If you're going to build a factory, you need machinery.

I heard that this was the part that took the most time.

If you were to build a factory in Ukraine, what would you do about the machinery?

That was the biggest problem. Instead of firing it, Rimex is compacted with tremendous force. You need machinery for that.

Can’t you make it in Japan?

We looked for it domestically as well. However, it turned out to be quite difficult.

Do you mean technically?

There’s the technical aspect, of course, but more than that, the mere fact of shipping equipment to a country at war makes it hard to move the project forward.

I see…

Japanese companies are still facing significant restrictions on their activities in Ukraine. Even companies that were originally based there have had their expatriate staff evacuated to neighboring countries. The larger the company, the harder it is to get internal approval for capital investments in Ukraine.

I can’t blame them for that.

You can’t blame them. I think it’s only natural that, for a company of our size, proposing to install equipment in a country at war wouldn’t be a suitable risk-taking strategy.

So, how did you find them?

It was a coincidence, but I was also traveling to Turkey around the same time—starting around May 2025.

Turkey.

There’s a region there that experienced a major earthquake a few years ago. There, too, discussions were underway about whether earthquake debris could be used as building materials. It was a different line of inquiry from Ukraine, but the approach was the same.

As part of that process, I visited a local ceramics manufacturer there.

It had nothing to do with Ukraine.

Completely unrelated, I mean.

Did anything happen there?

When I walked into the factory, I suddenly realized something: they had equipment from an Italian plant manufacturer.

So it looked familiar to you?

That’s right. When I thought back, the tile factory I’d been shown in Ukraine also had equipment from the same manufacturer.

Oh.

No matter which factory I visit, I see their machines there—in Turkey and in Ukraine, too.

So that means if I ask them…

"They might be able to make it here," you thought.

I wouldn’t have realized that if I hadn’t gone there, would I?

I wouldn’t have realized it. You can’t tell just by looking at a catalog.

Did you contact them right away?

I reached out in November, and after the new year, in February 2026, I visited their headquarters in Italy. From there, I went to their lab in Germany.

The lab.

They’d never made it before either, so we started from a place where we didn’t even know if it was possible. We sent the raw materials from Japan, and they spent a week experimenting with their equipment to figure out how to get it to set.

A week.

And the result?

“It can be done,” they said.

In the end, wasn’t it a good thing that we were able to partner with this company?

That’s right. It’s not just a company that makes compacting machines; it’s a company that manufactures ceramic tiles from start to finish.

That’s why they know the finer details. In fact, there are so many things they’ve taught me—like, “Oh, so this is how it’s done.”

Is that what you mean by the “strength of an integrated operation”?

Exactly. Their equipment is also smaller and more efficient than what we’re currently using in Tagawa.

It took quite a while to find them, didn’t it?

It did. We were stuck here for nearly a year.

But once we got moving, things moved quickly.

We got the offer in November, and by February we were in Germany. It happened really fast.