Japan: Tokyo auto parts maker diversifies risk with urban farming experiment
With the automotive industry rapidly shifting toward electric vehicles, a manufacturer of truck components has entered the field of urban agriculture.
By Japan News
May 28, 2022
Excerpt:
Otsuka Tekko company started producing vegetables indoors with artificial light in an effort to diversify its business, as the outlook for the manufacturing side of the firm is becoming increasingly uncertain.
The company has been growing lettuce and basil on multi-tiered shelves lit by LED lighting in an experimental cultivation space. By changing room temperature, humidity and light intensity, the firm is trying to find the ideal method to cultivate the best-tasting vegetables.
“Vegetable cultivation has a lot in common with manufacturing,” said Otsuka Tekko president Akihiro Otsuka. Founded in 1939, the company manufactures iron parts and components used in trucks and construction machines.
Truck parts, mainly engine-related components such as transmissions, account for 70% of the company’s sales. But with major automakers ramping up production of EVs amid a push for decarbonization, the company is concerned that orders could eventually evaporate.
Otsuka, 39, began exploring opportunities in other industries about two years ago. “There’s no way of knowing when a major shift will occur in an industry. You could be wiped out suddenly if you just go with the flow.”
