Interview on Manufacturing

The Present State of Digital
Transformation and the Future
Lying Ahead of Digital Technologies
WORK & SOULUNYTITE Co., Ltd.
TAKAMAZ’s Ef forts

SDGs and Repolishing Collets
information

MEX Kanazawa ����／Installation of Solar Panels
Strolling Through TAKAMAZ

Traveling the Hokuriku Area to Experience Craftsmanship

Visiting the Shiramine District of Hakusan City to explore thefascinating Ushikubi dupioni silk and traditional buildings

TAKAMATSU MACHINERYPR Magazine Summer 2023

Interview on Manufacturing
Stories of TAKAMAZ Members

The Present State of Digital
Transformation and the Future Lying
Ahead of Digital Technologies
Digital transformation (DX) is theprocess of adopting digital technologies
to enhance competitiveness andachieve new grow th. We asked
about the present state of DX in
TAKAMAZ and our vision for DX.
Where We’re At With DX
Deput y Direc tor
Te c h n i c a l D e v e l o p m e n t D e p t .

Iwai
Our DX initiatives are based on theidea to utilize advanced digitaltechnologies to solve the shortageof engineers at production sites.
Meanwhile, some initiatives havedeveloped from IoT.
Our IoT system was originally basedon connecting a host computer to amachine tool. However, the numberof customers who could adopt it
was limited. Reﬂec tion on thisdisadvantage led to the current
form of machine tools featuring an
operation panel with a built-in
computer. Considering that we’re amachine tool manufacturer, I thinkit’s fair to say that our IoT system is
now what it should be. Enhancing
this system for the purpose of
improving productivity, an original
operation system, TAKAMAZ OS,
was developed four years ago, withadditional originally developed
convenient functions utilizing digitaltechnologies.

Iwai
Although some customers still use
computers for this purpose, a wide
variety of devices and connection
methods can be used now. This isbecause the concept of the optimal
approach diﬀers from company tocompany.
Okabe
And the type of data that is needed
diﬀers as well. There’s actually a wide
variety in the types and quality ofdata required. Data needs also
depend on the manufacturer’s typeand aﬃliation.
Iwai
They also depend on the standpointof the user. As the needs vary among
operators, supervisors, productionengineers, maintenance technicians,
and executives, there’s a diverse
range in the data and functions
that are called for. That's why it's
becoming diﬃcult to prepare standard
products and sell them as they are.

Okabe
Perhaps the easiest way to do thiswould be to prepare a wide range ofdata requested by customers andhave them choose and extract what
they need.

Iwai
The TAKAMAZ OS automatically saves
various data, and it can automaticallygenerate a daily machine repor t
based on the data. It’s important tothink about data utilization methods
based on the purpose, like improving

General Manager
Tokyo Oﬃce

Mitsuharu Okabelabor eﬃciency concerning manualtasks.

Okabe
While IoT has become a hot topic in
the past few years, I think everyone
is still exploring the ideal IoT solution.
Iwai
So I think it’s important to develop
IoT systems based on common
purposes like improved productivity
and operational eﬃciency. We also
listen to customer needs via oursales staﬀ and do our best to ﬁnd
solutions to those needs throughtrial and error.

Deputy Director
Technical
Development Dept.

Hideki Iwai

Our DX Vision: The Vision of the Future
Okabe
From a sales perspective, our visionchanges depending on what ourcustomers want. Well, the ultimate
vision is of course to create tools forgetting closer to ���% utilization
rate and zero defects.

Iwai
Development also has a never-ending
aspect to it because customers areconstantly making improvement
eﬀorts. Nevertheless, setting that
ultimate vision as the ﬁnal goal, wewant to help our customers achieve
automation and improve their laboreﬃciency, thereby contributing tosolving labor shortages in companies.
In any case, I believe DX tools are

something that you develop together
with your customers. It’s importantfor our engineers to be able to make
optimal proposals by understanding
customer needs as sales engineers.
Okabe
While the production process ofmost customers involves TAKAMAZ
and other machines, cus tomer s
often ask what kind of DX tools wehave to oﬀer. They usually don’t
have a speciﬁc vision when they ask
this question. Assisting a customer’s
DX is to start from this vague state,working on it from a consulting
perspective while creating a solution
path for achieving the ideal state.

While large manufacturers draw an
overall picture of their DX and manage
data collection, another method forachieving DX is to pursue the bestsolution for individual issues. There’s
no ﬁxed path for DX at this point.
We’re committed to putting ourselvesin the customer’s shoes and working
together with them to ﬁnd the bests o lu t i o n f o r t h e ir DX v i s i o n b ymaking the most of our experienceand know-how. Please share with us
your vision of the future ahead of
adopting digital technologies.

