Illustrator Hiroki Tsuboi visits Sumitomo Group
Packaging Innovation Center (PIC), Sumitomo Bakelite Co., Ltd.

Sumitomo Bakelite Co., Ltd. has top market shares for several film products. But COVID-19 compelled it to find a way of curbing face-to-face encounters without compromising the quality of customer relationships. The company swiftly switched to a hybrid approach combining in-person and online encounters with customers.

Whether you join us in person or online, you are assured of a warm welcome and attentive service.

In the lab for pharmaceutical products packaging, you will find tablet packaging machines identical to those
at customers' plants. So, if a problem occurs on a customer's production line, technicians can expedite the
search for a definitive solution by recreating the same environment in the lab.

By leveraging the Films & Sheets Research Laboratory's core blending and multilayering technologies, the company's products have earned the allegiance of users across a swathe of industries ranging from pharmaceuticals and foods to semiconductors.

Our destination is Sumitomo Bakelite Co., Ltd. “Bakelite” in the company name goes back to the early days of plastics, referring to phenolic resin developed by Dr. Leo H. Baekeland in the U.S. in 1907. I was fascinated to learn that Sumitomo Bakelite Co., Ltd. was the very first company in Japan to produce plastics. Currently, the company has three businesses: Quality of Life Products including packaging materials for pharmaceuticals, foods and medical devices; Semiconductor Materials including epoxy resin molding compounds for encapsulation of semiconductor devices; and High-performance Plastics including phenolic resins for industrial use, such as those for friction materials for automotive components. Each business accounts for about one-third of the company's revenue.

We visited the company's Amagasaki Plant, having heard about the Films and Sheets Division's Packaging Innovation Center (PIC) that opened there in November 2021. The PIC is renowned for its successful use of online communication in doing business, a capability it rapidly developed as the COVID-19 pandemic made it desirable to curb face-to-face encounters.

The PIC is part of the Films & Sheets Research Laboratory, the R&D unit for packaging materials for pharmaceuticals and foods, cover tapes and dicing tapes for industrial processes, mold release films, and so on. The company has an astonishing 70% market share in Japan for press-through packaging (PTP) materials for pharmaceuticals such as tablets and capsules. It also has the top market share in Japan for films designed to preserve the freshness of vegetables. Moreover, it has the top share worldwide for cover tapes used for packing semiconductors and electronic components. Amazing!

Why are the company and its products such firm favorites around the world? Mr. Ken Takeuchi of the Films & Sheets Research Laboratory says, “I think customers select us because of our meticulous technological support. We have been putting ourselves in customers' shoes and emphasizing a face-to-face approach for product development and resolution of their issues.”

The lab's efforts are certainly painstaking. They use numerous illustrations at the initial development phase so that the customer can grasp what the product to be developed will really be like. And for prototyping, a production facility is set up in the lab using equipment identical to that of the customer. The lab also encourages customers to visit and hosts private seminars so they can immerse themselves in the development process. Through this scrupulous approach, the company has earned the trust of customers while helping them expedite their business development.

But ever since the COVID-19 pandemic raised its ugly head in 2020, the company has been compelled to find ways of demonstrating its capabilities while dramatically reducing reliance on face-to-face communication. “So, we opted for a hybrid approach combining the best of face-to-face and online communication, taking full advantage of the PIC. Customers who cannot visit us in person can still visit and view our R&D workplaces via livestreaming that achieves a palpable realism. For instance, we are holding live demonstration webinars. Customers ask questions in real time and we operate equipment in accordance with their requests during these webinars.”

A winning combination of face-to-face and online encounters has broadened and deepened our relationships with customers. You turned adversity into opportunity!

Mr. Shingo Yoshida of the Films & Sheets Research Laboratory was our guide for the PIC.

The first floor of the PIC has two prototyping and evaluation labs: one for pharmaceutical products packaging materials for PTP and the other devoted to food packaging films. This is a great improvement on the setup prior to inauguration of the PIC since R&D of pharmaceutical products packaging materials and of food packaging films used to be done in the same lab, which was inconvenient because it was not possible to have customers from the pharmaceutical and food industries in the lab at the same time. In the PIC with its two zones, this is no longer an issue. Moreover, the layout is optimized for livestreaming.

Packaging Innovation Center
(PIC)

Compared with the Films & Sheets Research Laboratory's previous facilities, the Packaging Innovation Center takes everything to a new, higher level.
The PIC consists of the Packaging Lab on the first floor, consisting of the entrance, molding room and quality assurance zone; the evaluation zone on the second floor; and the Innovation Room on the third floor, comprising the studio & conference zone.

In each lab, machines are installed with sufficient space between them to facilitate shooting video. The Innovation Room on the third floor has a studio for livestreaming.

In the food packaging lab, I was shown skin packaging, which is a focus of attention nowadays. Like a skin, the special film sticks to a cut of meat in an instant. This vacuum packaging prevents drips and helps keep food fresh much longer.

Can evaluation be performed anywhere?

Wow! The film perfectly fits the shape of this cut of meat! Skin packaging not only keeps food fresh longer…

Wow! The film perfectly fits the shape of this cut of meat! Skin packaging not only keeps food fresh longer… It also enhances the umami savory taste resulting from aging of meat. We also evaluate the umami components.

It also enhances the umami savory taste resulting from aging of meat. We also evaluate the umami components.

Will it really get tastier? I'm so hungry. Let me evaluate it! You can count on us!

Our skin packaging perfectly fits the cut of meat. Our skin packaging perfectly fits the cut of meat. I'll get some for dinner on my way home!

In the pharmaceutical products packaging lab, I saw a tablet packaging machine put through its paces. It's the same as those used at pharmaceutical plants. What impressed me most was the extraordinary attention to detail to ensure a tablet can be released from the packaging by applying “just the right force” that comes naturally to us humans.

In the second-floor labs for films used in the semiconductor industry, I saw how liquids spread on films and watched as technicians performed measurements to ascertain the degree of force required to rupture a film. In the lab for cover tapes, the propensity of a film to become stuck in a taping machine is evaluated. Cameras are mounted on these machines so customers can watch the experiments online.

In the lab for films for semiconductor manufacturing process applications, the performance of adhesive tapes used to hold silicon wafers is evaluated. The Innovation Room on the third floor has a studio for livestreaming as well as a space for face-to-face meetings with customers.

For example, a two-day private seminar held online in December 2021 had 390 participants from 65 companies. Thanks to livestreaming, people around the world were able to immerse themselves in the atmosphere of the PIC and develop a rapport with researchers while deepening their relationship with Sumitomo Bakelite Co., Ltd. I feel the PIC is destined to flourish as a maestro of hybrid communication even when the COVID-19 pandemic is just a bad memory.

Editor's note

The Packaging Innovation Center (PIC) is the maestro of hybrid communication! Instead of depending on professional services, the people at the PIC have themselves become outstanding professionals, doing everything from on-site reporting and shooting video to multimedia production. The results are impressive. They created the main studio by themselves and mastered all the skills necessary for livestreaming. Their dedication and expertise is powerfully conveyed to customers, cultivating fruitful relationships rooted in trust. Watching a video of an online demonstration, we were struck by its attributes: succinct, informative, persuasive, and professional. In a world awash with new media, the visit to the PIC was an eye-opener, highlighting how essential it is to upskill for the new era on one’s own initiative.