Keyence

Japanese companies have always had a flair of mystery surrounding them. Perhaps this is a cultural thing of certain seclusion from the rest of the world, or a result of a language barrier as English is not so widespread in the country of the Rising Sun. But world needs to know its heroes, regardless of their origin, and Keyence is one of them.

Founded by a young entrepreneur without a university degree Takizaki Takemitsu, who is now occupying second place in Forbe’s Japan’s 50 Richest List, Keyence’s key goal and vision is to help companies from variety of industries to embrace factory automation and reap vast benefits it can provide.

Rumors has it that there is a peculiar corporate joke circling around that goes like this: “What is the fastest animal in Japan? A Keyence sales rep”. But for Keyence this is no joke as its direct sales force is at the very core of company’s success. By working with buyers instead of channel partners and distributors, Keyence gets to know the end customers very well, and this information, enhanced by data analytics for trends spotting, translates into strong relationship and allows company to win orders more effectively than competitors. Add to that lean supply chain and manufacturing – company outsources all of the production- and it results into efficient lead times and same day shipping.

Company’s approach to innovation and product creation is also uncommon – instead of coming up with something that customer wants, Keyence develops products that customer has not thought of yet. As a result, 70% of its new products are World’s First or Industry’s First. Needless to say, that such strong market positioning results in superior growth and margin profile versus peers, making Keyence a valuable Top quality holding as of December 2023.