About us
Top Message
Half a century has passed since our company started its glass bead business.
We wish to express our sincere gratitude to all of our customers and everyone involved in discovering glass beads' value during this period.
Union Glass Industries, our company's predecessor, was established in Hirakata City, Osaka Prefecture, on February 17, 1960.
Initially, we were involved in manufacturing all types of bottles and containers for beverages, food, cosmetics, etc., and in bottle printing.
In 1965, five years after the company was established, it became the first in Japan to succeed in developing dark-colored plate glass for use in sunglasses, which were considered a luxury, and began producing colored glass. Consequently, business performance steadily increased amid strong economic growth.
Around this time, we encountered glass beads.
We introduced glass bead manufacturing technology from SWAROVSKI in Austria and, in 1971, began manufacturing glass beads for road-marking paint used for white road lines, crosswalks, etc. We have continued to do so for over 50 years. This continues to support our company and is currently our main product, accounting for approximately 70% of total production. Because it mainly uses glass cullet, a recycled raw material, "by turning glass that has already achieved its purpose into a sphere, we breathe life into it with infinite possibilities."
We are proud that, through our products' application in road markings, we contribute to society through traffic safety. A company that manufactures plate glass for bottles and sunglasses converts glass into spheres. It is no exaggeration to say that this has led to business innovation centered on establishing manufacturing technology.
In 1979, just seven years after our predecessors sought technology that would become the core of the next generation's business foundation and successfully commercialized glass beads, business performance was growing steadily. We withdrew from bottle manufacturing, which had been our main product, because many containers have been changed from heavy and easily broken glass bottles to cans and paper cartons. Again, we are grateful for our predecessors' ability to predict changes in the business environment.
Later, it became an Unitika Group member, and all employees, carrying on their predecessors' wishes, worked together to specialize in glass beads, increasing the number of glass compositions handled and developing glass beads for use in reflective materials and various industrial applications. We continue to put effort into establishing manufacturing technology, and we now send out a wide variety of glass bead products worldwide; thus, we can be called a comprehensive manufacturer.
We believe that changes in our glass bead manufacturing industry's business environment will continue to accelerate.
By continuing to respond to the needs of our customers and the market, we aim to become a company that can turn business environment changes into opportunities and allow employees and their families to dream of the future.
April 1, 2023
Hideaki Yamada
CEO of UNITIKA GLASS BEADS CO., LTD.
Company Profile
- Company Name
- UNITIKA GLASS BEADS CO., LTD.
- Established
- January 1985
- Incorporated
- April 2005
- Address
[ Head Office / Factory ]
10-1 Omine Minamimachi, Hirakata-City, Osaka 573-0145, Japan
TEL: +81-72-858-1353 (Main)
TEL: +81-72-858-1351 (Shipping)
FAX: +81-72-858-7222[ Osaka Office ]
4-1-3 Kyutaromachi, Chuo-Ku, Osaka 541-8566, Japan
TEL: +81-6-6281-5288
FAX: +81-6-6281-5285- Capital
- 90 million yen
- Majority Shareholder
- UNITIKA LTD. (100% ownership)
- Number of Employees
- 73
- Business Activities
- Glass bead manufacturing and sales
- Product Categories
-
- UNIBEADS for Road-Marking Paint
- UNIBEADS for Reflective Cloth and Sheets
- UNIBEADS for Blasting
- UNIBEADS for Grinding and Dispersion
- UNIBEADS for Fillers
- High-Precision UNIBEADS
- Spheroidization Contract Business
- History
-
- 1960
-
Establishment of UNION GLASS INDUSTRY CO, LTD.
Began glass bottle and glass marble production. - 1965
-
Glass marble production stopped.
Colored plate glass production began. - 1971
-
Glass bead production for road-marking paint began.
Industrial glass bead production began. - 1973
- Glass bead production for reflective materials began.
- 1978
- UNTIKA Group's capital participation began.
- 1982
- Glass bottle and colored plate-glass production stopped; production focused on glass beads.
- 1985
- UNION GLASS INDUSTRY CO., LTD. was dissolved, and UNION CO., LTD. was established (100% UNITIKA’s capital).
- 1987
- Began high-precision glass bead production.
- 1990
- Began low alkali glass bead production for grinding and dispersion.
- 1993
-
Glass beads for road-marking paint were certified as JIS R3301.
New glass bead factory for high refractive index for reflective material completed. - 2002
- Obtained ISO9001 certification
- 2004
- New industrial glass bead factory completed.
- 2005
-
Glass bead division established by UNITIKA LTD.
UNION CO., LTD.'s sales department was split and transferred to UNITIKA LTD.
Started as a production subsidiary. - 2007
- Completed new glass bead factory for medium refractive index for reflective materials.
- 2009
- Began glass bead production for filler.
- 2014
- New glass bead factory for filler completed.
- 2023
-
Split and inherited glass bead sales department from UNITIKA LTD.
Changed the company name to UNITIKA GLASS BEADS CO., LTD.
Our Philosophy /
Management Policy
Contributing to customers, shareholders, employees, and the local community through corporate activities.
To achieve this philosophy, we will advance our business operations based on the following 'Quality Policy':
Quality Policy
- 1. Basic Policy
- Under the value that "quality takes precedence over cost and delivery," we boldly tackle new technological developments and challenging problem-solving tasks.
- 2. Action Guidelines
-
- 1. Set quality objectives in line with the basic policy, strive to achieve these objectives following the quality management system, regularly review them, and work toward continuous quality and system improvement.
- 2. To earn customer trust, comply with the applicable laws, agreements with customers, and relevant societal requirements for the products and services provided.
- 3. Disseminate the quality policy and provide quality compliance education to all employees, fostering an internal culture that values quality.
- 4. Continuously enhance the quality assurance system to improve quality.
Sustainability
UNITIKA GLASS BEADS CO., LTD. is implementing sustainability initiatives in accordance with UNITIKA LTD.'s fundamental principles.
UNITIKA LTD. (Sustainability)