Kameyama Bead Company, Limited

Business activities

Production and sales of beads for tires

Total site area

62,457m2

Number of employees

158 (as of March 2025)

Location

820-6, Taiokadera-cho, Kameyama city, Mie 519-0168, JAPAN

Contact for consultation and complaints

Tel: +81-595-83-1102 Fax: +81-595-83-1082

Message from the President

Hirofumi Imamura

In January 2015, our company started a new path as a specialized manufacturer of bead wires for tires, wholly owned by Yokohama Rubber Co.
Our company is located in a corner of Meihan Kameyama-Seki Plant Complex in Kameyama City, known for Kameyama-juku and Seki-juku on the Tokaido-way.

We manufacture and sell bead wires, the main parts of tires, to Yokohama Rubber's tire production bases in Japan.
We hope to support Yokohama Tire by manufacturing safe, high-quality, and high-performance products using the advanced technology we have cultivated since our establishment.

With "Challenge, Fair, Open" as our action guideline, we are working every day to become a company where employees themselves act as parts manufacturers that maintain the quality of Yokohama Tire and continue to take on new challenges as one.

Organizational Governance

Management policy
  1. Create a corporate culture that greets employees, observes rules, and does not leave or allow abnormalities to occur.
  2. All employees have a sense of professionalism, identify waste individually, and work together to make improvements.
  3. Continuously provide reliability through comprehensive manufacturing capabilities specialized in beads.

Mid-term Policy

Action Guidelines

Challenge: Never be satisfied with the status quo, never give up, and take on challenges with faith.

Fair: Follow the rules, accept diverse work styles, and do what needs to be done.

Open ：Do not take matters into your own hands, share information among all employees, and cooperate with each other.

Compliance Policy

We distribute "Compliance Cards" to all employees to ensure that compliance is thoroughly implemented, and have set up a compliance consultation counter and suggestion boxes, aiming for organizational management with a high level of self-cleansing function.

Compliance Education

The Compliance Committee meets once a month and conducts compliance education to raise employee awareness.

Human Rights

Employment of People with Disabilities

The employment rate for people with disabilities in fiscal 2024 was 3.1% (statutory employment rate of 2.5%), maintaining a high level. We will continue to work to continue hiring people with disabilities and improving the workplace environment.

Diversity Promotion

Since 2020, we have held a luncheon for women working in the company on International Women's Day, March 8 every year to promote women's activities.

Labor Practices

Health and Safety Policy
  1. Prioritize safety and health above all else, and work to improve safety and health activities with the participation of all employees.
  2. Implement safety and health activities in an organized manner and practice continuous improvement by repeating the PDCA cycle.
  3. Promote the creation of a comfortable work environment where employees can work with peace of mind, and work to improve mental and physical health.
  4. Raise awareness of the importance of health and safety among workers and provide necessary education and training.

Priority safety issues

Deployment of safety model and promotion of reducing workload, development of BCP system and promotion of earthquake countermeasures

  1. Continue to achieve no accidents (lost time, lost workdays, traffic accidents, small fires)
  2. Create an easy-to-work-in workplace by developing a safety model, improving the workplace environment, and reducing workload
    ・Continuing safety activities based on three pillars: risk assessment, near-miss reporting, and open work observation.
    ・ Reviewing work methods to reduce physical strain.
    ・Designing equipment that eliminates the need to interact with hazards.

Case Studies in Safety Measure Improvements

Reel Stand Safety Measures (Before Measures)

Reel Stand Safety Measures (After Measures)

Opening the cover causes the machine to stop, but the rotating parts were exposed, posing a risk of entanglement.
As a countermeasure, we changed to a sliding cover that fully encloses the reel base.
This ensures electromagnetic locking during operation. Even after the lock releases following shutdown, the rotating parts remain completely covered.
As a result, the risk of entanglement has been reduced.

Health and safety activities

Safety and health committee meetings and safety patrols are held once a month to check for hazardous areas in the plant.
In addition, we strive to identify and eliminate risks that may lurk in daily operations by attending KYT classes outside the company, conducting risk assessment activities, and submitting near-miss reports, thereby creating a safe working environment.

