Founded in 1880, the Japanese logistics company Konoike Transport Co., Ltd. combines traditional values with cutting-edge technology. As a pioneer of logistics services and production support in Japan, the company underwent many changes and has continuously transformed itself over the past 145 years. Today it is serving a broad range of industries from steel and automotive to food and beverage, airport ground services and medical equipment maintenance. Tadatsugu Konoike, Director and Senior Managing Executive Officer and a representative of the fifth generation of the family business is responsible for the company’s internationalization and technological innovation and has been building up the German operations since 2022. J-BIG spoke with him about the company’s eventful history, the special connection to Germany, the joint venture Ehrhardt Konoike Solutions and how Industry 4.0 technologies from Germany are shaping the future of Japanese logistics.
J-BIG: Let’s go back in time. As you are part of the Konoike family, the company’s history is also your family’s history. How did Konoike’s story begin in 1880?
Tadatsugu Konoike: I am indeed part of the fifth generation of our family business. My great-great-grandfather Chujiro Konoike founded Konoike as a worker placement and transport business in 1880 during the Meiji era, a time of great upheaval in Japan. The country was in the midst of a fundamental transformation. In 1876 the Japanese government had just banned samurai warriors from continuing to wear the sword and Western influences were beginning to take hold.
Our company started to grow from a concrete challenge: Near Osaka lies Lake Biwa, from which the great Yodo River flows. This river regularly caused devastating floods. The Japanese government commissioned my great-great-grandfather with a major infrastructure project: the river was to be diverted to prevent the flooding.
Interestingly, there is already a first connection to Europe here: My great-great-grandfather learned the techniques of river construction from a Dutch engineer. About 150 years ago, the Japanese learned a great deal from Dutch engineers about irrigation and river construction. My great-great-grandfather was in his 40s when he took on this significant government project. That was the origin of our company.
J-BIG: It sounds like Konoike started off as more of a construction than a logistics company. How did the business develop from there?
Tadatsugu Konoike: The construction and logistics businesses were initially closely linked. At first, logistics was just a department within the construction company. We transported construction materials, primarily by ship. So the original connection to logistics arose from the need to support our construction projects, since a lot of materials had to be transported.
A decisive turning point came at the time of World War II. During the war, logistics was of crucial importance, and the Japanese government ordered that logistics companies should be separated from construction companies. Thus, one company became two independent entities. The construction company still exists today, but is not run by my family, although a relative works there as an advisor. My side of the family then concentrated on logistics.
But even before the separation, we did not only focus on construction and logistics itself, but we also began working with the steel industry in 1900 and had one of the first steel factories in Japan. This was the beginning of a business model that still distinguishes us today and sets us apart from other logistics companies. Today we still support our clients not only with logistics, but also with production.
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J-BIG: Tell us more about this special business model. What exactly makes Konoike different from other logistics companies?
Tadatsugu Konoike: Ordinary logistics companies, so-called 3PL providers – Third Party Logistics – only handle the logistics portion of a business. In our case, we go much further: We not only handle logistics, but also manufacturing itself. We call this 3PP – Third Party Production. Konoike is therefore a 3PL plus 3PP company. This is our unique selling point in the logistics industry. This means our clients outsource their non-core business to us.
This development started in the 1900s when we began in-plant cargo handling and transport operations at our client’s steelworks. Thereafter, we gradually expanded the scope of our contracted work within steelworks and took over all logistics within the steel mills – from receiving raw materials to supporting the production process to packaging, storage, and delivery of finished steel products. This close partnership with the heavy industry significantly shaped our development. We grew practically in parallel with the post war reconstruction of the Japanese industry. In the 1950s, we expanded our business to the food and beverage industry. Here too, we took on more than just logistics and helped with production and packaging steps, for example filling beverages into bottles or cans.
Then came the airport business. We began offering ground staff services for airlines. An example is Japan Airlines. Many of the employees you see at the airport in JAL uniforms are actually Konoike employees. Today we even work in the medical business. Hospitals let us clean their surgical equipment, so they can focus solely on the medical side of things. Our business is knowing the pain points of companies and handling what they cannot or don’t want to do themselves.
J-BIG: How have the pain points of your potential customers changed over time? What were typical pain points 50 years ago and what are typical pain points today?
Tadatsugu Konoike: In the past, companies outsourced things that they did not want to do themselves, such as work that was too risky, too tiresome or too dangerous. Now, however, the demand is shifting towards the labour shortage problem. Japan doesn’t have many immigrants, so the labour shortage is extremely serious even compared to Europe. This is why the demand is shifting towards automation.
J-BIG: How has the company developed internationally, and what is its current global position?