General Manager
To k y o O ﬃ c e

Okabe
Large manufacturers started using
digital technologies at the beginningof ����, initially through LAN cables
I believe. Each company built theirown original system, and machine
manufacturers would provide therequested information. This was
d o n e b y u s i n g co m p u te r s a splatforms for consolidating data,
but this type of DX didn’t become
widespread.

A s ys tem in which var ious thing s areconnected to the Internet and mutuallycontrolled by exchanging data.
The process of using digital technologies tocreate new business processes, corporate
cultures, and customer experiences to meetthe ever-changing business and market
demands.
Our original operation system designed
to improve produc tivit y with digitaltechnologies.

Visiting Our Customers

America. We’re also involved in theﬁeld of cultural properties. Our
products have been used in thereinforcement and restoration projectsof Nijo Castle.”

UNYTITE Co., Ltd.

Tap p ing ne w marke ts wi th ﬂ e x i ble a n d c r e a ti v e
th inking d e ve l o p e d thr ough e x p e r i e n c e i n m ulti p le ﬁe ld s

A bolt and nut for
power generators

Bolts and a nut for
construction
machines* These images are for illustrative
purposes only.

From shipbuilding and heavy machinery, construction machinery,
construction and civil engineering to automotive, UNYTITE Co., Ltd.
supplies fasteners to a wide range of industries.
Gaining know-how from experience, they leverage their creativity to
expand into new ﬁelds.

【UNYTITE Co., Ltd.】
3-1-12 Takatsukadai, Nishi-ku, Kobe-city, Hyogo
TEL.078-991-2233 FAX.078-991-1825
President: Jun Hashimoto
Capital: 100,000,000 yen
Establishment: May 1946
Business activities: Manufacturing of forged partsfor automobiles and fasteners
for shipbuilding, heavymachinery, and construction

Founded in ����, UNYTITE started
from delivering large bolts and nuts tomajor shipbuilding companies in
Kobe City. The company initiallycontinued to supply parts to the
shipbuilding and heavy machineryindustries. However, the ����s energy
crisis coupled with the yen’s
appreciation brought a period ofstagnation to the heavy industries,
forcing UNYTITE to undergo a majortransformation. The company needed
to expand its product lineup to meetthe needs of various other industries.
In order to meet those new customer
needs, the company began horizontal
hot forging as well as vertical andhorizontal cold heading in addition tovertical hot forging, which was what
they had been doing originally. In
recent years, the company has
expanded its range of products bycombining these processes in
multiple ways and improving productprecision through cutting and polishing.
Going beyond supplying bolts, nuts,
and screws, UNYTITE now oﬀers

various types of fasteners as well as
power transmission components.
Through this interview with President
Hashimoto, we got a close look at thework & soul of UNYTITE.

I see pictures of famous stadiums inthis meeting room! What industrial
ﬁelds do you provide fasteners to?
“As our past experience geared us
toward running a business that is not
susceptible to the ups and downs ofindustries, we now supply fasteners
to a wide range of industries including
shipbuilding and heavy electricalequipment, construction machinery,
construction and civil engineering,
and automotive. For example, we’ve
made fasteners for oil plants in Saudi
Arabia and fasteners for joints used indeep underground tunnels of theTokyo metropolitan area.
Replacing conventional processes,
our bolts have been used in an
outdoor stadium in California, a large
�,���-room hotel in Las Vegas, andlarge distribution warehouses acrossWhere do you think your competitive
advantage lies?
“Our view is that no advantage canever last long. Our current theme is
integration. This includes creating
new fasteners by combining multiple
production techniques and combining
functions to create an integrated
p r o d u ct . W e can’t d iﬀ er ent ia t eourselves or generate added value
just by making things according to thedrawings provided by customers.
Our current approach is to understandand imagine the big picture behindthose drawings, and then generate
work by proposing shapes and methods
that oﬀer greater functionality andconvenience. These proposals also
save time and money for customers.
The original plan may require meetings
with two or three companies, so thattime can be reduced, the lead time
can also be reduced, and associatedcosts are reduced as well. There arecompanies that produce results by
pursuing a single technology, but webelieve it’s better to have diverse
facilities and compete on the basis of
our comprehensive and combined
strengths.”
It sounds like your business mission
has changed a lot. I assume yourrelationship with customers haschanged too.

