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Prominent technology and a challenging spirit bring monozukuri (manufacturing) into the future
Yamaguchi Kikai Inc.
Nagaoka City, Niigata Prefecture
Mr. Yoshikazu Yamaguchi, President and CEO
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| Address |
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2-1011-13 Nanyo, Nagaoka City, Niigata Prefecture |
| Foundation |
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September 1988 |
| Business |
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Metal machining, resin treatment, assembly, design, development and manufacturing of hydraulic equipment |
| URL |
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http://www.yamaguchi-kikai.com/ |
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Nagaoka City is the second biggest city in Niigata Prefecture where petroleum industry mining once throve. Today, diversified manufacturers gather here and form Monozukuri city. We visited Yamaguchi Kikai Inc. whose base is located in an industrial park near the Shinano River running in the city center. We asked them about their passion for monozukuri, which is the origin of highly precise machining technology, and their attitude toward quality.
We integrate QCD to fulfill customer expectations
Yamaguchi Kikai Inc. conducts precise machining as the main work and offers reliability acquired from a wide variety of monozukuri companies by utilizing high technological capability to conduct precise machining of materials including nonferrous metals and special materials.
"We were founded in 1969. We started as Yamaguchi Engraving, a machining manufacturer that engraved metal nameplates and dials." Mr. Ryohei Yamaguchi, the current chairman and one of our founders, was a man of great initiative. He moved ahead of others, introducing an NC milling machine for engraving, and brought in the latest equipment in the mid to late 1980s such as a wire electric discharge machine, coaxial five-shaft machining equipment and a 3D measuring machine in Nagaoka to enhance the machining facilities. Since then the company has been a manufacturing enterprise handling monozukuri with an integrated production system consisting of design, development, machining, assembly and even inspection.
"We stepped forward to precise machining because the chairman was very particular about monozukuri. As we helped all the manufacturers facing trouble who asked us, we have consistently had a challenging stance toward a highly difficult level of machining. As a result, we have gradually improved our technological capabilities. We can now enumerate our capabilities of responding to monozukuri with a high degree of difficulty as a company strength."
Mr. Yoshikazu Yamaguchi, the president and CEO of Yamaguchi Kikai Inc. said this.
The main business today is machining parts used in industrial machinery such as machining tools. Most requests are machining specially shaped parts, which requires advanced technological capabilities. This is worthy of special mention.
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Cutting-edge machining facilities |
"Machining parts individually ordered by customers is the center of our business. There are many consultations about the development of parts machining that customers gave up after trial and error because of complicated shapes," Mr. Yamaguchi said.
Regarding consultations and orders for difficult machining, they discuss with customers on the basis of drawings and work hard to achieve the necessary contents while sometimes providing technical proposals.
"We inform customers of the finished images that we can make by saying that we can conduct machining if the workpiece is this size and this shape; thus we can meet customer needs. We fulfill customer expectations with QCD integration."
The best technical proposals can be provided on the basis of detailed suppositions, including even assembly requirements, because of Yamaguchi Inc. that works on monozukuri with an integrated production system.
"Some customers tell us 'we are like a shelter that offers the very last chance for refugees.'" As Mr. Yamaguchi said this, the reliability built up with deep knowledge and significant experience has created a high level of machining technique and dedication in responding to difficult customer orders and issues.
Precise error-free measurement of one micrometer
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Mitutoyo's high-precision CNC CMM
STRATO-Apex7106
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The pivot of the quality assurance system to support Yamaguchi Kikai Inc. machining technology is the STRATO-Apex 7106, which is Mitutoyo's high-precision CNC CMM and has been installed since 2017. Mr. Yamaguchi, President and CEO, explains why his company selected the model:
"The demands for precision and quality have been higher year-by-year. We must have inspection result data from high-precision measuring instruments to talk with our customers. Therefore, we needed to conduct measurement with a one-rank-higher high-precision measuring instrument given our planned business expansion. Simultaneously, we also seriously examined the measurable functionality that we have not been able to obtain so far such as capability for viewing 3D shapes processed by a five-axis processing machine and profiling measurement capability."
Mr. Yamaguchi continued to emphasize quality assurance, "There is one more thing we cannot compromise on: after-sales service."
"Requests for processing complicated shapes have increased lately; for some such requests, we cannot immediately determine whether precise measurement can be conducted after processing. In this case, as a manufacturing company, we would like to ask a machine manufacturer for advice. The possibility of collaborating with us to solve any difficulties in quality assurance was a key point. So, we determined that we could rely on Mitutoyo."
One person in charge of inspection is Mr. Tomoyuki Ishii, who works in the Quality Control Section of the Quality Control Division. It is the Quality Control Division that was established along with the introduction of the STRATO-Apex 7106. Mr. Ishii has been working for the company for five years. He has been charged with the important task of quality control, and he said, "I have done what I should do, and that's all I can do. Every single day is a lesson for me."
Yamaguchi Kikai Inc. has an incentive system targeted at employees to encourage them to obtain national qualifications related to monozukuri (manufacturing) to improve their techniques and skills. Mr. Ishii has already obtained the qualification of third-grade mechanical inspection engineer and is now preparing for the qualification of first-grade engineer. He said with enthusiasm, "If we have basic knowledge, we can apply it to our inspections."
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Mr. Yoshikazu Yamaguchi,
President and CEO (left)
Mr. Tomoyuki Ishii, Quality Control Section,
Quality Control Division (right)
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While measuring instruments do not make money, the importance of quality control increases as the demand for quality becomes higher.
"If you have a machine that can measure one micrometer without any errors, you can sufficiently notify your customers of your advanced machining technology. Perfection in quality control is significant," said Mr. Yamaguchi, from which we can understand his uncompromising attitude on quality control.
Mr. Yamaguchi is working on robot development in cooperation with local manufacturers and universities.
"I would like to convey the fun of monozukuri to young people and children through robot development. I hope that some of them will be involved with monozukuri in the future; robot development is seeding for us," said Mr. Yamaguchi with a smile.
Passion and overflowing sentiment toward monozukuri propels Yamaguchi Kikai Inc. to lead with technology into the future with their relentless challenging spirit as they rapidly progress.
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