Outline of MADE IN NAGOYA Award 2004 WinnersMONODUKURI-BRAND-NAGOYA

Long-standing, top manufacturer contributing to music education with technology and product quality

SUZUKI VIOLIN CO.,LTD.

"With our expert technology, we offer people the real joy of music."

The factory production of violins through a division of labor

More than a hundred years ago, there was a man who made a violin without having hardly any knowledge of the techniques of violin-making. His only textbook was a violin that a friend of his owned. The man was Masakichi Suzuki, founder of the company. Starting from scratch, he built up one of the leading musical instrument companies in the world.

While in Europe, the home of the instrument, violins are mostly made in small workshops by master violinmakers, Suzuki introduced a factory production system from his early years and later succeeded in mass-producing quality violins. The stable quality of Suzuki violins has now won great confidence internationally.
The passion of the founder is shared by Suzuki's craftsmen today. Their techniques include to make the cutting tools themselves, give the wood panels a beautiful grain, give them rich expressions with lacquer, and to have each instrument produce a top-quality sound. The expert techniques the company has developed since its foundation keep evolving and so can fend off any competitors.

Supporting music education and working to become the World's best in violins

No less important is the role the company plays in music education. The Suzuki Method, a music school started by Masakichi's son, Shinichi, is very well known. Throughout Japan, some 20,000 children, of ages of around 3 to 10, take lessons from some 1,400 teachers. The school is also in 37 other countries overseas, including the United States, where more than 300,000 children take lessons in the violin. It has brought thousands of violinists into the world.
Educational violins, for which the company enjoys the top market share, are the first violins that beginners take in their hands. Needless to say, in this field, where reasonable pricing is required, the company does not cut corners on quality - because it knows how important this is for people. A violin that gives the joy of producing beautiful sounds without spoiling its original functions - this is what people need when they start practicing music. It is the expert technology Suzuki has developed, and handed down through generations of craftsmen, that allows it to manufacture easy-to-play, quality, educational violins today.

From educational violins to upscale products for advanced-level players, all Suzuki violins produce a better timbre, the longer you use them. The company's quest for improvement will never stop on the way toward the position of "The World's Best."

global issues

Company Profile

Company name
SUZUKI VIOLIN CO.,LTD.
Head Office
1-1 Hirokawa-cho, Nakagawa-ku, Nagoya, Aichi, 454-0027 Japan
Telephone
+81-52-351-6451
Fax
+81-52-351-6453
URL
http://www.suzukiviolin.co.jp
E-mail
violin@suzukiviolin.co.jp
President
Takashi Suzuki
Established
1887
Capital
64.8 million yen
Employees
28
Sales
557 million yen(FY to May 2004)
Business lines
Manufacture of string instruments.
Unique products, leading technologies, and (domestic) market product share
Violins, especially educational violins, 40% (No. 1 share)

(All information and data are as of May 2005.)