CREATE STORY
“Create something new”
This is a belief that will be
carried on forever.
The first generation of the company expanded its creative wings from manufacturing
toothbrushes and paved the way for planning and development.
We have inherited the will of the first generation, and have continued our original management philosophy of
“Oral Care Products Specialist Proposals.”
The following is a brief history of the company CREATE.
CREATE STORY
～1980
Story of how Create was established
In the early Showa period (1926-1989), Toshifumi, the second son of Yasukichi Taniguchi, who founded a
toothbrush factory, was involved in the management of the company as a senior managing director along
with his brother who was the president.
It seems that Toshifumi was born with a natural aptitude for sales. He was seconded to Company T, one
of the main OEM customers, and his aggressive sales activities were recognized, and he was well
remembered by the Chairman of Company T and his wife.
At that time, he received a request to develop an original product from a major convenience store,
which had less than 100 stores. His older brother was fiercely opposed to the idea, considering the
relationship with Company T. However, Toshifumi insisted.
However, Toshifumi said, "I really want to develop products. Even if I have to go independent, I want
to work freely and with an idea that no one else had thought of at the time, he founded Create
Corporation near Kintetsu Yao Station in Osaka.
It was 1980.
Yasukichi and Toshifumi (the founder of CREATE)
CREATE STORY
1980
Three clean, individually wrapped
toothbrushes for customers.
Toshifumi, the founder of Create, developed the "Clean Individual Pack of 3 Toothbrushes for
Customers", which could be purchased at convenience stores.
In the early days of the company, his
wife Yoshie also helped with the office work and protected the company together.
The company's building was so old that it could collapse at the slightest tremor, it was a small
company that literally “on the verge of collapse”. And there were some troubles between chairman and
managing director, sales dropped dramatically.
But Toshifumi endured it quietly. By specializing in product planning and sales, Create was able to
increase sales even with a small number of employees, and survived the tough times. This business
model, and the strong desire to maintain it even in difficult times, which can be called the
philosophy of Toshifumi has been inherited by today’s Create.
In 2001, the company launched " floss picks " as its own product. It has become a long-selling
product.
In the same year, "Minus Ion Health Declaration", a product that emitted negative ions
from the tips of the filament while brushing, which won the buzzword of the year, was developed as a
private brand for major supermarkets and convenience stores, and became a big hit.
In this way, Create has steadily left its mark on the oral care products industry.
Long seller “Floss pick”,which is launched in 2001
CREATE STORY
2003
Second generation・Yoshinori joined the company to develop the drugstore market
It was 2003 that Toshifumi's eldest son, Yoshinori, who had gone to college in Tokyo and was working in
the area, was asked to join Create.
At the time, it was a small company with annual sales of 200 million yen and only four employees,
including Yoshinori. The majority of the company's sales came from major convenience stores, which was
the reason for its founding. At that time, Create's corporate culture was "just enough to eat," and
there was no ambition to grow the company.
However, there was a growing momentum in the market for PB development, especially among drugstores.
Therefore, Yoshinori began to cultivate the drugstore market, which he had not touched before. He
devoted himself to a wide range of work, including sales, purchasing, and product development for major
drugstores and other retailers and wholesalers. It was not all smooth sailing for the company, as they
were scorned as a "third-rate manufacturer" due to their low annual sales, had bad publicity from other
companies in the industry, and had all their products removed from the sales floor due to suspicion of
patent infringement.
However, the waves of the times were on Create's side, and the company's performance continued to rise,
thanks to its strength as a specialist in the planning and development of oral care products and its
high-quality, low-priced products.
A Synonym for Create-Dentfine series
In the meantime, Yoshinori had begun to think about creating his own brand that would be second to none.
This coincided with the time when his employees were asked by distributors to create products that could
be sold to various retailers. They went to overseas exhibitions to look for new cooperating factories,
and made factory visits to companies that they thought would be a good place to start development. Based
on Yoshinori's sketches and CAD drawings, a wooden mold was used for production, and a new toothbrush
was born.
When Yoshinori was on the road with his employees, he was thinking of a name for the new product, and
"Dentfine" suddenly came to mind. Yoshinori decided on "Dentfine" because of its clear and bright feel,
and this brand became a series of products and became synonymous with Create.
Yoshinori has a memory that he still cannot forget.