“We feel that being involved in moreindustries is not only a means tostabilize our business but also a great
advantage in that new ideas andconstruction methods are generated
as a result of the accumulation ofexperience and know-how within
the company. In the old days, oursalespeople focused merely on bolts
and nuts but now we realize there are
actually a variety of other related
aspects that our company can help
with.
A good example is what developed
from an order for anchor bolts of awindmill. In this case, at ﬁrst we were
only asked to supply bolts and nuts.
But then we were asked to assemble
other members, and then again topour mortar. In the end we wereasked to handle all aspects of thefoundation.”

I get the impression that yourbusiness system is quite diﬀerent
from those of companies deeply
involved in the automotive industry.
“In my view, industries either farm or
hunt. The automotive industry is a
farming industry. It’s goal is stableproduction, and for that they pursue abetter production environment
and improved precision and cost
reduction. On the other hand, theconstruction and civil engineering
industry is a hunting industry thatkeeps searching and chasing markets(large projects). We believe we canminimize the impact of economic
ﬂuctuations by supplying products
and services to both industries. We’re

open to work on any project involving
any type of industry, product ﬁeld, orconstruction method. That's who weare.”Finally, please tell us about yourexpectations and requests for
TAKAMAZ products, staﬀ, services,or anything else you’d like tocomment on.
“We used to have this policy of
reducing costs by reducing cutting as
much as possible and avoiding losses
and waste. But at some point, insteadof pursuing only the net shape, wechanged our policy to cut parts wherecutting would be the best, and this iswhen our relationship with yourcompany began. That was around����. So we’ve been using yourmachines for nearly �� years. We’ve
adopted several TAKAMAZ machinesat our company and group companies.
Onsite operators have been very
im p r essed by th em as th ey’v emaintained high precision after many
years of use and there’ve been
few problems. We also found themappealing because of their compactness
since they require minimum ﬂoor
space. As for the recent order, we’revery grateful for your prompt andmeticulous responses to our requests
concerning the speciﬁcations and formeeting the requested delivery date,
which was quite tight. My expectations
for your future products are thatyou develop machines that arepeople-friendly (ease of operationand maintenance) and eco-friendly(energy saving).

Case Introduction_Takamatsu Machinery

TAKAMAZ’s Efforts

MEX Kanazawa ����We exhibited at the Machinery & Electronics Exhibition in Kanazawa(MEX Kanazawa) held at the Ishikawa Industrial Exhibition Centerfrom May �� to ��, ����.
This was the ﬁrst time MEX Kanazawa was held since event
restrictions due to COVID-�� were lifted. The event attracted over��,��� visitors, �,��� more than last year, and the venue wasbustling with activity from beginning to end. Many visitors came toour booth throughout the three days to see the latest TAKAMAZ
technologies.
The main themes of our exhibition were carbon neutrality andautomation. We believe visitors experienced some of our diﬀerent
kinds of technologies like an automation system using a robot, and
our AI-Powered Automatic Recyclable Waste Sorter, a new projectin the non-machine tool area. We will continue to strive to provide
products and technologies that support the manufacturing
activities of our customers. We’d like to sincerely thank everyone
who came to our booth.

SDGs and
Repolishing
Colletsneeds for reusing collets and ﬂanges
have gradually increased.

Manager
Parts Business Dept.
Collet Chuck Section

Jun Miyata

SDGs Encouraged Repolishing
One of the answers to what we can do
as a company supporting the SDGs
was to develop a system for reuse.
Speciﬁcally speaking, we’ve began
extending the service life of collets
and ﬂanges by repolishing them toenable customers to reuse those
consumables instead of throwing
them out. Of course, we aren’t alone
in supporting SDGs. As our customers’
awareness of the SDGs increased,

Relaunch with Updated Equipment
and Experience
We actually used to repolish somecollets and ﬂanges for reuse about adecade ago. But the quality of thosecollets and ﬂanges didn’t always
satisfy our customers as we lacked
the experience and know-how for
repolishing consumables with stable
precision. Now that there’s acompany-wide understanding of theSDGs with the passage of �� years,
we’ve been able to build a full-scale
system for reuse. We’ve relaunched
the project as we succeeded inbuilding a system for repolishingwith enhanced precision based on
upgraded equipment, accumulated
experience, and established know-how.
The Beneﬁts Are Returned to Our
Customers and the Earth
As a result, collets and ﬂanges thatwould otherwise be thrown away
are now being repolished withcustomer-satisfying precision andregaining the same service life as thatof a new one. In addition, when it
comes to ﬂanges, the cost of
repolishing one is about one sixth ofthe cost of buying a new one.
This service signiﬁcantly beneﬁts
customers in terms of cost too.

