Founded by Noboru Nagase in 1950 as a machinist with one lathe. After surviving many eras, Nagase Integrex grew into the world’s leading manufacturer of grinders capable of super surface/super mirror processing, large super-precision grinders, ultra-precision double column type multi surface grinding machines, and nanomachines. Nagase Integrex constantly pursues creation of machines that are the best in the world on accuracy and efficiency.
The Men Who Carved the Future of Monozukuri Talk about the Now
Tokyo Seimitsu Co., LTD
President & CEO
Hitoshi YOSHIDA
Nagase Integrex Co.,Ltd
President
Yukiyasu NAGASE
Company at the time of joining
Yoshida
What was Nagase Integrex like when you first joined the company?
When I joined ACCRETECH, the head office was located in Mitaka, and it was a small town factory. I majored in electronics at university, so I didn't know much about mechanical companies, but my university lecturer recommended ACCRETECH saying it was a Second Section (on the Tokyo Stock Exchange) company at that point in time but was bound to become a First Section company down the track due to its high technological capability. So I returned to my hometown of Tsuchiura, where the company was located, to start my career. At university, I studied software, so as soon as I began working, I was assigned to the technical team and put in charge of CMM software.
Nagase
When I joined my company, there were many catalogs, including catalogs of products such as shapers and contour machines, but there were only three catalogs for grinders, which are currently our flagship products. In other words, the company only three grinder models. Immediately after entering university, I got sick and had an operation. From there, I took a leave of absence from university and concentrated on fighting my illness. Even after returning to university, I attended classes from a boarding house in Tokyo while being treated at a nearby hospital.
Originally, I planned on gaining experience at another company and then return to my father's company, but as soon as I graduated, I joined Nagase Ironworks. Unfortunately, I couldn't utilize what I’d learnt at university in my work right away, so at first I was accounting apprentice, and when my health improved after about a year, I was assigned to sales.
It was route sales, but I also tried my hand at walk-in sales. However, even though I made plenty of cold calls, no one was willing to meet me, and even when I actually visited a potential customer, nobody knew that Nagase Ironworks was a company that made grinders. I was surprised at our lack of name value for grinders. As such, I became really motivated to obtain status as a grinder manufacturer used by the kind of companies that appear in TV ads, so I set up a planning department during my time in sales.
Work in the Planning Department
Yoshida
So, you exerted a lot of effort into marketing?
Nagase
Japan’s period of high growth was an age of mass production. However, the oil shock completely changed the business environment. Seven years of the 1970s was the "exploration phase." At that time, since the company could not be sustained with machine tools alone, we were also developing products such as seaweed strippers and sushi train belt conveyors. In fact, I was involved in dishwasher sales, conveyor marketing, and meetings for shop installation, but the whole time I was thinking to myself how I wanted our company to focus solely on machine tools. My perception was that Japan’s future would not be a bright one if it resorted to mass production of cheap products. On the other hand, shifting operations overseas was also not a good option. So, the best thing was to refine product concept. I wanted Nagase Ironworks to be a company that offered made-to-order products with the world’s best accuracy and functionality. As such, over the course of a year, I changed the development of our products entirely. I knew that no matter how much we mimicked what other manufacturers were already doing, consumers wouldn’t acknowledge us. Then, the development team knocked on doors here and there and studied. It was at this time that I encountered "non-contact multifaceted-constraint hydrostatic guideway technology." However, we still wouldn’t be acknowledged if we simply incorporated that technology into a machine. This is because, we’d be recommending a technology that was completely incompatible with the structure that was claimed to be good at that time. Still, the only way forward was for the sales department to make proposals to customers and demonstrate our products’ worth. After struggling to find a way to make our customers understand, we decided to set up a technical center. When I looked back later, I got the impression that what we had been doing at that time was in fact marketing.
Technical Centers and Measurement Centers
Yoshida
We also have a facility called the Measurement Center, but what specific thoughts did you have when you built your Technical Center?
Nagase
One day, we built a machine for our customers. Even though we said to them “Isn’t our machine amazing!?” the customers weren’t really persuaded. So I did the only thing I could do, which was to state repeatedly how wonderful our machine was. Then, one day, a grinding wheel manufacturer came to see us and said, "We made this high-mesh wheel with a 2000 or 3000 grit, which is fantastic, but I don't have a grinder that I can use it on. From what I've heard, your grinder seems to be able to grind with a resolution of 0.1 μ. Could you please try grinding a workpiece using our wheel?" We did just that, and the result was a mirror-like finish. All the various workpieces turned out with this same mirror-like look. I thought to myself that with a finish like that, there would be no need to hand polish the parts.” When we showed it to the customer, they didn’t believe us, saying “You polished it by hand, didn’t you?” “You took extra measures because it’s a test, right?” So I told them that, if they wanted more proof, I would grind as many workpieces as they liked as long as they were happy to supply them. It was that interaction that made me feel like we needed somewhere we could demonstrate and test processing, so we built our Technical Center.
Yoshida
Our Measurement Centers were built in order to create a framework that not only exhibited our machines but also allowed us to make proper measurement proposals and provide technical support while listening to the needs of our customers. Being able to listen to market needs is imperative to marketing. Customers who bring their workpieces are seeking something because they are struggling with some kind of issue. You have to capture what those needs are and let them guide you to the next development. Also, if the application staff do not possess the necessary know-how, they cannot make proposals to customers. As such, we built our Measurement Centers as more than just showrooms or applications.
Nagase
I think such a place is the crossroads of information. It's a very important place for me. In my case, I used to grind workpieces myself and take them with me.
