CONTENT BY THE WORLDFOLIO

Sticking to objectives: OSP targets
sustainable growth

Seal and label manufacturer Osaka Sealing Printing (OSP) is developing solutions that add value to its customers’
products, with a particular focus on creating packaging that not only enhances visual appeal but environmental
credentials, too.

“The value of thepackaging comes
down to several
characteristics suchas ease of use, ecofriendliness and clarityof information.”
Tadashi Matsuguchi,
President and CEO,OSP Group
As a company which holds one
third of the adhesive seal and label market in Japan, Osaka Sealing Printing (OSP) knows a thingor two about generating profitsand creating long-standing relationships with customers that– like its products – stick around.
“The secret of generating
p rof i t s a t
Osaka Sealing Printing(OSP)–
what we call
‘OSP magic’– is that we
review all
the business
opportunities that
don’t bringabout profits for us andmash them
together tocreate something profitable,”says Tadashi Matsuguchi, President and CEO of OSP Group. “Weare now getting 1.4 million orders
per year, or 6,000 orders per day,whereas originally the orders forsealing or labels were very small.

Mr. Matsuguchi uses theexample where a hypotheticalcustomer who makes a smallorder for 10 different types oflabels in three different colours,of three different shapes, using
different types of paper. “In
this situation, no profit can begenerated,” he says. “However,
if we receive 100 different orders, then we start having someorders that look very similar toeach other. Then if we receive
6,000 different orders, thenwe may be able to categorize
those orders by their colors orshapes. This is how we can turnmany small orders into a large
lot order. This is our so-called‘OSP Magic’, as it’s come to beknown in the industry.”
Beyond its sticker and label
business, OSP has four other main
business areas diversified acrosscarton packaging, film packaging,promotion tools, and machinery.
However, it is the stickers andlabels that provide most of thecompany’s commercial growthand is a field in which it is constantly developing new products
and innovative solutions. In recentyears, it has introduced its popular productline of ‘Clear
Thermal’ – atranslucent
packagingallowing consumers tosee the product contents– which has
been adopted by major
convenience
stores inJapan.
“By showing the contents, you
can enhance the appeal andthe safety of the product,” explains Mr. Matsuguchi. “Currently, we are also promoting
our Clear Thermal line overseas, and we plan to expand
it widely in the future.”

OSP’s plans for Clear Thermal
would appear to come at an opportune time, with the global
packaging industry set to continue to grow worldwide on accountof emerging economies demanding more consumer goods in thecoming years. With this growing
demand in mind, how does OSP
aim to reach these new markets?
When it comes to package value,
the OSP CEO highlights threecharacteristics that are constantwherever you go in the world:ease of use, eco-friendliness, andclarity of information.
“When those three characteristics are aligned, the ethicalvalue of the product and thecore value of the product itself,then customers are going tochoose your product,” he says.
“So, we would like to continueto work with brand owners todevelop more valuable products
like this, providing them withvalue-added packaging solutions that expand this activity
to the global market.”Unsurprisingly for the packaging industry, which has come increasingly under the microscopein regards to environmental impact, sustainability is a key areaof focus for OSP, which invests

substantially in R&D to create
more environmentally friendly
packaging solutions.
“When it comes to printing,every factory is looking for ways
to eliminate energy-wastingand environmentally burdensome production processes. Inconsideration of the impact on
the environment, we are now
transitioning to solvent inks towater-soluble ink. Of course, thefunctional quality is still maintained,” says Mr. Matsuguchi.
“Apart from those things, weare also focusing on the use ofplastics. Sometimes you needplastics from the performanceor functionality perspective,
but there are a lot of otherareas where we can replace
plastics with other materials,
so we are working on how toreplace film with paper. Our
new product line, ‘Paper Attention’, is one of them. It isa product that can appeal toethical customers.”

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