Shipper and logistics service provider transform distribution and logistics for real entertainment through co-creation

Bandai Namco Experience Inc. (Bandai Namco Experience) oversees the Amusement Unit of the Bandai Namco Group. Meanwhile, BANDAI LOGIPAL INC. (Bandai Logipal), an affiliate of the Bandai Namco Group, provides logistics services. Bandai Namco Experience plans and produces real entertainment offerings, including amusement facilities, commercial amusement equipment, prizes, and merchandise. Bandai Namco Experience and Bandai Logipal have a shipper-logistics service provider relationship.
In recent years, the two companies had come to share a growing sense of urgency amid concerns that the “2024 logistics problem” could make it increasingly difficult to deliver goods reliably when needed. The Amusement Unit, in particular, handles a wide range of products with diverse characteristics, making its logistics operations increasingly complex. Previously, Bandai Logipal had maintained operations by using the experience and judgment of individual personnel at workplaces to accommodate variations in the format of requests from Bandai Namco Experience, missing information, and other issues. However, it was clear that this operating model would make it difficult to sustain the business in the future. Disruption to the logistics network could directly affect store operations and customer experiences, both of which are central to real entertainment. With a shared understanding of these challenges and the support of senior management, the two companies embarked on a joint logistics reform initiative.
“At first, we at Bandai Logipal planned to begin by changing the way we worked, and we prepared a supply chain management proposal,” says Mr. Taku Naito, General Manager of the Amusement Support Department, Solutions Sales Division, Bandai Logipal. “However, Bandai Namco Experience operates a diverse range of businesses, including amusement facilities such as arcades, retail stores, and the planning of IP-related events. We realized that merely envisioning an ideal future would not be enough to make it a reality. Rather than simply cutting costs or shifting responsibility back and forth, the two companies needed to work as one to identify issues at the very core of their operations and to implement the necessary measures even when doing so would place an additional burden on them.”
At Bandai Namco Experience, the growing diversification of its business had increased the workload of frontline personnel, making operational optimization a major challenge. “We also realized that our methods of requesting services from Bandai Logipal were not standardized, resulting in inefficiencies. In addition, we came to recognize that we did not sufficiently understand the operations handled by Bandai Logipal or such matters as loading efficiency. We therefore decided to work together to address these issues and deepen our understanding of each other—not merely to improve operational efficiency, but to safeguard and strengthen logistics as essential infrastructure for business continuity,” says Mr. Masaaki Akiyama, Manager of the Machine Marketing Section, Amusement Business Department 1, Amusement Business Division, Bandai Namco Experience.

ABeam joined the project in June 2025 and, through September, worked to identify the root causes of the issues, define the key areas for reform, and develop a roadmap.
A detailed breakdown and review of the identified issues suggested that operational problems upstream were affecting downstream processes. The project team therefore expanded its interviews to cover the upstream stages of the supply chain, allowing it to trace the issues back to their root causes.
One of the most challenging aspects of the project was reviewing the current-state analysis and issues that the two companies had identified before ABeam joined. The level of understanding and detail varied considerably, so the information had to be refined and brought to a consistent standard. “Operational knowledge was dispersed among employees even within individual departments, and the explanations differed from one person to another. We therefore asked ABeam to take end-to-end responsibility for reviewing and systematically organizing the issues. As a result, workflows that had previously been fragmented even within departments were mapped as a stream of processes. This also revealed differences in how work was performed across businesses and departments,” says Mr. Akiyama.
ABeam conducted extensive interviews with a wide range of stakeholders, including personnel from various departments of Bandai Namco Experience, warehouse and store staff, field workers who visited arcades, and technicians responsible for machine repair and maintenance. Through these interviews, ABeam gained a detailed understanding of the operational issues affecting logistics. ABeam also established a regular on-site presence at Bandai Namco Experience’s headquarters, enabling project members to communicate whenever necessary. As an independent third party with broad expertise spanning logistics, business processes, and IT, ABeam led discussions with a view to achieving total optimization. In doing so, it made a significant contribution to building consensus and fostering trust among the project members.
“In previous projects I had worked on, the objectives at each stage often tended to become unclear. In this project, by contrast, an appropriate deadline was established for each issue. We reached agreement on the themes that ABeam had defined and presented based on objective facts, and all project members then worked together to determine the solutions. Even in situations where the shipper’s position might ordinarily have prevailed, ABeam’s expertise and broader perspective enabled the shipper and the logistics service provider to engage in discussions on an equal footing and pursue total optimization. I believe this was possible because ABeam took ownership of the project and worked alongside both companies as a committed partner. Another valuable outcome of ABeam’s support was that we learned an approach to project delivery that could serve as a model for other shippers and stakeholders,” says Mr. Naito.