YKK group has a long, storied history—with many more chapters yet to write.
Founded in 1934, YKK Group today operates in 71 countries around the globe. Its 111 affiliated companies employ over 42,000 people. Already an established brand globally, YKK Group continues to boost its international competitiveness from a management structure divided into six geographic segments:
- North and Central America
- South America
- Europe, the Middle East and Africa
- China
- Asia
- Japan (Tokyo HQ)
This regional approach enables YKK Group to adapt business operations—from product development to marketing—to the cultural climate of the countries where it does business. On the local level, YKK Group works closely with communities to make the most of what each has to offer.
The cycle of goodness™
The CYCLE OF GOODNESS™ is the corporate philosophy established by YKK’s founder, Tadao Yoshida, who believed that “no one prospers without rendering benefit to others.” It expresses the basic belief of the YKK Group.Tadao Yoshida firmly believed that business belongs to society. As an important member of society, a company survives through coexistence. When the benefits are shared, the value of the company’s existence will be recognised by society. When pursuing his business, Mr. Yoshida was most concerned with that aspect and would find a path leading to mutual prosperity.He believed that using ingenuity and inventiveness in business activities and constantly creating new value would lead to the success of clients and business partners and make it possible to contribute to society. This type of reasoning is referred to as the CYCLE OF GOODNESS™ and has always served as the foundation of our business activities. We have inherited this way of thinking and have established it as the YKK corporate philosophy. For more information about our Core Values and Fundamental Behaviours read our latest blog post.
Manufacturing tailored to fit each country and region. We match each country and region’s characteristics, as we respond to challenging local requests.
YKK Management Principle
YKK Corporation: our recent chairman, Tadahiro Yoshida has put forth worldwide guiding management principles that we live by every day that pursue quality outcomes in seven main categories:
- Society
- Customers
- Employees
- Fairness
- Products
- Technology
- Management
The first three represent the stakeholders YKK AP strives to benefit. The latter three represent the means to create value. And fairness, in the middle, permeates all that we do.
“Insist on quality in everything.”
We continue to emphasise the quality of the services and products we offer our customers. This has brought us growth. Therefore, “insistence on quality” is the way each of us uncompromisingly demands our own quality.“Job Quality” does not end with you. It means understanding your customer’s standpoint and doing all you can offer that customer higher quality than expected through innovative ideas and inventions. This requires a severely ambitious spirit, to do just a little bit more, only a tiny bit more, to boost our jobs’ quality and our customers’ satisfaction.
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Build trust, transparency and respect.
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Global reach, local context
YKK AP is a global company that operates at a local level. Consider it the best of both worlds: We leverage the resources of an international company with the relationships of a local branch. With this powerful combination of reach and context, we’re able to provide quality products perfectly matched to specific environmental settings. We understand the nuanced challenges and needs of the areas where we operate.
Every new development begins with an idea. From Implementation to market launch of a new window system, YKK AP relies on its own technology centre. Here, the technical basis and qualities are worked out and the requirements for systems with optimum thermal insulation are laid out.