BANDAI SPIRITS Strengthened Its Productive Capacity for Models like GUNPLA with the Bandai Hobby Center’s New Building Opening Today!

BANDAI SPIRITS announced that its new factory, Bandai Hobby Center Shinkan, is starting operations today, Tuesday, December 1st. In this building, they will produce plastic models including GUNPLA, which has reached its 40th anniversary this year.

BANDAI SPIRITS (then BANDAI) purchased a factory in Shimizu-shi, Shizuoka Prefecture, in 1969 and began producing plastic models. They began selling GUNPLA in 1980, a brand that reached its 40th anniversary in 2020, and they have sold around 4,500 types since, including real and SD series. As of May 2020, the number of total pieces shipped is 525,800,000 for the GUNPLA real series and 174,400,000 for the SD series, meaning they’ve shipped more than 700 million pieces total. Currently, 50% of sales come from overseas, and their global popularity is increasing.

The GUNDAM FACTORY YOKOHAMA is scheduled to open on Saturday, December 19th, in Yokohama’s Yamashita Pier, where an 18m (59ft) tall moving Gundam will be displayed. The Freedom Gundam is already being built in Shanghai, and GUNDAM has been appointed to be the Japanese area’s ambassador in the Dubai World Expo that will be held in 2021. There are other plans that have been made possible due to the love that fans all around the world have for GUNDAM, including a Hollywood live-action movie (release date unknown).
As it’s expected that demand for GUNPLA both domestically and internationally will continue to increase, the operations of the new building will be able to handle the growing markets in China and North America, and create a stable production system for a mid-to-long-term period.

Construction Start: Wednesday, December 18, 2019
Construction Completed: Monday, November 30, 2020
Open: Tuesday, December 1, 2020
Construction Work Details: Created a building for modeling machinery on the grounds of the current Hobby Center, added 6 color-molding machines
# of Color-molding Machines After Construction: 35 (25 electric, 10 hydraulic) *Includes machines lent by affiliated companies
Construction Goal: To answer the increasing domestic and international demand for plastic models
Construction Results: Made it possible to increase production 1.4x compared to when construction of the new building was still being planned in 2019.
Constructed Building Name: Bandai Hobby Center Shinkan *To go along with this, the current Bandai Hobby Center is being renamed to the Honkan (main building).
Total Size of the Premises: 12,261㎡ (3 acres)
Total Floor Space: Honkan - 8,767㎡ (94367.2 square feet; 3 floors); Shinkan - 1,488㎡(16016 square feet; 1 floor)
Total Number of Employees: 133 (167 when including contract workers) (as of November 2020)

The following machinery is planned to be added due to the construction of the new building.
・2 small AGV machines (AGV/Automated Guided Vehicle = creates efficiency due to automatic conveyance)
・A production management system (Can grasp the situation in real-time due to being able to see the production, will increase efficiency; scheduled to be implemented in March 2021)

Bandai Hobby Center was completed in 2006 in Naganuma, Aoi-ku, Shizuoka-shi, Shizuoka Prefecture, as BANDAI SPIRITS’ production center for plastic models including GUNPLA.
Bandai Hobby Center uses its own original technology where four colors and four different parts are cast in the same mold at the same time using a special 4-color injection molding machine. By doing this, they can create 1 multi-colored runner that would normally be 4 runners if made using single-color molding in order to make plastic models easier to build and to further recreate the coloring desired after the model has been put together. Also, it supports the goal of reducing ecological burden by reducing the amount of electricity and resources used.
Various technologies are being used with the multi-color molding technology in place as plastic models are continuing to evolve.