Kato (OTC) We don’t have any overseas bases, so for decades we’ve relied entirely on Sumitomo Corporation for our international sales. In the past, many U.S. titanium manufacturers (manufacturers that melt titanium sponge and process it into titanium mill products) produced their own titanium sponge in-house. However, around 1993, a shift began toward sourcing titanium sponge externally, which greatly expanded our export volume. We were able to respond to that shift because of the strengths we built together with Sumitomo Corporation: quality competitiveness, ability to maintain stable supply, cost competitiveness and strong relationships of trust with customers. Thanks to this partnership, our annual production capacity has grown from about 300 tons at founding to 40,000 tons today. OTC’s export business would never have grown this far without Sumitomo Corporation’s support.
Kudo (Sumitomo Corporation) While OTC has focused on stable, high-quality production, the Sumitomo Corporation Group has consistently handled OTC’s exports, mainly to North America. Our overseas offices are our points of contact with customers, negotiating deals and managing everything from export logistics to on-site sales. Since 2018, trading operations have been transferred to Sumisho Metalex, our group company specialized in trading. Meanwhile, Sumitomo Corporation’s overseas offices still serve as local contact points, communicating with customers and partners across Europe, the U.S., East Asia and ASEAN. Sumitomo Corporation itself participates in strategy discussions and provides higher-level support as the supervision organization.
AloJapan.com