Mitsubishi Materials Craftsmanship Magazine YOUR BM004A GLOBAL CRAFTSMAN STUDIO JAPAN QUALITY The Spirit of Japanese Manufacturing VOL.4 STORIESVOL.4 Vol.4 Stories Your Global Craftsman Studio 9-14 FOCUS on PERFORMANCE 3-8 A Challenge from Japan Uniquely Evolving Japanese EYE on the MARKET Bobsleigh Network Project from the Heart of Tokyo Machining Craftsmen 15-16 17-20 21-24 HISTORY OF MITSUBISHI THE CRAFTSMAN STORY TECHNOLOGY ARCHIVE Mitsubishi DNA Passed Down to Increased abrasion resistance with the History of Grooving Tools and the Next Generation advancement of coolant-driven technology the Enthusiasm of Craftsmen THREE MITSUBISHI PRINCIPLES Jet Coolant Technology – SANKORYO – – Jet Tech Holder – 25-26 27-28 29-30 ABOUT US CUTTING EDGE WA (Japan) An Educational Base for Broad Amazing Straightness with only 0.48 mm Japanese Swords (Katana) Areas in the United States Deflection over 1km MESSAGE The term, “manufacturing,” is a simple word, but has people. How about tools? Few people are concerned a deep meaning. Almost everything we manufacture about how a tool looks. What matters is durability, supports our life in some way or another. The essence functionality and cost effectiveness. Like any product, of manufacturing, I think, is the dedication of the however, the success of a tool is the result of the manufacturer. Manufacturing starts from an idea of combined dedication and effort of everyone involved a product that we think will be useful or that might in its manufacture, the skill of the designer, the make people’s lives better. We create a design, select precision of the manufacturer, the earnestness of the materials and decide upon a method that will the service provider, the knowledge of the dealer, turn our design and materials into a finished product. and, perhaps most importantly, the feedback from The dedicated effort, experience and skill of all those the customer that ultimately uses the tool as a key involved is cumulative and the resulting product is component in the process it employs to manufacture Fumio Tsurumaki certain to exhibit qualities valued by the market, the products it develops. I am quite confident that Managing Executive Officer, qualities such as visual beauty in colour or form, Mitsubishi Materials’ journal, “Your Global Craftsman Mitsubishi Materials Corporation President, Advanced Materials & or functionality and usefulness. Some products are Studio” exhibits the combined effort, experience and Tools Company highly regarded by the public consumer in general skill of Mitsubishi Materials Corporation employees and some are highly valued by specific groups of dedicated to the manufacture of better products. 1 YOUR GLOBAL CRAFTSMAN STUDIO MESSAGE Our goal is to help our customers succeed First published in April of 2015, this to be a critically important aspect Mitsubishi Materials Corporation is the fourth issue of Your Global of our products. The service I mean places a priority on the manufacture Craftsman Studio. In this issue, is the smooth delivery of products of new products and technologies, we focus on the spirit of Japanese to customers, offering the most working closely with end users to manufacturing from the viewpoint reasonable prices in the industry, and find fast and effective solutions, of the manufacturers themselves our timely and appropriate response sharing the excitement of success as and we asked many experts to talk to the needs of the customer. Our we move forward together into the about their work. It is certain that desire is to maintain our position future. the common enthusiasm of these as a company that customers can specialists in their individual fields is rely on when they need help. We Toshiyuki Taniuchi to manufacture the highest quality chose the title, Global Craftsman General Manager, products that Japan has to offer, Studio, as a declaration of Mitsubishi Quality Assurance Division products that lead the pack in global Materials Corporation’s continuing Advanced Materials & competition. We often use the term commitment to providing services Tools Company Japan quality, but few link this with as a comprehensive tool studio for Mitsubishi Materials Corporation the impressive technology behind it. customers around the world. As tool Spurred to excellence by customers manufacturers and professionals, who demand and expect the highest we fully leverage our experience in quality and the uncompromising and know-how to help businesses quality-first spirit of Japanese succeed by providing individualized craftsmen, Japan produces leading- solutions to customer problems; and edge products that strive to stay while we take the lead in designing ahead of the global competition. To proposals for our customers, it is an keep pace with increasingly diverse essential part of the manufacturing customer needs, we continue process we employ to listen carefully providing highly valued products that to requests and opinions to ensure represent the best in Japan quality. the highest degree of customer satisfaction and success. Mitsubishi Materials Corporation also considers the quality of service YOUR GLOBAL