YKK AP has made its Technology Museum in Kurobe, Japan available online, offering a 360-degree interactive tour of the facility to a wider audience.
The museum, located at YKK AP's Japan headquarters, documents more than 50 years of the company's work in windows, doors, curtain wall systems and facade technologies, framed around the Japanese concept of monozukuri, or craftsmanship and continuous improvement. The digital tour allows visitors to move through the museum at their own pace, examining exhibits on engineering, manufacturing and product development.
The tour includes material on YKK founder Tadao Yoshida and his brother Hisamasa Yoshida, who founded YKK AP. Additional exhibits cover the company's work in building performance, product testing and standards development, manufacturing, and environmental practices.
"The YKK AP Technology Museum tells the story of people willing to challenge convention, learn from experience and continually improve," says Oliver Stepe, president and CEO of YKK AP America Inc. "By bringing the museum experience to a global audience, we can share the ideas that shaped YKK AP and continue to guide our efforts to build a better society through architectural products."
The museum's content is organized around YKK's "Cycle of Goodness" philosophy — the idea that no one prospers without benefiting others — which the company says has guided its business since its founding. The online tour is available to architects, building owners, customers, employees, students and the public.