Tadatsugu Konoike: Our internationalisation began in the 1980s and 1990s. We established a presence in Southeast Asia, opening locations in Singapore and China. We supported the logistics of our Japanese clients who were setting up production facilities in Asian countries, as the quality of service provided by Asian logistics companies wasn’t very good back then. We then also entered the North American market. Our international expansion continued into Vietnam in the 90s, Thailand, the Philippines, India, Bangladesh in the 2000s and recently Europe as our clients became more and more active on a global scale.
Today, we have group companies in 14 countries and employ 25,000 people worldwide. The vast majority of these work directly on the ground, in warehouses, on production lines and at airports. White-collar employees, such as managers and office staff, make up only a small proportion – around a thousand people in Japan.
Our headquarters remain in Osaka, the city where it all began. With worldwide sales of approximately 345 billion yen, which corresponds to around 2.2 billion euros, we are a significant player in the logistics industry, even if we may not be as well-known as the global giants. However, times have changed since we started our international expansion. Today the service quality of local logistics companies in Asian countries has improved significantly. There are many Japanese manufacturers in other countries, including Germany, who require logistics services. But why would they outsource to a Japanese logistics company in Germany? We are currently adapting to these changes in order to offer the best service, not only within Japan, but worldwide.
As I am responsible for two core areas, international business and technological innovation, my mission in Germany here is two-fold: On one hand, I am driving technological innovation by learning from the leading Industry 4.0 concepts in Germany. On the other hand, I am actively shaping the transformation of our company into a truly global player and Germany is playing a key role in this.
J-BIG: When did the company’s connection to Germany start and why did you decide to come here instead of another European country?
Tadatsugu Konoike: I came to Germany in 2022, initially to Frankfurt, as the first Konoike employee to come to Germany on a permanent basis. We registered our business in Düsseldorf, opened an office and 2025 we started a joint venture. Currently we have three expats, including myself and a lot of local German people through the joint venture.
The company’s connection to Germany itself dates way back and is deeply rooted in our company history. When my great-great-grandfather carried out the river construction project, he learned from European, particularly Dutch engineers. But the engineering of that time was strongly influenced by German standards. There is also a cultural dimension. In Japan, German mining culture has had a great influence, especially the “Glückauf” culture. This philosophy of safety, camaraderie, and mutual care for each other in the workplace was brought to Japan and adopted there. It fit very well with Japanese values and became part of our corporate culture. What personally fascinates me: This Glückauf culture has been partially forgotten in Germany today, but in Japan we still live it. One of my greatest wishes is to bring this culture back to Germany. For me, this is more than just a business concern, it is a cultural mission. But this is of course not the only reason I came to Germany.
Japan faces an enormous demographic challenge. Our society is aging rapidly, and there is only limited immigration. Studies show that by 2030, about 26 percent of all jobs in Japan will need to be automated – the highest rate worldwide. Our company therefore started early to automate our operations. But in doing so, we made an important discovery: It is not enough to simply replace people with robots, as was common in the third industrial revolution. This often even led to lower productivity. The key lies in optimization through digital twins and other Industry 4.0 technologies – that is, in intelligent networking and control.
I repeatedly heard from experts that Germany is the world leader in Industry 4.0. and that the future of industrial digitalization is being significantly shaped here. At first I was skeptical, but my research convinced me: If we really want to learn about Industry 4.0, we have to learn from the best. And that is Germany.
J-BIG: What exactly distinguishes Industry 4.0 in Germany from approaches in other countries such as the USA or Japan itself?
Tadatsugu Konoike: That is an important question. The USA pursues a different approach with the “Industrial Internet,” Japan with “Society 5.0”. But in my view, Germany has decisive advantages: First there is the standardization. Germany relies on open standards, while the USA and Japan often rely on proprietary systems. This enables true interoperability. Second: German companies have a strong tradition in mechanical engineering and understand physical production with a depth that is difficult to copy. And third is the focus on sustainability and long-term goals. The European Green Deal and concepts such as the “right to repair” show that Europe and especially Germany are not only thinking about short-term efficiency, but about long-term, sustainable systems.
J-BIG: You founded a joint venture in Germany. Tell us more about it.
Tadatsugu Konoike: The joint venture is called EKS – Ehrhardt Konoike Solutions – and is a partnership with Ehrhardt Partner Group, a leading German company in warehouse management systems and intralogistics.
What we are doing there is very exciting: We operate warehouses for customers and simultaneously use them as development laboratories for state-of-the-art digital solutions. Japanese and German engineers work side by side to develop solutions that are globally competitive. Our goal is to develop tools that enable us to compete against the big players in the industry like DHL, Kuehne + Nagel, and others. Europe, and especially Germany, is the main battleground of the global logistics giants. If we want to be successful here, we must master and further develop advanced digital solutions.
J-BIG: What kind of digital solutions are you developing?
Tadatsugu Konoike: One important example are warehouse management systems. In most large Japanese warehouses, much is still done manually and based on intuition. Where which goods are stored is decided by experienced warehouse workers based on their gut feeling.
