The Kanagawa Model Factory Council was born of the May 1998 merger of two predecessor organizations, the Kanagawa Prefecture Model Factory Council and the Kanagawa Prefecture Benchmark Factory Council. Its membership consists of factories and workshops designated by Kanagawa Prefecture as Kanagawa Small and Medium-size Enterprise (SME) Model Factories (including those previously designated as Kanagawa Benchmark Factories) and enterprises designated as Kanagawa SME Model Factories prior to its founding. Members serve as models for other SMEs in the prefecture working to further rationalize their operations and how they run their business.