CRAFTSMAN STUDIO 2 EYE on the MARKET A Challenge from Japan Bobsleigh Network Project from the Heart of Tokyo With maximum speeds reaching up to 140 km/hour, competitive bobsleighing is also known as Formula One on Ice. Clocking the best time for the win requires skilled bobsledders and state-of-the-art equipment. The great names in European high-performance racing, Italy’s Ferrari, Germany’s BMW and England’s McLaren put the full force of their automotive engineering talent into the development of world-class sleighs. Joining the competition, small high-precision manufacturers in the heart of Tokyo are combining their supremely honed techniques to the manufacture of world-class bobsleds. The name of the project is The Shitamachi (heart of Tokyo) Bobsleigh Network Project. In this issue, we take a look at their history as we explore the essence of Japanese manufacturing. Cooperation from Koji Okuda and Makiko Uchida from the Ota City Industrial Promotion Organization. Rapid Decline in Small Factories in the Heart of Tokyo made bobsleighs. Kosugi felt the fact that bobsleighs have many more parts than other “Your craftsmanship is the best!” Jamaica techniques to produce precision parts equipment used in Olympic events, and that Bobsleigh Federation President Chris Stokes such as those used in the asteroid probe most of the parts from them are metallic, came to Nagano to evaluate a bobsled Hayabusa. With major companies shifting made them the perfect undertaking for designed and manufactured by a group of their production overseas in and after the the small factories in Ota. He proposed the small factories in Tokyo, and immediately 1980s, and the aging and retirement of idea to Ota Ward officials. The proposal was decided to adopt it for the Jamaican team. small factory owners who had opened their approved, but it was determined to be too In addition to its stability, the precision businesses when the economy was booming much for the local administration to handle on processing and the capability of the project in the 1960s and 1970s, the number of small its own and suggested that Hosogai himself members to respond to the bobsledders’ factories has dropped from some 9,000 at head the project. Since Hosogai had been needs were immediately clear. The Jamaican the area’s peak in 1983 to around 3,500 now. so enthusiastic about the proposal, even bobsleigh team participated in the 1988 While small factories find it a challenge to planning to cover the budget with funds from Winter Olympic Games in Calgary, Canada, mass produce at low cost, they excel in the his own company if he couldn’t convince the the first time for a Caribbean nation to enter production of small-lot prototypes requiring Ota Ward to support the project, he accepted the bobsleigh event. Readers may have seen high skill levels and quick delivery and they the suggestion without hesitation. One day in the movie “Cool Runnings,” the story of the have confidence in their techniques. However, December of 2011, the Shitamachi Bobsleigh Jamaican team’s path to the Winter Olympics. what they needed was a way to let the world Network Project, got its start. This was a A combination of the Jamaican team’s physical know about them. Material Co., Ltd. President project that would grow to involve many, prowess and Japanese manufacturing quality Junichi Hosogai, a key figure in the Shitamachi including a former bobsleigher living in Ota marked the start of a new story at the 2018 Bobsleigh Network Project thought a good Ward, a race engine manufacturer and a Winter Olympics Games in PyeongChang, way to accomplish this would be through the university professor. Korea. However, the road that led to this Olympics. At the same time, Satoshi Kosugi, a starting point was anything but smooth. member of the Ota City Industrial Promotion Organization, had the idea of exploring the Many small factories involved in machine possibility of small factories in the Ota Ward and metal processing are based in the Ota working together to manufacture high-quality Ward, Tokyo. While 90% of these are medium bobsleds for the Olympic Games. Looking and small-sized businesses employing 19 or into this, he found that Japanese bobsleighing fewer individuals, they engage in state-of- suffered from a lack of funding, which forced the-art processing with the most advanced many bobsleighers to use old-style foreign- 3 YOUR GLOBAL CRAFTSMAN STUDIO EYE on the MARKET EYE on the MARKET SHITAMACHI BOBSLEIGH Cooperation among Partners – Human Bond for Manufacturing They say that “If you throw a paper plane with a design written on it through the Bobsleigh Structure Brake window of a small factory in Ota Ward, you’ll have a completed product by the next Cowl (Carbon Fiber Reinforced Plastic: CFRP) day.” This is possible because of “nakama Designed to reduce air resistance utilizing computer analysis mawashi,” literally “passing something Frame around to friends.” Taking advantage of their (made from steel, etc.) close proximity to one another, the small factories in the neighborhood are quick to Carrier ask one another to lend a hand to complete products.