eyewear
Masunaga

Gozaemon entered into the industry the hard way, becasue at that time the eyeglasses manufactured in Fukui were regarded to be third class in the world. In order to raise the quality standards of the products, Gozaemon established a guild like system where full-fledged craftsmen could create their own businesses. Owing to this system, the number of eyeglass craftsmen increased gradually, and the optical industry spread all over Fukui, and eyeglasses manufactured in Fukui are considered one of the best in the industry nowadays.

There are as many as 200 manual processes involved in making an optical frame. Generally, productivity is low when one company is handling of all the processes. However, Masunaga Optical is the only company in Japan that has a factory just to take care of all processes from raw materials to production and finish in an integrated way. The integrated production system improves the detail and quality. For example, when Masunaga Optical develops a new model, the molds are always built in-house. If there is an issue in the wearer comfort that can be felt only after completing one pair of glasses, it will be corrected in the previous process’ promptly.

The company’s mission statement since the establishment is “We manufacture excellent eyeglasses. We want to make a profit if we can, but we don’t hesitate to take a loss. It is always in our thoughts to manufacture excellent eyeglasses.” These words are still the basis of the conduct code of employees even more than 100 years after its establishment.

Masunage Optical eyeglasses collections are being categorized into 2 collections – the K series and the GMS series. The K series collection mostly focused on acetate material, while the GMS series collection are mostly made of titanium material or combination of acetate plus titanium material.