Sanpo-yoshi Communication

Printing Column] Subsidies that are good to know about

Recently, have you been receiving a lot of sales pitches from machinery manufacturers saying, "Would you like to install this machine with a subsidy? We can help you get the subsidy.　This is a proposal using the "Monozukuri subsidy" administered by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI).

The "Monodzukuri Subsidy" is a subsidy to support capital investment by small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the development of innovative services, prototypes, and production processes that contribute to productivity improvement.

The amount is large among subsidies, and depending on the conditions, half or 2/3 of the equipment amount, up to a maximum of 10 million yen, is paid. Although the adoption rate is sometimes less than 50%, it is a good mechanism to systematically add expensive machinery because there is almost no repayment.

When people ask me about grants, I tell them that they should do their best to prepare the documents on their own, as this will increase the chances of being selected, will help them learn more, and will be easier later on. In fact, I often hear stories of people who received a grant through consulting but had a difficult time with subsequent inspections, etc.

When Marushin applied for the subsidy, we did so with the full cooperation of the Kurume Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Full cooperation means that we had a teacher who gave us advice and we worked together to create the documents. We made and got rejected, and made and got rejected...(T_T) But we learned a lot from them.

In conclusion, the secret to winning a grant is to be helpful.

At first, "This business plan is based on the contents that Marushin will use this subsidy to increase productivity and generate so much profit. This does not allow us to determine whether the government's money should be invested in this company to make it profitable. Please make it based on what kind of company the government wants to subsidize." I was advised to say.

(We would later find out that this teacher had been involved in the adoption of a grant. Lucky me.)

The proposal was then revised and transformed into a proposal centered on a public and helpful perspective, saying, "What are the problems in the world today, and if Marushin installs this equipment, we will be able to do something that no other company has been able to do before and have this positive impact on our customers and the community. The grant was not likely to fall through if the following perspectives were aligned with the grant project. The key points of the project description are,

(1) Easy to understand and read (judges are basically laymen in the industry)
(2) Beneficial to the world (public interest)
(iii) There is a need (need)
Achievable (feasibility)
(5) It is appropriate for this company to do so (matching with the current business)
(6) Profitable (Profitability)
(7) Originality (uniqueness)

He said that if everything is in place, there will be no reason to drop the company as a judge. So far, Marushin has adopted 100% of the applications, so this information is also highly valid.

Incidentally, when proposals gathered from all over the country are compiled and tabulated as big data, a number of similar proposals are found, which are said to be dropped because they do not fall under the category of uniqueness.

We have received several reports from manufacturers that only Marushin was approved after several companies submitted applications for the same machine. (If you copy the manufacturer's statement, "This machine has a track record of receiving subsidies with this kind of content," there is a high likelihood that your application will be rejected. Even if it is the same machine, the business description needs to be changed).

The flow of the manufacturing subsidy is as follows

At first, I spent about 100 hours preparing the documents, but now that the application is electronic to streamline the review process, the paperwork has become easier. Considering the cost-effectiveness, I think the Monodzukuri subsidy is a good system.

Receiving the grant and receiving the money is important, but the time I spend thinking about the business plan, which includes a lot of "usefulness" to customers, is what I consider to be my "treasure.

We are grateful to the teachers who have guided us, the people who have implemented our business plan, and the customers who have taken advantage of it.

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