Minoru Kadowaki, President, Microtop Philippines

Warding-off its status as a majorly service-oriented economy, Philippines has strongly emerged as a major manufacturing hub in recent times, deriving around 18 percent of its GDP between 2018- 2022 from the manufacturing sector alone. While easy access to skilled manpower has been one of the primary reasons for this, the government too has recognized the potential that manufacturing holds in boosting the country's economy and has launched numerous initiatives such as Manufacturing Resurgence Program, Comprehensive Automotive Resurgence Strategy (CARS) and Advanced Manufacturing Center (AMCen) to nourish and support the sector develop further.

Adding on to this are the numerous FTAs that Philippines holds with various nations such as China, India, Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland, positioning it as one of the most preferred manufacturing destinations in the region.

As per Statista’s recent predictions, the Philippines’ manufacturing sector is expected to grow at a CAGR of 3.65 percent and be worth $12.8 billion by 2030. While these encouraging figures have resulted in a lot of manufacturing firms come to limelight, one that stands a class higher than the rest is Microtop Philippines. Founded in 1993 by Minoru Kadowaki, President, Microtop Philippines started-off with a humble beginning with a small team in a modest setup. But over the years, it has grown significantly by delivering top-notch quality products and building strong relationships with its customers across domestic and international markets.

“Microtop Philippines isn’t just a provider of molds and parts, rather, we’re a reliable partner for all precision requirements in your tooling and parts requirements. Our decades of expertise, skilled team, and focus on customer success defines who we are, and we are always committed to innovation and building lasting relationship with our customers”, says Masayuki Wada, Vice President, Microtop Philippines.

Key Products & Services

As a comprehensive solution provider catering to every client requirement from design to delivery, some of the major products that Microtop Philippines offers include plastic injection molds, plastic injection parts production, die-cast molds, jigs, assembled machines, and small type machines, to name a few. Additionally, it also provides numerous services such as mold designing, processing & fabrication and mass production. Most importantly, the company has integrated the entire production process in-house to ensure highest standards of quality, precision and efficiency.

As a client-centric organization, Microtop Philippines has a detailed customer engagement process to ensure that each of their requirements is catered to in the most efficient manner. Firstly, the company’s team of experts has a detailed discussion with the customer to understand their requirements, designs the product/solution accordingly and submits the DFM for approval. Upon the client’s approval, it then undergoes the testing phase or a prototype is developed. Only after receiving the final go ahead from the client is the approved product design sent for mass production.

“Right from the initial design phase to final production, we collaborate with our customers, exchange technical ideas and even offer suggestions in terms of product specifications that are suitable for their requirements. We not only become a part of our clients’ team throughout the entire process, but also provide them regular updates on the progress of the project at every phase. This has proven to be immensely beneficial to both us and our clients by cutting-down any chances of errors/problems once the mass production commences”, adds Masayuki.

Our decades of expertise, skilled team, and focus on customer success defines who we are, and we are always committed to innovation and building lasting relationship with our customers

Expert Team of Professionals – The USP

Microtop Philippines considers its employees as its core foundation and key pillars of strength, wherein majority of the team members have been associated with the firm right since its inception. Owing to such a long-standing tenure in the HDD precision tooling industry, each team member has been able to hone their skills at delivering highly accurate and durable molds and parts. This profound subject matter expertise of its team, along with using advanced equipment across the entire process have not only served as the key USP for the company, but also enabled it to successfully address the most critical pain points of customers in this sector, namely precision, reliability and timely delivery.

“One of our focus areas has always been on ensuring our employees’ growth alongside the overall organizational growth. Thus, we invest significant resources in our employee training initiatives for our mutual benefit and stay ahead in terms of skills as well as innovation. We’re very much grateful for each of our team members who have played a pivotal role in helping us achieve the successful positioning in the market that we’re at today. Thus, we treat our employees as our major assets and ensure to protect & nourish them to the best of our ability”, Masayuki further explains.

Journey So Far & Future Roadmap

Owing to exceptional & industry benchmark practices in place, Microtop Philippines has strongly cemented its positions as one of the top-of-the-mind choice for diverse precision tooling requirements. Some of the major clients that it has catered to include Nidec Philippines Corporation, Dyson Electronics Philippines, Hi-P Philippines Technology Corporation, Sateco Philippines, Swedish Match Philippines, Fujitsu Die Tech Corp., and Tsukiden Electronics Philippines. Going forward, Microtop Philippines plans to foray into newer verticals such as aerospace and medical devices which require very high precision tooling. In light of this, it will be expanding its manufacturing capabilities by adding more advanced machineries to achieve enhanced scalability and precision.

Further, the firm also plans to expand its product catalog to include components for rapidly evolving sectors such as EVs and precision plastics for smart devices. Additionally, it will also be focusing on adapting more sustainable practices into its functions, while simultaneously upskilling its team members in accordance to its expanding organizational goals & objectives. Overall, Microtop Philippines will be looking at strengthening its presence in Asia, while also providing services with shorter lead times to global customers.