Re-recognizing Asahi Glass, Japan’s “Glass King” behind the second name change in China

Ueda is the world's largest auto glass manufacturer - AGC Group executive director, China's general representative, this year is his third year in China. In conjunction with his hard work in learning Chinese, there are also changes to the Chinese name of the company.

The upcoming 2nd Expo in Shanghai is an important stage for AGC to showcase its new image in China. Together with their new appearance, their new name, Ai Jiexu, they expect new Chinese names to help AGC continue to deepen its influence and expand its influence in the Chinese market.

The predecessor of AGC was Asahi Glass Co., Ltd., which was founded in 1907 and is known as the "Glass King" of Japan. At the 1st Expo, Asahi Glass officially announced its name change to AGC Co., Ltd. After a year, why did it change its name again?

In a recent exchange, Ueda Minyu admitted to the Economic Observer website: "We want to pass on the AGC products and the charm of AGC to everyone (referring to more Chinese mass consumers) in a variety of ways."

The market is huge and has long been engaged in BtoB business. Why does AGC turn its focus to C-end users? In a prestigious manufacturing company in the field of materials, it is not easy to expand the influence of C-side consumer users across the B-end. This is the direction that Ueda has always wanted to break through when he came to China.

Is the visibility too low?

“Our visibility in China is too low.” In 2017, Ueda Minyu, who just went to China to perform his duties, once commented on the recognition of the AGC brand in the Chinese market.

Ueda Minyu, who worked for 6 years in the position of AGC Group's Guangxuan·IR, has divided the brand promotion into three levels: government, industry and mass consumers. Among them, in the first two levels, AGC has accumulated more than 40 years of market in China.

The development of this Japanese century-old company in China has grown with the reform and opening up. At the Qingdao Summit of Multinational Corporation Leaders held in October, the AGC Group's investment in China was taken as a case and was included in the 40-Year Report on Multinational Corporations' Investment in China.

From the history of the official entry of AGC into China, it has long since entered the government and industry. Before the reform and opening up in 1978, AGC had contact with the Chinese electronics industry inspection team at that time. Subsequently, under the leadership of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, it reached a project to provide color TV (CRT) valve manufacturing plants and technologies to Chinese companies.

This is AGC's first large-scale factory and technology export project in China. The project gained the attention and trust of the Ministry of Electronics Industry and the domestic TV valve industry at that time, and laid the foundation for the development of other AGC businesses in China.

In the current AGC's revenue structure, the electronic business (display glass, electronic materials) accounted for about 20%, its business glass (flat glass, automotive glass) accounted for 53%, chemical business (fluorine products, Chlor-alkali/polyurethane also accounts for 25%, and industrial ceramics (heat-resistant ceramics) account for about 2%. These businesses have also been established in China since the 1990s, with China gradually rising to become the world's first automotive market and construction market. At present, AGC has the world's largest market share in the fields of automotive glass and flat glass.