This is a two-year project involving the manufacturing of player benches for the Soccer World Cup. We collaborated with the client and consulting company and received an integrated order for design, parts procurement, and export operation, leaving our company’s mark on the big stage.
Project Overview
A major project for delivering Japanese products to Brazil in South America. We received one-stop orders for design, manufacturing, export, and on-site assembly.
- Proposal for designs
The UACJ Group was responsible for the design of this product, which was made of stainless steel, iron, and FRP with aluminum hardly used. In order to realize this unique manufacturing, we mobilized the entire network of our partner companies, selected suppliers and processing technologies, and kicked off the project. - Basic design
We repeated the process of mock-up production → review by customers and designers → design change, multiple times to complete a product. - Presented the finished product and delivered it to Brazil
Completion ceremony and export start ceremony held in front of Tokyo Station
Export from Tokyo Bay to Brazil, South America (approximately four-month voyage) - On-site assembly guidance at individual venues
We traveled to Brazil, covering five sites, to provide assembly guidance to local workers. To ensure smooth communication, we prepared the assembly diagram using storyboards and photographs to ensure accurate replication of specifications.
Challenges
Customer challenges
- This event attracts global attention, making high design quality essential while also requiring a simplified structure that can be assembled quickly on-site.
Our challenges
- An advanced design that balanced design quality and ease of assembly was required.
- Since products were exported from Japan, it was necessary to consider export restrictions (such as parts that could be split to fit into containers), and because the schedule was tight, damage of the product during sea transportation could be fatal, so it was necessary to have a detailed discussion with freight forwarders and to design a product with maximum consideration for transportation.
- Based on the above, numerous product mockups and frequent design changes were expected, and strict schedule management was required to make the products in time for the games.
Results
- As the first step, we delivered the custom-made bench for the Confederation Cup, held the year before the World Cup, and earned a high evaluation in terms of technology and schedule management, which led to an official order for the main event.
- Although the project spanned more than two years from the first step to the main event, we succeeded in promoting our comprehensive capabilities in networking, logistics, project
Because of Our Company
Procurement network – Aluminum is merely one of options
As a member of the UACJ Group, we possess strengths in aluminum-related products, but we are developing a wide network on a daily basis without sticking to that advantage. This product is composed of non-aluminum materials, such as iron, stainless steel, molded rubber, resin, special screws, bolts, and glass, so we had to find parts manufacturers and processing factories for some materials, but we completed the procurement of all materials in time by taking full advantage of our network. By utilizing such procurement capacity, our company will brush up our business.
Management and additional value – Connecting all the pieces and shaping them to achieve objectives
In this project, we needed to not merely procure materials and parts, but also execute a series of tasks, including design, production, export, and supervision over assembly in the foreign country without falling behind the tight schedule. We had to make coordination with clients and designers and review the logistics plan for finished products in the hectic schedule, but we were successfully able to deliver products to Brazil in South America, on the other side of the globe, verifying the meaning of existence of our company in project management.