Let’s take a concrete example: We handle logistics for all major convenience store chains in Japan. There are countless varieties of frozen ramen products. Our warehouse workers know from experience which ramen variety is currently selling particularly well and where it should best be placed so that it is quickly available.
This knowledge – some would call it intuition, I call it experience – we are now trying to transfer into digital systems. When the experienced workers retire, their know-how is lost if it is not systematically documented. By implementing a system, we can not only preserve this knowledge but also optimize it, because with AI we can calculate and adjust much faster.
J-BIG: If you transfer all experiential knowledge into systems and integrate AI capabilities – there is a risk that future generations will no longer truly understand this knowledge. How are you making sure that the knowledge saved through AI can be properly used by future generations?
Tadatsugu Konoike: The solution, in my view, lies in creating a solid foundation of data structure. We are not simply blindly digitizing everything, but trying to create a unified foundation system that is transparent and comprehensible.
And there must be a philosophy behind it, a strong belief that we want to preserve and pass on this knowledge. It requires people who understand why safety, quality, and continuous improvement are important. Technology is a tool, but the philosophy must be carried by people.
J-BIG: How concrete is the technological transformation at Konoike?
Tadatsugu Konoike: We have already achieved remarkable successes. One example: In steel mills, we have conveyor belts that are a total of 60 kilometers long. Previously, workers had to manually inspect these belts – a dangerous and time-consuming task. Now we use drones that work with AI-supported image analysis. The result: The time required for inspections has been reduced by 83 percent, and safety for our employees has been massively increased. Another example is the cleaning under conveyor belts, also a dangerous job. We developed our own robots that take on this task which resulted in time savings of 87 percent and even more important: Zero accidents.
The profitability of these technology-driven business areas has increased from 5 percent to 35 percent. But the core of my personal mission is to eliminate accidents from our workplace. I don’t want anyone to have to experience losing a loved one, neither in the company nor elsewhere. Of course we conduct safety training. But in addition, I want to use the power of technology to make workplaces safer. AI-supported collision warning systems for forklifts, automated forklifts and drones for dangerous inspections are not only profitable and, having the labor shortage in mind, necessary. They all ultimately serve this one goal: that people come home safely. For me, this is also the deeper meaning of the Glückauf culture: mutual care for each other, responsibility for the safety of colleagues. I want to bring this culture back to Germany together with German partners.
J-BIG: An unusual constellation: A Japanese company wants to bring an originally German culture back to Germany.
Tadatsugu Konoike: I think this shows how cultures can mutually influence and enrich each other. Japan learned a lot from Europe 150 years ago – engineering, industrial culture, organizational structures. Now we can perhaps give something back that has been partially forgotten in Germany but has been preserved in Japan.
J-BIG: Currently, there are three of you as expats in Germany. How do you see the future development of Konoike in Germany?
Tadatsugu Konoike: Germany is more than just a learning location for us. We also see Germany as a market. Many big globally successful logistics companies like DHL are from Germany. As Japanese service is often excellent, I see great potential for Japanese logistics companies to also be globally successful in the service sector. Not by copying Western models, but by combining Japanese quality standards with European Industry 4.0 technologies. My vision is for Konoike to become a truly global company, not just a Japanese company with foreign branches, but a company that has deep local roots in every market while simultaneously uniting the strengths of different cultures.
To use an analogy: At the moment, we are playing in the J-League, so to speak, the Japanese football league. To be truly global, we need to learn to play in the UEFA Champions League. We don’t yet have the strength to compete at the highest level. But by operating in Europe, where the global market leaders operate, we are gradually building up this capability.
J-BIG: Finally: What is your vision for the Konoike of the next generation?
Tadatsugu Konoike: Konoike’s 145-year history shows that transformation is not a one-time event, but a continuous process. From the second industrial revolution through the third to Industry 4.0, Konoike has constantly adapted to the needs of society. Now it is our time to transform ourselves again together with our partners in Germany and worldwide. Our Vision 2030 is: “Empowering people to aim higher through technology.” Concretely put: We will deploy new technologies to enhance on-site safety and promote advanced techniques that create a creative work environment, convert the knowledge of our experts into explicit, shared knowledge that becomes an asset of the entire group and enhances our adaptability. And we will improve safety and security standards, create next-generation businesses, and innovate for sustainable social infrastructure.
But above all, I personally have one goal: I want to contribute to a more peaceful world through business. I have witnessed how people from countries in conflict have formed friendships that transcend political tensions. Strengthening international ties through personal and business relationships can play a crucial role in promoting peace.
When German and Japanese engineers work together on solutions, when we learn from each other and create innovations together, then we are not just building better warehouse management systems – we are building bridges between cultures. That is ultimately the greatest transformation a company can undergo: from a pure economic actor to a bridge builder between cultures and a promoter of a better, safer world.