Previously, we were making products of structures that were incompatible with the surface grinder made by a European manufacturer that was said to be the best in the world at that time. Despite this, we were presented with merciless machining specifications by the world’s leading manufacturers and had to achieve high accuracy, so the manufacturing shop floor workers were quite angry. I couldn’t get anyone to work on the project and also couldn’t get people permanently assigned to the Technical Center, so I did it myself (laughs). Looking back now, I think it's amazing that the president at the time (our founder) allowed it. Back then, we couldn’t even really afford to waste one screw, so I was very grateful that the president didn’t say our development work was useless, but rather praised us for having developed something so impressive.
Aiming forworld No.1
Yoshida
When I think of Nagase Integrex, I think of your super-precision surface grinder. Do you have any uncompromising areas regarding technology?
When I was working as a group leader, I was meticulous about being No. 1 and told my team to be ten times faster than the roughness meter at the time. That kind of speed was not possible with the technology back then. As such, we shifted from the feed screw system used until then to a linear motor. Consequently, while we didn’t achieve a speed 10 times faster, we did achieve a speed 3 times faster, not to mention reduced the vibration to a fraction of what it had been. We also patented this technology. In order to manifest such a concept of “10 times greater,” one must devise a concept completely different to one’s competitors so that they can’t catch up. That’s why, when I was leader, I thought that if we could patent our technology, we could firmly differentiate ourselves from the pack. I believe that such technological innovation has made us what we are today. A company won’t become world No. 1 if it's satisfied with just being “a little different” to its rivals in the industry. I think it's important to be distinctly different in order to be the best in the world.
Nagase
For me, "being faithful to theories, principles, and fundamentals" is essential.
Recently, more and more people sound plausible when they speak. The vibe is one where it seems as though, rather than verifying the truth, one could persuade the audience by simply mentioning temperature and vibration etc., however, to accomplish one’s goal, we must stick to our theories and principles. I strive to share this perspective with all Nagase employees.
Yoshida
Accuracy can only be accumulated, right? It cannot be obtained unless you accumulate it logically a little at a time. Even if you obtain accuracy in an instant, I feel that it won’t be truly earnt unless one accumulates it from the bottom up. An analogy would be erecting a flimsy pole that immediately topples over. I perceive accuracy in the same way. You can’t create a good product unless you pay careful consideration to everything, starting from the material.
Nagase
I have experienced and witnessed many scenarios where principles and theories are important. When I was considering purchasing a roundness measuring machine from an overseas manufacturer in the past, I asked the sales person in charge if there was a fundamental theory behind the roundness accuracy his company’s product claimed to offer, and he told me evidence existed in the laboratory of the British royal family. Then, when I asked him what was used to measure the accuracy, he told me it was his company’s measuring machine. I was not convinced by that answer alone, so I asked him what was used to actually verify the roundness accuracy. At that point, he got annoyed and retorted, "At the end of the day, a machine tool manufacturer without our roundness measuring machine is simply no good." Needless to say, we didn’t buy from them. After that, I learnt that roundness was measured using methods called the three-point method and inverse method, whereby the accuracy of a master workpiece was measured and how one could determine just how round something was by applying these theories. I thought to myself that, if only the sales rep back then had explained all this to me, I probably would have purchased his roundness measuring machine. That’s why I believe that companies who leverage a certain level of technology to develop products share a common belief that theories and principles are of significant importance.
Yoshida
Our company is also solid in that aspect.
Accurate measurement is not possible unless we can eliminate any error in the turntable of a roundness measuring instruments. If you shift the phase of the turntable a few times and compile all measured data then remove the difference, the characteristics of the table itself will finally become apparent. Roundness is obtained when this is calculated by a computer. I was engaged in software development, so I did a lot of data processing.
The Future of Machine Tools
Yoshida
Recently, IoT and AI have been attracting attention. What are your thoughts on this technology?
Nagase
My impression is that these areas have been particularly focused on since Industry 4.0, but I think IoT is a concept that has had latent potential for quite some time. Some companies have been utilizing IoT for a while in ways such as monitoring machining operations while on a business trip, or collecting data from a remote location to see whether the machine delivered to a customer is running.
Moreover, I think that the demand for automation and labor-saving solutions, including AI, cannot be stopped. In a way, it’s sort of a self-defeating situation. If a machine can process parts three times faster than before, or a task that previously required three machines can be performed in a single machine, this translates to less of a need to build machines. This is fine while the market that needs machine tools is still expanding, but as it matures, a situation where people’s involvement is no longer required will arise, therefore, there’ll be no need to manufacture machines. In a sense, it is in the self-contradiction, isn't it? That makes this trend somewhat self-defeating, wouldn’t you agree? But it isn’t something that can be stopped. We just have to respond to it.
Yoshida
I see IoT as an opportunity for measuring machines. Until now, the attitude toward measuring machines was that they were only needed to judge whether a workpiece was pass or fail, that they were not essential for production, and that process management was enough. If IoT and Industry 4.0 transition the industry into an era of total production management, then measuring machines will be integrated into production lines as one production asset once manufacturers realize they can contribute to raise production efficiency and accuracy.
An even stronger need will arise if we get to the stage where products cannot be made without measuring machines.
I think demand will increase if we reshape measuring machines to suit the flow.
Nagase
In the future, it would be nice if ACCRETECH and Nagase could jointly develop products that meet the times.
Yoshida
Yes, we would definitely like to cooperate with you on that.
Nagase Integrex Co.,Ltd
Founded by Noboru Nagase in 1950 as a machinist with one lathe. After surviving many eras, grew into the world’s leading manufacturer of grinders capable of super surface/super mirror processing, large super-precision grinders, ultra-precision double column type multi surface grinding machines, and nanomachines. Nagase Integrex constantly pursues creation of machines that are the best in the world on accuracy and efficiency.