A couple of years after joining the company, he
received a call from the manager of a major chain store. A child in the sixth grade had chewed on the
head of a toothbrush and it had broken. Fortunately, he was not injured, but his mother was upset and
brought the damaged product to the store. The product disappeared from the sales floor of the chain
store within the day.
The next day, Yoshinori went to the store to apologize and was able to meet with the mother. After
apologizing and promising to ensure quality control, he explained that the child must have chewed the
product with a very strong force. The mother then told me that the child was a student taking an
entrance exam and seemed to be under a lot of stress. When he asked for more details, he found out that
a famous private junior high school in the Kansai region, where he was planning to take the entrance
exam, happened to be affiliated with the high school where Yoshinori was from. From there, the mother
opened up and Yoshinori told her various information about the school. After talking about something
else apart from the products, she finally accompanied him to the store and said, "There is no problem
with the products. I'm convinced. "She said. In this way, the product was safely returned to the sales
floor, and Yoshinori was reminded of the importance of human relationships and being sincere to
customers.
CAD of the first Dentfine
Wooden mold
CREATE STORY
2013
New CREATE was born since Yoshinori was appointed as new president
Toshifumi, the founder of Create, had retired from the front line of sales since Yoshinori joined the
company and did not interfere in anything Yoshinori did. A system had been established in which Yoshinori
and the sales manager were in charge of sales and products, and the senior managing director was in charge
of accounting, with the president's approval. This was probably done on purpose in order to help the
employees grow. During the time when the company had more money to spare due to the foreign exchange
benefits, he was enthusiastically involved in the Rotary Club and started a business of rental housing for
the elderly.
However, Toshifumi, who had laughed and said to Yoshinori, "I'll hand over the presidency in five years,"
passed away suddenly in July 2013 due to a chronic illness. The fate of Create was now on Yoshinori's
shoulders.
At that time, the world situation was a headwind for Create. The yen, which had once appreciated to the level of 75 yen to the dollar, was now depreciating rapidly due to monetary easing. The company was left behind by this drastic change. When the yen was strong, some of the products whose unit prices had been lowered in response to requests from customers for a return on their profits ended up in the red. Yoshinori went to his customers many times to negotiate for a price increase, and crossed the ocean to negotiate for a price reduction with overseas suppliers, but somehow he was able to hold his ground. Around this time, the profits that had been growing were cut in half.
However, Yoshinori had begun to blaze a new trail. Even before he became president, he had been thinking of hiring Chinese nationals and developing business in China. He participated in an exhibition for the first time through the Shanghai agency of his Japanese subsidiary. After building up a network of contacts, the company started exporting overseas to China in 2015. The company's future looks bright, with an increase in OEM development projects due to the contract with the sole distributor.
The wide head is so comfortable to brush that it's attracting a lot of fans.
"Dental Prestige"
CREATE STORY
2020
Creating the future through a period of change in the industry.
In 2013, there was another big event for Create. A major 100-yen store asked us to manufacture rubber
interdental brushes, saying that they wanted to sell 15 brushes instead of the existing 12 in one
sheet.
The upfront investment, including the creation of a mold, would cost tens of millions of yen. However,
Yoshinori gave the go-ahead. The product is now packaged by the dozens as an OEM product for various
drugstores, and the series has become a hit with a total of 7 million sales.
In 2015, the company commercialized a candy-shaped toothbrush invented by Hideki Watanabe, a dentist
who was searching for production company on Tokyo's TV show “World Business Satellite”. After renewal,
the product was sold as "COBRUSH" and collaborated with the magazine "Biteki" as a beauty
toothbrush.
In 2017, in response to numerous reports of children being choked by toothbrushes in the slipping
accident, the company commercialized a toothbrush with a bendable neck. The product has become so
popular that distributors in China, Taiwan, and Korea have requested to do business with Create.
In addition, in 2019, the company purchased two tufting machines and installed them at partner
companies, giving partners priority in operation and improved production efficiency.
The company is also expanding its overseas export channels to China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Korea,
Vietnam, Thailand, and Mongolia.
Factory inspection in China
Crew gathered for oral care products knowledge learning
COBRUSH
With the recent mergers and acquisitions among drugstores, competition in the oral care products industry
has also intensified.
However, Create is in high spirits. The public is becoming more aware of the fact that oral health affects
the entire body, and there is still a lot of potential for oral care products in the future.As a company
that contributes to the health industry, Create will continue to create new products with a sense of
responsibility.