We can proudly say that this is an
eco-friendly service that contributes
to SDGs.
We announced the relaunch of ourrepolishing service for collets andﬂanges at the Japan International
Machine Tool Fair held in November
����. Since then the number ofmonthly orders has been steadily anddramatically increasing. While it’shitting home that this is exactly theservice our customers have been
looking for, we’re yet to revive alltypes with repolishing. We still need
to upgrade this service to TAKAMAZ
standards by, with the help of ourcustomers, gaining more know-how
on the types that we lack data andexperience. In any case, it’s anaccomplishment that we managed tosuccessfully relaunch a service that
returns signiﬁcant beneﬁts to ourcustomers and the Earth, and I’m very
eager to build on this accomplishment.

Solar Panels Installed on the Roofsof the Head Plant and Its Carports

We’ve installed solar power systems on some areas of the roof ofthe head plant and all roofs of its carports. Using solar-generated
electricity will enable us to reduce our carbon emissions, making
us more eco-friendly. (Estimated CO� emission reduction: approx.
���t-CO�/year) These systems have also made it possible to reduce
our energy consumption by approximately ��� kl/year (crude oil
equivalent).
We will continue to come up with new initiatives to achieve carbon
neutrality.

Strolling Through TAKAMAZ
A ﬁfth-year member, he works in the Operation
Section. He takes care of machine shipments
while balancing and improving QCD. In addition
to his main responsibilities, coworkers also
depend on him for advice on computer issues.

His Favorite Places & Tools
Immediately after getting his mid-sized
motorcycle driver’s license last year, he got
himself a Yamaha YZF-R��, his current absolutefavorite. Of course, he didn’t miss the chance to
go on a long-distance motorcycle trip withfriends during the Golden Week holidays.
His favorite place at his workplace, the Asahi
Plant, is the passage that connects theentrance to the factory ﬂoor. He gets to spenda brief relaxing moment gazing at his car while
walking through the passage during work.

Writing instruments and digital notepads are
his favorite work tools. His writing instrument
set features a mechanical pencil, black andred ballpoint pens, and a large MONO eraser.

Sales Aﬀairs

Yusei OmoteTraveling the Hokuriku Area to Experience Craftsmanship
CRAFT CONSCIOUS

To Kanazawa
Hakusan City Shiramine
Elementary School
Tedori River

Ushikubi Dupioni
Silk Hakusan
StudioShiramine Hot
Springs Soyu

Gyokanji Temple
Former residence of
Yamagishi Family
To Katsuyama

Yukidaruma Café

Visiting the Shiramine District of Hakusan City to explore thefascinating Ushikubi dupioni silk and traditional buildings
Surrounded by mountains, Hakusan City s Shiramine District is covered with heavy
snow every winter. Having been practicing advanced sericulture since around the18th century, the district features a stunning landscape with remarkable traditionalbuildings, which are nationally designated as a Preservation District for Groups of
Traditional Buildings, despite its location deep in the mountains.
About an hour s drive from our Main Oﬃce, Hakusan is a perfect destination for
exploring craftsmanship.

Yukidaruma Café

Ushikubi Dupioni Silk Hakusan Studio(Reservation required for a studio tour)
Silk yarns are manually spun from cocoons and theyarns are manually woven into silk fabric. Traditional
dupioni silk production processes have been passed
down over generations at Hakusan Studio, whichoﬀers worksite tours.

The Shiramine district is often known for its Snowmen Festival or hard
tofu. However, it is actually one of Japan s three main dupioni silk
production areas. And that is Ushikubi dupioni silk.
With a unique texture featuring the properties of both silk and dupioni,
this local silk is strong, beautiful, and comfortable. Attracting
international attention in recent years as a material for Western-style
clothing, Ushikubi dupioni silk has been used in a designer s

Yukidaruma Café and theTownscape of the National
Preservation District
A distinct traditional architecture
style still remains in Shiramine
District of Hakusan City, one of thesnowiest places in Japan. Yukidaruma
Café is located among thosetraditional buildings. Their ﬁst-sized
botamochi rice cake is very popular!

collection presented at the Paris Fashion Week.
Another highlight of the district is its nationally designatedPreservation District for Groups of Traditional Buildings. A few hours
will quickly ﬂy by as you wander around the district visiting places liketraditional houses with huge ladders, the public hot springs bathknown for its good water quality, and relaxing café. We also
recommend Shiramine as a summer retreat from the heat!

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Gyokanji Temple

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