President, Yamazaki Mazak Corporation
Takashi Yamazaki, President, Vivek Sharma, Chairman, Anil Bhardwaj, MD, Mazak India
About Takashi Yamazaki
Takashi Yamazaki, president of Yamazaki Mazak, discussed the company's use of Cisco industrial network switches to improve production efficiency and pursue carbon neutrality. He stated that environmental measures and factory smartification are "two wheels of business," and that collecting and storing equipment operational data via networks is the starting point for CO2 reduction, which must then be analyzed and reflected in on-site improvement activities. Yamazaki noted that the company's smart factory initiatives serve as a model for next-generation manufacturing, utilizing IT, ICT, and IoT to visualize equipment data and improve overall factory productivity. Yamazaki also described the company's adoption of Cisco's Webex for internal and external communication, including virtual product inspections for overseas customers during the COVID-19 pandemic. He emphasized that digitalization and smart factories are essential not only for productivity gains and labor efficiency but also for optimizing factory power consumption toward a carbon-neutral world. He concluded that Mazak aims to contribute to manufacturing DX through its smart factory activities.
Transcript (22 segments)
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Interviewer0:02
Congratulations on Mazak's new venture in India. What's your view on the Indian manufacturing sector?
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Takashi Yamazaki0:10
Ever growing manufacturing industry in India. Okay, and I strongly feel we decided the right timing to make a machine in India, and very good timing to start the operation this year.
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Interviewer0:34
So manufacturing tools is an industry that usually evolves slowly, and in 20 years things have changed a lot. So what has been the big revolution in the machine tool over the last 20 years?
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Takashi Yamazaki0:51
Segment with high volume production, key solution from us to make a big volume in terms of sales.
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Interviewer1:10
Technology part, how would you define?
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Takashi Yamazaki1:16
It is one of the know-how which we already have in India: making a picture and trying other pictures and give a turnkey solution to our customer. It's the experience, we need know-how, and need a good proposal, and we must make it happen. This huge investment from customer side, not buying a single machine, but I'm talking about horizontal machines segment, a customer buys macro numbers together with automation systems. That creates a huge amount of business models.
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Interviewer2:11
So in an earlier interview you had said, and I quote, 'I would like to continue to visit machining sites around the world, and it is important not only to read reports from our sales team but also to visit and see firsthand what is happening in our sites.' So how has this habit helped Mazak?
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Takashi Yamazaki2:37
Yeah, oh this is all the hints. Not only Mazak, but our business aim is always, I believe, come from the customer side, customer shop floor, and talking with customers' management team. So that I can understand the comments 10 years ago and today. It's completely different here in India. Ten years ago, different requirements. So without having a conversation and talking with the customers, you cannot get them. And this hint what I get here in India, our team gets here in India, we directly feedback to our development team in Japan. So in this regard, those cycles: using the customer, having discussions, making a good proposal based on this business, and give a better proposal to us on working together. Always it is a result.
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Interviewer3:58
So one of the technologies that has taken over is additive manufacturing, and it is growing highly in the machine tool industry. So how do you evaluate its impact in the sector?
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Takashi Yamazaki4:10
To be honest, it has been taking already seven or eight years since we started this technology, and still learning. Some of we have a success story already throughout the world. But this is not setting the machine like this or that. It takes a lot of time working together like a project between customer and our team, and make a good component additive manufacturing component one by one. So this digital technology besides the technology, we've got a lot of application technology. Sometimes it takes a lot of time, yes. Gradually improving the technology as well as our business opportunities and actual vehicles.
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Interviewer5:24
So how have you seen any new growing trends in this industry? Any new growing trends in this industry?
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Takashi Yamazaki5:30
Actually, we have, you know, the automobile sectors quickly try to shift their cars to electric vehicles, and we have to catch up. Fortunately, we have one of the core technologies for prediction, steering, welding, making — display there, please take a look later on. This is absolutely a requirement technology for every component. These components are completely different from our traditional technical cars. Okay.
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Interviewer6:25
So you spoke about new materials like composite. So what is the impact of it in the machine tool industry?
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Takashi Yamazaki6:33
You have to adapt. Material has been changing in that 10 years, that's 20 years, and will be changing the next 10 years in almost 20 years. So machine is machine, but we have to adapt those material changes. For example, we talk about aerospace industries. Their material has been changed, as you know, from composite that the aluminum or stainless steel become composite, yes, and more alloy type of materials is required, which machines specifications has to be changed to adapt material changes. Okay.
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Interviewer7:23
So there is one more thing called intelligent machines that you have highlighted. So could you talk about that?
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Takashi Yamazaki7:35
Let's see. In November, we launched one special software called DX. That is a very unique software. You can make... so our customer receives inquiry from their partner or from their customers, then they start to work making a quotation to their customers in just 30 seconds. Where before it took three hours, now become only 30 seconds. Then setting up procedures also done by this DX by using the technology of digital twins. We developed this digital twin software by ourselves and integrated into our control DX. So setting up time against... Okay. So we started talking about mechanical side? We've been putting so much effort to develop latest digital technology software and operation systems for our products for our customers.
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Interviewer9:23
Okay, so last two questions. Digitization means freedom? As you know, I don't know exactly what has happened to India's manufacturing society, but if we look at our world manufacturing societies, one of the critical and very serious problems is shortage of manpower. And in this digital technology will support position alone.
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Takashi Yamazaki10:02
Yeah, because you cannot get hired — 10 percent, at one time you can recruit only two or three. This is actually happening in our country, Japan. So how can we compensate? So this technology could help not to reduce but to contain a business with a limited number of staff. So much this has been already started last five years. It has been successful much more than initially we thought. So we will even spend more on this side of our technology to our business.
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Interviewer10:58
Okay, so achieving climate neutral industries is a goal now. So how important is environment and sustainability to Mazak?
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Takashi Yamazaki11:12
Yes, I think this is Mazak's responsibility. In terms of society, in terms of overseas, you can share this feeling. As a manufacturer, we have found many things we can do in terms of government strategies. But the most important issue is we said that we will reduce 50% CO2 reduction by 2030, and it is not so easy. For our business, not only manufacturing side but supply chain side, most importantly we have to develop the machines for this. CO2 or less energy consumption machines is required because after we install our machine to customers, customers use our machine for 10 years or 15 years. This is the largest process if we think about 50% of the reductions. So we have all of our products must be eco-friendly products, less energy consumption machines to reduce these processes. For sure, and this step by step, as I said, our time limit is another seven years. I think we can achieve. Not easy, but we can achieve it.
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Interviewer13:00
How important is this event for you?
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Takashi Yamazaki13:09
Oh, it is, it is. I feel I come back home. I mean, I've been attending this show many, many years before, but the topic time until probably time so I was absent for four years. Now I'm back everywhere, so I feel very comfortable attending the show, and I have many friends, not only our customers but I have a lot of friends from local manufacturers and suppliers and so on. I'm very looking forward to meeting people during my visit in Index. Thank you.