OSAKA: There is growing momentum in Osaka and nearby areas for factory tours open to the general public, ahead of the 2025 World Exposition in the biggest city in the Kansai western Japan region.

The so-called open factory initiatives are viewed as opportunities for Kansai, home to many small manufacturers, to promote its advanced technologies around the country and abroad.

There are also efforts to showcase makers’ technologies at the Osaka Expo and draw foreign visitors to factories.

In late October, Sanwa Gear Co. accepted seven applicants for a tour of its main factory in Osaka’s Miyakojima Ward.

During the tour, an employee used a hammer to make adjustments manually to a gear cut out with a lathe, explaining that “not everything can be done by machine.” The demonstration met with awe from the visitors.

The tour was part of “FactorISM,” an event featuring factory tours, hands-on manufacturing experiences, talk events with speakers from different areas and industries and other activities.

It is the largest event of its kind in Kansai. This year’s edition brought together 83 small businesses mainly from 10 cities in Osaka Prefecture.

There are proposals to present FactorISM as a “satellite venue” of the Osaka Expo. There were similar programs in 14 places in Kansai in autumn, and the number is growing.

Plans are being drawn up to highlight local manufacturers at the Osaka Expo venue as well.

The city of Yao, Osaka Prefecture, is participating in the Osaka Healthcare Pavilion of the Expo, to be set up by the Osaka prefectural and city governments.

As the only local government holding an exhibition in the pavilion, Yao plans to present a weeklong exhibit themed on open factory, showcasing technologies and ideas from 13 companies in different sectors such as metal processing and rubber manufacturing.

“The co-creation process (involving the companies) itself is significant,” a Yao official said of the plan. “We want to create something that is not temporary.”

The industry ministry’s Kansai Bureau of Economy, Trade and Industry views the open factory initiatives as a key way to spread the spillover benefits of the Osaka Expo.

It is working with local governments in Kansai to plan events such as tours to attract business customers to factories during the half-year Expo period.

“Innovation will be created through new encounters,” said Kazushige Nobutani, director-general of the Kansai bureau.

JIJI Press