Our eternal theme is to respond to temperature changes, even as persons who create measuring machines. This is because improvements in machining accuracy demand further improvements in the processing accuracy of measuring machines.
So, what is the most difficult problem that you have faced to date?

In the past, the industry suffered major damage about once every ten years. For example, there was the oil shock and the collapse of Japan’s bubble economy. Under such difficult circumstances, the first thing that gets cut is the R&D budget. However, that is not a good thing. I remember, despite being a young researcher, standing strong with my colleagues, with our aim to continue outstanding development, something for which research cannot be thought as not essential or urgent.

I see. Economic slumps don’t continue forever, so it is important to continue development, even during difficult times, in order to foster the seeds for the future.
Even under such circumstances, your company remained the industry leader, while incorporating the development of elemental technology into manufacturing activities. What has been the most important aspect of work for you?

There is an expression that “Those who know are inferior to those who like, and those who like are inferior to those who enjoy.” Those who are enthusiastic about and enjoy their work will change the situation 10 years later. I am delighted to see people work with a purpose and sense their joy from how they have grown during that time. This is also true for joint development between companies. Actually, I should probably be less emotional about this, but I think the most important things for creating new types of added value are purpose and growth.

There is a page on your company’s website called “The Craftsmanship of Okuma”, and this appears to be in line with what you are saying now. The company thinks that it is important for all employees to work with pride. This has been properly conveyed.

You received a doctorate from Tohoku University, correct?

When I was a young researcher, I wanted to take on challenges in R&D both inside and outside the company. For example, I conducted scientific lectures in the spring and fall at The Japan Society for Precision Engineering and at international conferences. I compiled a scientific report and won an award from The Japan Society for Precision Engineering. With such experience, my goal is to create an environment where the young researchers of today can conduct research in a way that is closer to their preferences.

Could you tell us about your brand’s message of “OPEN POSSIBILITIES”?

Since our founding, we have opened up new areas in industrial processing according to changes in the times over 125 years. Looking back at this history, manufacturers of heavy duty equipment, who had gained prosperity, have been replaced. However, I think the reason that our company has remained intact is that we have always continued to change while opening up new areas. Maintenance of the status quo can indeed deteriorate.

Therefore, it is important to contribute to a sustainable society. Major issues in manufacturing industries across the world include a reduced workforce and number of experienced workers as well as dealing with decarbonization. We think that our customers are concerned about how to solve these social issues. Therefore, our duty is not simply to provide high-performance heavy duty equipment, but to also extract and solve the issues our customers have in industrial processing. That is “OPEN POSSIBILITIES.” We consider our spirit of challenging new possibilities for our customers around the world to be extremely important.

That is the basis of manufacturing activities. Our company also tackles issues based on the approach of how we can use our technologies to make life easier around the world.
On the subject of a sustainable society, are you concentrating your efforts on decarbonization?

From October 1, 2022, we have achieved carbon neutrality at Scope 1 and Scope 2 at three factories in Japan. High precision and high energy conservation machines are delivered from our carbon neutral factories. In other words, we have decided to declare our machines that can contribute to the decarbonization of our customers as “Green-Smart Machines,” and we use this as an emblem.
During this one-year period, our sales strategy has been to deliver machines that provide both high precision and energy conservation. For example, in order to achieve stable precision with high performance, a lot of energy needs to be used to cool the machinery, but this moves decarbonization backwards. We feel that the achievement of both high precision and energy conservation resonates with many of our customers.
Our customers also need to reduce CO² emissions in order to promote carbon neutrality at their factories. Our initiative for achieving this is to provide ”Green-Smart Machines.” We would like to share this idea throughout the industrial processing industry and broaden our initiatives for decarbonization.

Have you established any specific items, such as objective values for CO² reduction?

Yes, we have, and we have been making progress in our initiatives. The amount of CO² emissions by worksites involved in industrial processing are primarily based on energy consumption by air conditioning equipment and machinery operation. Our “Green-Smart Machines” are able to perform precision machining with stable dimension precision without the need for air conditioning, such as a thermostatic chamber. We will steadily provide our customers with the value of both high precision and energy conservation.

On the subject of Tokyo Seimitsu, when you delivered us special-specification 3D surface texture and contour measuring instrument and profile measuring instrument, you thoroughly examined how to satisfy our strict requirements. You provided extremely great service, and we sympathized with your company’s attitude and values for tackling manufacturing activities.

Thank you. Of course, product quality is important, but we think it is important to satisfy customer needs through meticulous service from the time of deployment of the equipment. The company also concentrates efforts at the Service Department, so please do not hesitate to contact us. We will deal with it immediately.

There is news that current social circumstances mean that companies are facing difficulties, such as in the procurement of materials. What is the situation at your company?

That seems to be the case in the field of semiconductors, but it was difficult to purchase various items, such as casting or sheet metal. In the area of semiconductors, it is assumed that there will continue to be uncertainty regarding the procurement of control CPUs, devices, and the like.
For heavy duty equipment, solid coordination between partner companies will probably become even more important.
With regards to obtaining these procured items, I think this has become an opportunity to reassess past areas of vulnerability, such as by dispersing the production locations of procured items in consideration of the state of item stock and management and BCP. This and other issues will probably persist in 2023. What is the case at your company?

Semiconductors are used in various fields around the world, so we feel that the fact that demand is higher than supply is an issue. It will probably take some more time to catch up with demand.
Meanwhile, in fields such as automobiles, there has been a major global shift to EVs. Do you feel those effects, etc.?

For the heavy duty equipment industries, I think there will be effects due to the changes of the parts in question. However, the parts that we have dealt with are press parts such as suspension system parts and bodies, as well as aluminum wheels. Therefore, I think the effects are relatively small. On the other hand, with EVs, based on the shapes and production amounts of EV parts, the machining has been replaced with flexible and general-purpose heavy duty equipment, so the areas in which we can provide products are expanding. Concentrating processes improves throughput, so there is new demand for us to provide high precision 5-axis control machining centers and the like. We are now exhausting all our efforts to look at how we can support the new growth fields of electrification in automobiles, etc.
Also, aircraft and spacecraft involve a lot of engine and suspension-related components, so we see expansion in new investments.

I see. In that sense, the effects of the shift to EVs is a positive rather than a negative, so you are working to utilize the characteristics of your company. So, you are formulating growth strategies into other industries such as semiconductors and aircraft in the future.