manufacturers. After discussions with the Sales Promotion Committee, we consider whether the Group's sales are easy to sell, differentiate from other companies, improve sales efficiency, and determine profitability. At the Sales Promotion Committee, the sales manager of each company and the sales promotion department manager judge at the same time, so it is easy to convey the intention to the manufacturer. Recently, in order to place large orders for the purpose of stable supply and cost reduction to medical sites where PPE is insufficient, we frequently share information with the managers of the logistics departments of each company.
Miyaji Before 2018, when we started strengthening our PB business, there were many niche products with few competing manufacturers, but we would like to continue to consider various categories of PB products in the future. In particular, at PPE, where shortages and price volatility continue, we would like to aim for stable prices and stable supply so as not to cause any further inconvenience to the medical field.
Due to cost issues, we sometimes outsource manufacturing plants for Nishikawa ASOURCE SELECT products overseas, but when selecting a factory, we always send several people directly from Japan to verify every corner and negotiate with the management. We use our unique check sheet to check whether you have licenses and patents such as ISO, whether you are working on 5S in your workplace, whether you have a quality assurance system in place, how the management thinks, how employees are treated, etc. Judging. We also place importance on having a track record of dealing with Japanese companies and understanding the quality demanded by the Japanese market and the industry situation. Another evaluation item is whether the factory is environmentally friendly. In order to ensure "reliable quality", we have established an inspection management system to ensure completeness, including factory audits, pre-shipment inspections, and thorough management during domestic distribution.
Select a factory that can achieve "safe quality" by setting its own strict standards
Nishikawa: In the actual situation at the site, I feel that there is a strong demand for cost reduction. In order to achieve this, it is necessary to build a distribution system that makes it easy to place orders even for products with a small number of orders in rural areas. We also believe that it is necessary to strengthen the system to ensure a stable supply even in the event of an emergency such as an infectious disease outbreak.
Miyaji: The sales results are still in the future, but now we are constantly increasing the number of products. In the future, we would like to expand the product category and work on the development of the equipment field, and at the same time, we will promote the expansion of logistics to keep prices down, and we would like to grow into a better PB.