Disaster Response

We focus on disaster drills such as in-house evacuation drills (twice a year, including one night drill) and safety confirmation drills using an app (four times a year).
We also participate in disaster drills in cooperation with Yokohama Rubber to identify problems and make improvements.

'25.10.15　 Evacuation drill

Recruitment Efforts

We primarily use job boards for our recruitment activities. In 2024, we hired 12 new employees.

Employee Education and Training

We provide education materials on compliance, environment, safety, and quality to all employees.
We also actively utilize external training programs, such as managers' training and KYT training, to promote employee education and training.

Creating a workplace where people can take on challenges

We encourage our employees to take on challenges without fear of failure, and we are working to improve even the smallest matters through our improvement proposal forms.

Promotion of Employee Health

Promotion of Diversity

The Environment

Environmental Policy
  1. To implement environmentally friendly measures in all of our activities in accordance with Yokohama Rubber's policies.
  2. Operate an environmental management system and continuously engage in environmental improvement activities.
  3. Promote energy-saving activities, resource conservation, and resource recycling to realize a carbon-neutral, recycling-oriented society.

Priority Environmental Issues

  1. Continuation of zero emissions
  2. Cost reduction by deploying 3R model
    ・Reduction of waste during changeover and improvement of rework/rework rate
    ・Improving the value purchase ratio by separating waste
  3. Horizontal expansion of proven energy-saving activities and consideration of adopting renewable energy such as solar power

Acquisition of ISO 14001 certification

We acquired ISO14001 certification in July 2020.
We aim to become an environmentally friendly company by increasing our sensitivity to environmental burdens and risks.

Initiatives for Environmental Issues

  1. We continue to achieve zero emissions by recycling all industrial waste.
  2. We are promoting recycling of waste by using rubber and wire separation equipment. We are working to reduce waste by strengthening 3R activities, such as reducing waste by welding wire ends to reduce product scrap.
  3. To reduce the use of organic solvents (rubber solvents), we have changed the bonding method for TBS filler splices from the spraying method to the heating method.　We are also studying the possibility of changing the treatment method for TBG insulation pretreatment, and have begun tests.
  4. Introduced intermittent operation control system for factory air conditioners to save energy.
  5. Last summer, we installed green curtains over the circulating water tank to save energy on the cooling system.
  6. We are installing solar control film on factory windows to improve air conditioning efficiency.
  7. We are installing insulation on extruders to reduce electricity consumption.
  8. As part of our efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, we are converting our forklifts to battery power (completion scheduled for April 2025).

Environmental data

Move the screen to the left or right to see the table information

Category FY2020 FY2021 FY2022 FY2023 FY2024
Waste disposed (t) 75 61 83 72 75
Proportion sent to landfill (%) 28.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
Water usage (m3) ― 8,132 9,328 8,914 8,893
Greenhouse gas emissions (1,000t-CO2) ― 3,337 3,677 3,688 3,144

Fair Operating Practices

We conclude basic transaction agreements with our business partners and establish fair relationships with them in compliance with laws and regulations.
Directors and employees also comply with laws, regulations, and internal rules, and strive to conduct proper corporate management and business operations.

Consumer Issues

Quality Policy
  1. Operate a quality management system and engage in continuous quality improvement activities.
  2. Aim for "zero leakage of abnormal quality products outside the company" through activities that get to the root cause and dig deeper into the facts.

Priority Quality Issues

Expansion of quality sensors and restructuring of the system for guaranteeing own process/preventing leakage outside the company.

  1. Establishment of processing conditions that prevent defects from occurring
    ・Analysis of true causes of abnormalities and establishment of (tentative) standards to prevent recurrence
  2. Further clarification of quality control items
    ・Early detection of abnormalities through constant monitoring and trend management
    ・Development and horizontal deployment of quality sensors
  3. Review of quality education system
    ・Expansion of competence certification system (quality dojo, inspector certification system)

Community Involvement and Development

Encourage participation in volunteer activities

We provide employees with opportunities to voluntarily contribute to society by establishing a new volunteer leave program.
We encourage employees to contribute to various social issues such as local welfare, environmental protection, and educational support.