Test production to begin this month at KOWA facility in Corbin

Kowa Kentucky executives Kimihiro Nakano and Kazushi Takahashi discuss plans for test production at the company’s facility in Corbin this month. The production plant is Kowa’s first North American presence.

A Japanese company, whose first North American presence is a manufacturing facility in Corbin, plans to roll out its first test products by the middle of this month, and is hoping to begin full-scale production by February of next year.

Kowa Kentucky, Inc. a subsidiary of Kowa Kogyosho Co., Ltd., specializes in surface treatment coatings for auto parts manufacturers. It’s production plant in Corbin, located in the Southeast Kentucky Regional Business Park, is nearing completion.

During an exclusive interview with the News Journal last week, Kimihiro Nakano, Vice President of Kowa Kentucky, said the company has been very happy so far with its decision to build a facility in the United States, and in Kentucky in particular.

“We really think we made a good choice and are fortunate to come to Kentucky,” Nakano said through a translator, Kazushi Takahashi, General Manager of Kowa Kentucky. “Kentucky was a perfect match for our business due to its location. We will be supplying Toyota and we have customers in Tennessee as well.”

Kowa is a leading provider of hot dip galvanized coating, various surface treatments of metal and metalworking. Its parent company, Kowa Kogyosho Company Ltd., is based in Nagoya, Japan.

Executives for the company say that the reason many auto parts makers and automobile companies are interested in Kowa’s process is because of the uniformity it provides it coating the inside of fuel delivery rods.

The process, called “electroless nickel plating,” use a strictly chemical reaction, as opposed to an electromagnetic reaction, to achieve its goal.

“Usually, when you do plating … you can only do the outside of the part, but getting the inside areas is hard because the reaction is very hot,” Takahashi explained. “What we do is only a chemical reaction, so as long as the solution and product touch each other, it causes a chemical reaction and that’s why one of the features of our plating is that you can do uniform thickness inside and out to meet the needs of the customers.”

Takahashi said the company could be as precise as .001 micrometers in thickness using its process.

The technology, Nakano said, was actually developed in America, but didn’t really catch on. It was imported in Japan and gained popularity as a way to coat copy machine rollers and shafts initially. Kowa then took the process to the laboratory and tested it rigorously only to discover it worked extremely well to line things like fuel delivery lines.

Kowa purchased a speculative building and 19.7 acres of surrounding property last August for $1.6 million in the Southeast Kentucky Business Park, just off the Corbin Bypass, in which to operate its new facility. Back home in Japan, Kowa Kogyosho consists of about 13 separate production facilities that employ 1,300 people.

Nakano, who was the “No. 2” man in the company’s electroless nickel-plating division, said the company has a philosophy of keeping its production facilities small, for reasons of manageability, and also to keep a more familial atmosphere.

“That’s one of the things, our founders are true believers in keeping the factory sizes small. We’ve always been saying in this world that we are a family,” Nakano said. “As a family, we want to keep an eye on each other and look after each other. When it comes to management, keeping your factory sizes small enables you to look after all of your employees and keep the factories stable.”

Nakano said Kowa is always looking for new opportunities. Initially, it plans to start at a cautious pace. The company plans to have 10 employees in place by February when full production begins. Long-range plans are to operate a larger facility with around 30 employees.

“There is a much larger market for plating in America, so once we get this production growing, it will be very nice to do some other types of plating,” Nakano said. “We could set up another production line. Kowa also has the capability to do some metalworking, so we could get into that. Maybe it will lead to a second factory in Kentucky or in another state in the U.S. We are always looking for opportunities to grow.”

Kowa is currently looking to hire an environmental specialist, a production supervisor and a production staff member. The job listings can be found on www.careerbuilder.com and in various newspaper advertisements.

“If there is anyone interested in our company, we are more than interested to meet those people,” Takahashi said. “We want to show them what we can contribute to them.”

Nakano said that he’s been pleasantly surprised at how kind and accommodating everyone in America has been since his arrival.

“I was very anxious at first. I thought that the people being so big and muscular … I thought it was a very scary place for me,” he said. “As it turned out, everyone is so nice. One thing that fascinated me is Americans are so kind and generous and aren’t so picky about things. They seem happy to help other people out.”

“If I would have known early on I would be coming here to work, I would have definitely worked on my English more,” he added with a laugh.

Bruce Carpenter, Economic Development Director for the City of Corbin, said Kowa officials have been extremely pleasant to work with, and he sees a bright future ahead for the city with Kowa as a corporate citizen.

“They are very conscious of the fact that they want to make a positive impact on the places where they do business, and you can see that from the minute you meet them,” Carpenter said. “I think Corbin and the surrounding area is really fortunate that a company like Kowa decided to locate here. They will be a blessing to our community.”