The industrial sensors that underpin factory automation and the endoscopes that are essential to the medical field may seem to have nothing to do with each other, but they require high precision, water resistance, and durability in harsh environments. He is the founder of METROL (Tachikawa City, Tokyo), a company engaged in the development, manufacture, and sales of high-precision industrial sensors, and is an authority on the research and development of endoscopes. This is how the sensor and the endoscope are linked. From its inception to today, how has the business philosophy of giving full play to the strength of superb technology and consistently pursuing precision been passed down?
▼ Introduced INTEGREX to integrate machining processes for complex shape parts
METROL
corporation
METROL is a professional manufacturer of industrial sensors founded by the father of President Toshiji Matsuhashi in 1976. In 1977, in cooperation with Toyota Motor, it developed a precision mechanical sensor that replaced the traditional dial gauge. The resulting mechanical sensor can withstand the harsh environment of coolant, chip splashing, and has both precision and water resistance.
In 1983, the company targeted the machine tool industry and developed a tool counter for CNC lathes to detect tip wear. Today, it has been adopted by more than 70 machine tool manufacturers in 17 countries around the world, and its share is among the best. In addition to the automotive and machine tool industries, the company's products are also widely used in the fields of semiconductors, medical devices, robots and other industrial machinery. By using its own EC (e-commerce) website and digital tools such as SNS, we have gained customers all over the world.
▼ The mazak equipment is in the company's factory
Various Mazak equipment has been introduced to improve production efficiency
At the company's plant, seven Mazak machines are operating at full capacity, including the CNC lathe QT 100 and 100MY, the vertical machining center VCN-430A, and the composite machining machine INTEGREX j-200S. These devices were all introduced quickly and intensively after 2018. "In order to cope with the closure of partner factories due to the aging of employees, we must shift our focus to the in-house production of sensor housing components. This is more reasonable given the delivery time and cost.". President Matsuhashi revealed the background of the intensive introduction in a short period of time.
▼ The internal equipment is also equipped with a self-manufactured tool setter to verify the quality of the product
▼ The housing of the company's product (contact probe) processed by INTEGREX
When choosing a machine tool for in-house production, the voices of young employees on the production site play a decisive role. They say that if Mazak's equipment, its dialogue-style CNC device, can create processing programs, we can improve our programming skills in the field. This may also give them a sense of accomplishment. In fact, it has also played an effect of increasing production efficiency."
For example, by producing the housing of a complex 3D contact probe in-house, the delivery time has been successfully shortened from the past 2 months to 15 days. In addition, in the past, the production of prototypes on a monthly basis was shortened to a unit of weeks, and so on, which also contributed to accelerating the development of new products.
▼ The ease of use of MAZATROL became a decisive factor in the introduction of Mazak equipment
The development of in-house production has also strengthened the company's corporate strength. In the context of the reduction in revenue due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the company reduced external expenses through independent production and achieved an increase in profits.
Keep pace with the times, towards a new era
President Matsuhashi said, "With the incorporation of mainstream mechanical sensors into electrical elements in the past, the proportion of mechatronic types has increased. Since then, software elements have also been added, and now they have been interconnected through the IoT, which can be described as a time to keep pace. Therefore, we must focus on this and vigorously carry out talent training and research and development."
In order to usher in this new era, President Matsuhashi is working to establish a workplace environment in which skilled workers and young employees complement each other. The specific mechanism is to invite skilled workers who have accumulated rich experience in large enterprises to serve as guidance, and to cultivate young employees who shoulder the responsibility of future development through practice. The company has begun to blend the energy of young employees and the knowledge and experience of skilled workers to take a step towards a new era.
▼ President Matsuhashi (Chuo) and the company's employees
▼ Workpieces and products of the company processed by Mazak equipment
What kind of success story will be written in the future when the workpieces and products produced by Mazak's equipment support "precision product manufacturing in various industries" such as machine tools, automobiles, and semiconductors? Let's wait and see.
Source: Mazak