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.

So, you exerted a lot of effort into marketing?

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.

 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.

 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.

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.

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.

 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.

 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.

 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.

 In the future, it would be nice if ACCRETECH and Nagase could jointly develop products that meet the times.

Yes, we would definitely like to cooperate with you on that.