Fate of American Detainees in China
24.02.2023

I N SI D E B I D EN ’ S

WAR ROOM

Under siege from the GOP, the president gears
up for the fight of his political life
ALBANIA €6.25
AUSTRALIA $11.00
AUSTRIA €10.00
BAHRAIN BD3.5
BELGIUM €7.00
CHINA RM80

CROATIA HKR70
CYPRUS €7.00
CZECH REP CZK180
DENMARK DKR55
EGYPT E£ 65.00
FINLAND €7.60

FRANCE €7.50
GERMANY €7.50
GIBRALTAR £6.05
GREECE €7.50
HOLLAND €7.00
HONG KONG HK80

HUNGARY FT1,800
IRELAND €7.00
ISRAEL NIS35
ITALY €7.00KUWAIT KD3.00
LATVIA €6.50

LEBANON LL10,000
LITHUANIA €8.99
LUXEMBOURG €7.50
MALTA €7.00
MONTENEGRO €8.30
MOROCCO MDH70

NEW ZEALAND $14.00
NIGERIA $3.40C
NORWAY NKR89
OMAN OR 3.250
POLAND PLN29.99
PORTUGAL €7.00

QATAR QR65
MALAYSIA RM27.90
ROMANIA LEI 42.00
SAUDI ARABIA SR35.00
SERBIA RSD1035
S LEONE SLL30,000

SINGAPORE $11.95
SLOVAKIA €6.50
SLOVENIA €8.50
SOUTH AFRICA R55.00
SPAIN €7.00
SWEDEN SKR89

SWITZERLAND CHF10.00
UAE AED42UK £5.99
US $10.99
ZIMBABWE ZWD4.00

Original article published in Newsweek on February 17th, 2023. Written by the Worldfolio

Komatsu Industries Corp. providing
machinery for a new manufacturing era
Komatsu Industries Corp. provides its best-in-class machinery and after-sales services to automotive makers,
while leveraging IoT to champion predictive maintenance technologies.

“We stay connectedwith our customers byproviding after-sales
services in order to bea lasting partner.”
Yasushi Kitade,President,
Komatsu Industries Corp.
Guided by its “Quality and Reliability” philosophy, Komatsu Industries
Corp. serves as an indispensable
partner for manufacturers in theautomotive, construction andhome appliance industries, supplying industrial machinery built
to the highest quality and made tolast. A pioneer of technologies suchas its servo press, the Japanesecompany is today providing stateof-the-art machinery supporting
the development of the automotive
industry and manufacturing-based
IoT applications.
Aside from press machines, thecompany has focused on laser
technology, developing fiber-laser
cutting processes that enable cutting to be done in water, which will
result in reduced environmental
impact and ensure energy savingsfor customers.

Fiber laser cutting in waterWith the emergence of electricvehicles (EVs) that require lighter
weight materials, high-tensile steel
has been in high demand. In response, Komatsu has developed alaser cutting machine that trims

the press-formed parts of high tensile steel. “Our TLH 3D laser cutting
machine is the best solution fortrimming hot-formed parts,” sayspresident Yasushi Kitade.

TLH: 3D-laser cutting machine
Meanwhile, the evolution ofcold forming, which requires
less energy consumption thanhot forming, bodes well for an
automotive industry looking tolower its carbon footprint. “Amidthe carbon neutrality trend,
product development has led tocold-formed high-tensile steel
having gained almost the same
strength as hot-formed without
hot forming,” explains Mr. Kitade.
“Komatsu has been developing
suitable press machines with ourcustomers for cold-formed ultrahigh-tensile steel.”He adds: “The quality of EV vehicles is oftentimes determined by
the distance it can run and operate,
but at the same time, the designaspect is crucial, so we are now
talking with automotive companies about the strengths of ourservo press, which can do so manythings at once. Our products arelong-lasting, so it is crucial that we
provide long-lasting maintenanceservice and retain good relationships with our customers.”
As it strives to provide longlasting maintenance, Komatsu
has leveraged the strength of IoTtechnology to develop its predictive maintenance services, which
is helping clients to increase theproductivity and efficiency of their
manufacturing operations.
“We have a predictive maintenance system incorporated into eachmachine in order to keep staff up todate on the machine’s health,” says
Mr. Kitade. “There are many components in each piece of our machinery,and each component has a prediction

Large-sized Servo Press line for stamping automotive body panels

on its lifespan. We are analyzing andtaking data on each component todetermine its longevity. There aremany different customers, and assuch, each customer takes theirapproach to our machinery a little
differently. Some customers keepspare parts for our machinery anddo regular replacements, whereassome do not. We are trying to use
this system to urge our customers
to do predictive maintenance andparts replacements.”
In terms of its global operations, Komatsu Industries Corp. haseight overseas subsidiaries locatednearby automotive manufacturers’
plants. In the U.S., it is approaching
car makers buying up old Japanese
automotive factories to transformthem into EV plants. “We havebeen approaching thesecompanies since
we have experience providing
services to these
existing Japanese factories,”says the Komatsu Industries
Corp. president.
“Globally, there
are new emerging EV companies, so we arealso approaching
H1F-2:
them so that we Small-sized
can increase our Servo Press
sales channels.”
As the company presses ahead
with supporting a new era of manufacturing, Mr. Kitade stresses
the importance of the company’scommitment as a long-lasting
partner. “What is important in
manufacturing is providing theproducts and service, and there
has to be a balance between thequality of the product and theafter-services added on top. We
wish to keep our business growing
by providing this comprehensivesolution to our customers.”

https://sanki.komatsu/en