Behind the Scenes of OOKABE GLASS CEO's Challenge at the National Skills Competition Broadcast on Fukui TV Documentary

A documentary program following Katsuhiro Okabe, the representative of OOKABE GLASS Co., Ltd. (Fukui City, Fukui Prefecture, CEO: Katsuhiro Okabe, listed on the TSE TOKYO PRO Market)—which boasts the No. 1 domestic sales share (*1) in the online glass and mirror ordering business—as he challenges the limits of his skills as a glass artisan, was broadcast on Fukui TV on March 28, 2026.

▼ You can watch it from here ▼

This program delves into the true intentions of why the top executive of a listed company driving digital transformation (DX) dared to throw himself onto the frontlines of "skills," the origin of manufacturing, at this time.
Against the backdrop of serious social issues such as a lack of successors and the hollowing out of technology, the company's challenge to carve out the future of Japanese manufacturing by presenting new solutions through the fusion of digital and analog was introduced.

(*1) Survey Overview: Sales survey in internet sales of glass and mirrors / Survey Period: August 24-26, 2022 / Target: Domestic internet sales operators of glass and mirrors

## The Future Vision of Manufacturing Shown by the Head of a DX Company

What was broadcast this time is a record of our representative, Okabe, facing his roots as a glass artisan and challenging to reach the pinnacle of skill.
This is not merely an individual's challenge. It is a firm promise to society that our company, which has led the DX of the construction industry using digital technology, will redefine the value of "artisan skills" that form the foundation of Japan's manufacturing industry and pass them down to the next generation. We will create a future where technology and craftsmanship produce synergy.

## Return to Origin: The Soul as an Artisan

Since its founding in 2003, our company has achieved growth by bringing the internet and systematization to the old-fashioned glass industry, delivering custom-made glass measured to the millimeter nationwide.
However, while pushing forward industry efficiency as a flagbearer of DX, representative Okabe began to keenly feel a "quiet crisis." It was the reality that, behind the convenience of receiving items with a single click, the solid skills of the artisans supporting it were quietly being lost without anyone noticing.
If things continue as they are, no matter how excellent a system we build, the "hands" that put their soul into making things will disappear. This strong sense of crisis, coupled with the desire to "improve the value of skilled workers and make it a job that children admire," led to the unprecedented challenge of the representative himself sweating and taking on the highest peak of skills.

## The Impending "Cliff of Skills"

Japan's manufacturing industry is currently on the verge of a serious crisis that could be called the "cliff of skills."
The number of workers in the manufacturing industry has decreased by about 33% from its peak of 15.69 million to 10.46 million (Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications "Labour Force Survey"). Over the past 20 years, young workers under the age of 34 have decreased by about 1.21 million, while the proportion of those aged 65 and over has nearly doubled (2025 Edition Manufacturing White Paper). The rate of absence of successors in small and medium enterprises is 50.1%, and 57.3% in micro-enterprises. There is no end to the number of companies closing down despite being profitable due to the lack of a successor (Teikoku Databank 2025 Survey / Small and Medium Enterprise Agency).