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Connections with the community

A zone where advanced technologies achieve harmony with nature: This is the home of EZO.
We contribute to the community the spirit of manufacturing that we’ve fostered here.

Ashibetsu City and Kitanihon Seiki

Ashibetsu City and Kitanihon Seiki

Ashibetsu, which is at the center of Hokkaido, is a beautiful city that’s 90% forest land.
In this city that once prospered from coal mining, Kitanihon Seiki built a factory in 1969 to create employment for people who’d lost their jobs due to the decline of the coal mine. Today, Kitanihon Seiki is a leading local company with approximately 600 employees, mostly from the local area.

Main factory

Main factory

Nishiashibetsu factory

Nishiashibetsu factory

Click here for detailed facility information.

Sponsorship of local events

Kira Kira Festa Ashibetsu

Kira Kira Festa Ashibetsu

This large mid-summer event of synchronized fireworks, laser beams and music is held in Ashibetsu every August. Our company is among its sponsors.

Ashibetsu Kenka Festival

Ashibetsu Kenka Festival

The Kenka Yamakasa at the Hoshi no Furusato Ashibetsu Kenka Festival held every July is a yamakasa (float) event of the North that’s been certified by the Hakata Gion Yamakasa Promotion Association of Fukuoka, the birthplace of the Yamakasa festival. Many of our employees participate.

Portable shrine carried by children in Kamiashibetsu-cho

Portable shrine carried by children in Kamiashibetsu-cho

We made a portable shrine jointly with a local woodworking shop and donated it to the organization for local children.

Social contribution activities

Multipurpose Center

Place for regional exchanges and disaster response

Multipurpose Center

We bought a facility in the Nishiashibetsu area from Atsubetsu City and renovated it. We’ve concluded an agreement for it to be used as an emergency shelter for local residents and as a replacement facility for the police station. It’s also used for meetings and various other purposes.

Memorial site

Memorial site

A monument in the square in front of the multipurpose center was erected to commemorate workers of different nationalities who lost their lives in the local coal industry. The monument is inscribed on the back with a message from its builders.

We pray for the many workers who tragically lost their lives in a harsh environment during severe and difficult times. Thinking about their nostalgia, feeling for their families and physical pain, we vow to make sure that such sad times never come again.

August 2005

Kitanihon Park

Place for relaxation

Kitanihon Park

The gentle 4,300m2 slope (land owned by our company) in front of the multipurpose center went unused after coal miner houses had been removed. We built a walking trail on the slope and planted 500 trees of 18 species, including Sargent cherries, to conserve the landscape and use the site as a place for relaxation.

Pellet factory

Place for the promotion of local industry/place of ecology

Pellet factory

We promote ecological measures such as the production of wood pellets from the rich forest resources of Ashibetsu and the use of pellet heaters/boilers at the company.

Wooden pellets

Wooden pellets

Pellet heater developed by the company

Pellet heater developed by the company

Pellet boiler

Pellet boiler

Industrial complex

Place for regional revitalization

Industrial complex

An industrial complex was acquired from the Organization for Small & Medium Enterprises and Regional Innovation for the expansion of our company’s factory and for cooperation in the utilization of the site by Ashibetsu City for industrial promotion. (The complex is approximately 200,000m2)

Cultural contribution to the community

Art museum/photo gallery

Place where love for the local community mixes with love for art

Art museum/photo gallery

We established Nishiashi no Sato Co., Ltd., which operates a museum and photo gallery, to contribute to the revitalization of Ashibetsu as a city of art. Those facilities are used by locals as places of art and cultural exchange.

Factory tour

Opportunity to present industrial culture

Factory tour

In Ashibetsu, manufacturing is a key industry, along with agriculture and forestry, and it plays an important role in regional revitalization and job creation. Our company organizes factory tours to present our industrial culture to future leaders of industry and culture.