FANUC wanted to shift from hydraulic injection molding machines to electric servo-driven models. While in the U.S., we studied hydraulic machines during the day and drew conceptual diagrams of electric machines on a drafting table in company housing until late at night. We lived like this for three months as we learned about the technologies we needed. And, when we returned to Japan, we were told that we were going to have a presentation event in six months. We suddenly found ourselves tasked with developing and presenting three models whose clamping forces were 30, 50, and 75 tons, respectively. And, all of this had to be done by a small team of seven engineers including new recruits.

Did you succeed in developing those machines?

We somehow managed to complete the development of three models by the presentation event in November, and all we had to do next was a press conference. It was then that an unexpected problem occurred. When we were preparing for a test run, one of the machines failed to start. It was due to a minor cause, but I still remember the loud boom I heard when the power turned on, with the footsteps of executives approaching from the back of the plant.

I'm amazed to know what you went through as you developed the world's first electric servo-driven injection molding machines.

In addition to the basic principles, we focus on two keywords - selection and concentration - as we do business at FANUC.

"In order to ensure a robust corporate foundation, we select core businesses and concentrate our resources to dig deeper in those areas."

We prioritize longevity over scale, and it's important that we keep our priorities in this order. I believe that, as a result, we now possess a technological depth that other companies cannot match.

Your tireless technological pursuit has made FANUC the company it is today.

One of the things we do is conduct personnel rotation more frequently, creating a framework for mutual cooperation among lab engineers, plant workers, and salespeople. Our honorary chairman often says "align your efforts," which means that all members of FANUC work together toward common goals.

I see. It's a framework for everyone to work as a unified entity. Some of our customers have their parent companies in the U.S. with their plants operating overseas such as Taiwan, China, and South Korea. It's difficult to do business without integrating operations on a global scale. So, we have similar efforts underway at Tokyo Seimitsu as well.

Automating measurement by integrating the coordinate measuring machine into the process has helped us a lot. FANUC is an NC system manufacturer. We use CAM to generate programs, which run machine tools based on 3D CAD data of workpieces. Currently, there is no CAM software that can be used for automatic 3D measurement. I've heard our engineers say that they want CAM software that automatically outputs automatic measurement programs, because they already have 3D CAD data.

We are developing an application that automatically outputs programs, but it is not 100% complete yet. I expect this application to keep evolving further. Ideally, I hope to see a model in which the application automatically does programming based on CAD data that engineers create and upload online.

What kind of role do you think FANUC will play in the era of GX and decarbonization?

Commitment to the environment has been part of our basic corporate policy. GX is a relatively new initiative. We have been trying to preserve the environment on our premises in order to achieve a higher greening ratio, but that's not enough. The goal is difficult to meet unless we make proactive efforts to reduce GHG emissions. These efforts are now bearing fruit.

We cannot solve environmental issues unless we make conscious efforts.

I think that the use of measurement data and AI integration will gain in importance in future manufacturing. What's your take on this?

For example, I want to see measurement programs generated automatically from 3D CAD data, as well as measurement data fed back from the production line to the machine tool for compensation. What's more, AI infers potential causes of changes in dimensions, enabling predictive maintenance based on cutting tool wear and other environmental variations. I hope to accelerate the development of these scenarios. The ideal is to manufacture in the shortest possible time with a necessary and sufficient level of accuracy while avoiding excessive quality.

 I see. Grasping the adequate feedback points may reveal what has been invisible. By the way, what is the current status of traceability and feedback to the design process in your company?

We put QR codes on cast-metals and other products for identification so that the history of each individual item can be traced on a process-by-process basis. This helps in tolerance design reviews in the design process and avoiding excessive strictness. I want to try to optimize long loops.

Thank you for your interest. That will enable trend management from upstream to downstream for a long loop in the future, and I think automatic feedback will be even more useful to you.

With the domestic working population shrinking now, automation is key to maintain the manufacturing industry. It may be an extreme joke, but some people say, "Get robots to pay resident tax." This indicates how crucial it is for us to change our perspective in terms of the social system. I think that, in order for Japan to maintain its ability to earn foreign currency, it is important to promote automation across the country and continue to strengthen the manufacturing infrastructure.

I consider it necessary to promote automation and build national resilience in order to maintain Japan's national power and ensure the sustained success of Japanese manufacturing. During the tour of your plant, I saw robots create robots, which reminded me of your honorary chairman consistently saying he had no intention to shift production overseas. We will do our best to propose measuring instruments that are optimal for broadening the potential of the new style of manufacturing that you are seeking to implement.