Repair Market Grows at Approx. 10% Annually, Yet Lacks Technicians: Haupro Launches Practical Home Appliance Repair Training Aiming for 10M Yen Annual Income Across 5 Bases Nationwide

Shigotonin Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Ginza, Chuo-ku, Tokyo; CEO: Toshihiko Tsuruhara), which operates the specialized visiting service academy "Haupro," will launch a "Practical Home Appliance Repair Training" program across five locations nationwide: Tokyo, Osaka, Fukuoka, Nagoya, and Sapporo. The program enables individuals with no prior experience to acquire repair skills for air conditioners and washing machines in as little as two days.

The global home appliance repair and maintenance market continues to expand at a CAGR (Compound Annual Growth Rate) of approximately 10%. Domestically, annual shipments of air conditioners have surpassed 10 million units, indicating that the latent demand for repair services has reached an unprecedented scale.

However, the technicians meeting this demand are aging, and the repair schools once operated by manufacturers have almost entirely disappeared.

Haupro will train technicians nationwide who can aim for an annual income of 10 million yen through a "dual-wielding" approach of air conditioners and washing machines. This is achieved via a training program that provides not only a practical curriculum using actual appliances but also end-to-end support, including job referrals, parts sourcing routes, and customer acquisition assistance.

A Growing Market with an Approx. 10% CAGR and No One to Bear the Load: Structural Issues in the Home Appliance Repair Industry

The home appliance repair and maintenance market is expected to grow, driven by an increasing consumer need to "repair and keep using" rather than defaulting to replacement. According to market research by 360iResearch, the global home appliance repair and maintenance market is projected to expand from USD 887.54 million in 2025 to USD 1,645.43 million in 2032.

It is forecast to grow at a CAGR of 9.21% between 2026 and 2032.

(Source: 360iResearch

https://www.360iresearch.com/library/intelligence/home-appliance-repair-maintenance-service )

Looking domestically, data also corroborates this demand expansion. According to a news release by the Japan Electrical Manufacturers' Association (JEMA), domestic shipments of room air conditioners in fiscal 2025 were 10,029,000 units (10.029 million units, 106.5% of the previous year).

Boosted by record summer heatwaves and municipal subsidies, it marked the second time since fiscal 2020 that the annual total exceeded 10 million units. (Source: JEMA "Domestic Shipment Results for Consumer Electrical Appliances for March 2026 and Fiscal 2025"

https://www.jema-net.or.jp/stat/evefa20000004jb4-att/2603ds-comment.pdf )

Furthermore, according to the Cabinet Office's "Consumer Confidence Survey" (conducted in March, Reiwa 7/2025), the average period of use for households replacing room air conditioners is 14.2 years, and the most common reason for replacement is "breakdown" at 72.1%. An immense volume of shipped air conditioners will force consumers to decide whether to "repair or replace" right around the 10-year mark. (Source: Cabinet Office Consumer Confidence Survey Conducted March Reiwa 7

https://www.esri.cao.go.jp/jp/stat/shouhi/honbun202503.pdf )

Rising prices also act as a catalyst pushing repair demand. The Consumer Price Index by the Statistics Bureau of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications shows the average comprehensive index for 2025 reached 111.9 (with 2020 as 100), marking a 3.2% year-on-year increase.

In cases where repair costs are lower than purchasing new items, the option to "repair and keep using" has become far more realistic for consumers. (Source: Statistics Bureau, Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, Consumer Price Index 2025 Average

https://www.stat.go.jp/data/cpi/sokuhou/nen/index-z.html )

However, the supply of technicians to support this growing market is not keeping up.

Retiring Veterans, Training Costs, and a Lack of Places to Learn: 3 Crises Looming Over the Repair Industry

The shortage of repair technicians is not an issue exclusive to the home appliance repair industry.

The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry's (METI) "White Paper on Manufacturing Industries 2024" highlights that the number of employed persons aged 34 and under in the manufacturing sector

decreased from 3.84 million in 2002 to 2.59 million in 2023, whereas the number of employed persons aged 65 and over increased from 580,000 in 2002 to 880,000 in 2023.

(Source: METI "White Paper on Manufacturing Industries 2024" https://www.meti.go.jp/report/whitepaper/mono/2024/pdf/honbun_1_2_1.pdf )

This trend of an aging workforce alongside a declining younger generation directly overlaps with the front lines of home appliance repair. Including air conditioner inverter controls, washing machine heat pump structures, circuit board diagnostics, refrigerant handling, and specification differences between manufacturers,

the skills required for modern home appliance repair are becoming more complex every year.

Self-taught acquisition is highly difficult, and venues to learn systematically using actual machines are also limited.

Despite growing demand, technicians are decreasing, training takes time, and places to learn are also