Nihon Kolmar Changes Company Name to TOA

Cosmetics ODM/OEM Nihon Kolmar (headquartered in Osaka City) will change its company name to TOA Corporation on June 1. The company will also move its headquarters to a new location.

　President Yoshihide Kanzaki says, "We want to make a fresh start and make a fresh start for the next 100 years. (The following is a summary of President Kanzaki's thoughts on the new company name and future outlook.

The new company name "TOA" is an acronym for Total Outsourcing Access, which is also the alphabetized form of TOA, a previous affiliate of the Company. The company is also the alphabetical name of TOA, which had been an affiliate of the Company before.

　In the midst of major changes in the environment, such as intensifying competition in the cosmetics industry, expansion of the contract manufacturing industry, and a shift to management that takes into consideration all stakeholders, we have incorporated "Total Outsourcing" to express our desire to respond in a comprehensive manner to more diverse outsourcing, including the development and manufacture of products that contribute to sustainable management for our customers. Total Outsourcing" is the name we have chosen for our business. And Access expresses our desire to be a company that can always be accessed with confidence and trust, not only in terms of the types and quality of products we can provide, but also in terms of governance and our attitude of respect for our employees. Furthermore, the bright sound of "Toa" expresses our desire to step up vigorously into the next generation.

　Our company was founded in 1912 as Kinryoen. We are told that the name was derived from the brand name of the sacred sake of Konpira Shrine in Kagawa Prefecture, the birthplace of the founder. At first, the company developed its business under its own brand, but the factory was destroyed by fire in an air raid in Osaka at the end of World War II. In starting over from scratch after the war, the company made the decision to specialize in contract manufacturing of cosmetics. In 1968, about half a century after its founding, the company entered into a technical cooperation agreement with Kolmar Laboratories Inc. of the U.S. ("Kolmar"), which introduced the company to technology and customers.

　Around the latter half of the 1980s, the scale of our business became comparable to that of Kolmar in terms of sales, and we ourselves became competent enough to terminate the existing technical alliance around the year 2000. At the same time, we strengthened our development, production, and quality capabilities, respectively. By thoroughly implementing a decentralized approach that does not bias customers, product categories, sales channels, or production bases, the company has built a unique ODM service that can handle everything from product planning and development to production on a one-stop basis.

　These efforts have borne fruit, achieving 19 consecutive years of revenue growth through the previous fiscal year (FY3/2023), and the company is almost certain to achieve 20 consecutive years of revenue growth through the current fiscal year (FY3/2024).

　Now that we have advanced to a new stage as a company, we wondered whether we should keep the name of our company, which is named after our former business partner. The desire to change the company name has grown stronger over the years, but there was one problem.

　In the OEM/ODM business, there are a considerable number of products that have our company name on the container or box as the manufacturer and distributor. If we were to make a change, it would cause a great deal of inconvenience to our customers. For this reason, we had been reluctant to take the plunge, but the building in which our head office is located was being reconstructed, and the head office was to be relocated and its address changed. The decision to change the company name was therefore made to coincide with this timing.

Change what needs to be changed and protect what needs to be protected