Executive Interviews

Yoshida: When did you join Taiho Kogyo?
Sugihara: I transferred from Toyota in 2014 and became president in 2015. Taiho Kogyo originally specialized in metal bushings for engines (called engine metal) and has a 76-year-long history. I was in charge of engine factories in Japan and overseas during my time with Toyota, and Taiho Kogyo was handling not only engine parts but also functional parts for driving and steering systems, so I was very well-versed in these parts because I’d made then in-house at Toyota, but I was also familiar with Taiho.
Yoshida: I think you have seen and experienced a lot over time. Based on that experience, what was the first thing you focused on when you joined Taiho?
Sugihara: Including my time stationed abroad, I was involved with in-house part manufacturing transition under the Production Engineering & Development Dept. for 17 years. Since becoming Section Manager, I was assigned to the manufacturing shop floor and managed parts/vehicle factories both in Japan and abroad for 20 years. Because of that background, when I began at Taiho, I first focused on production processes and shop floor strength.
Yoshida: The shop floor is where you see the workers in their true light, and it’s definitely the best spot to work from if you’re in the manufacturing industry.
Sugihara: Precisely. Bushings for engines are small parts, but they are very important parts that should never seize up. For this purpose, know-how is required for blending coarse material as friction material, and high accuracy is required of the molding and machining processes. Taiho’s strength is that it fulfills both of these requirements due to its practice of integrated manufacturing whereby it makes a product from material. Moreover, Taiho not only covers machining but also most elemental technologies in the production process for parts such as casting, metal atomization, rolling, sintering, heat treatment, press molding, plating, and resin coating. Each area is quite in-depth, and when I go to the manufacturing shop floor, I always learn something new.

Yoshida: Did you have a sense of how you wanted the company to change when you became president?
Sugihara: The very first thing I sensed when I became president at Taiho was that both the company and individual employees had walls all around them, and to put it nicely, everyone worked solemnly within their own capacities. In normal times, that can be considered a strength, but in this current fast-changing era, the whole company must unite and exhibit both creativity and speed. That is why I dedicated myself to sharing the company vision and direction with every employee, prepared Taiho’s original work ethos, started running ekiden marathons to foster unity and so forth.
These efforts resulted in livelier communication within the company and helped remove the walls, so we could become a company united as one. Also, when I first joined the company, the main form of interaction between superiors and subordinates, particularly on the shop floor, was OJT, however, there was a lot of tacit knowledge, and everyone’s style of teaching varied. When I go to provide support overseas it is sometimes really apparent to me how the capacity and teaching style of Japanese support team members differ, resulting in the local operators becoming confused. In light of this, I focused on putting that tacit knowledge into a tangible form and had the individual shop responsible for each elemental technology compile a written document, then launched “Skill-up System” as a program to train personnel with one, common way of teaching. This program made it possible to integrate the style of teaching from senior to junior workers and in turn further promoted a culture of teaching and being taught as Taiho’s foundation.
Yoshida: Now is a transitional period in terms of human resource development, etc. as we go through work style reform. Tokyo Seimitsu is also considering various approaches. We touched upon this a little earlier, but in terms of the industry also, the entire automotive industry is currently in a once-in-a-century time of great reform. Which direction do you think Taiho will take as the industry changes significantly?
Sugihara: Taiho’s main products are engines and drive parts, therefore, I am worried there will be a major impact on our company due to the growing popularization of 100% electric vehicles. Right now, we have hardly nothing to do with electric or electrical components, so we need to consider trying our hand at something new. If we describe our existing products as “defense” and new areas as “offense,” defense-wise it is important that we refine and improve conventional products to increase our competitiveness, while offense-wise, we must search for new areas and challenge ourselves to succeed at these. Both these offense and defense tactics are crucial to our company’s survival. In terms of existing engines, HV and PHV still prevail, and there is still quite a demand especially if we include the untapped Chinese market, so that is where I want to aim. Price is one factor to competitiveness, but in addition to price, Taiho will enrich our development of manufacturing methods, design technology, etc., to give us an even better competitive edge.
Yoshida: In other words, you want to increase accuracy while lowering cost. I also believe that accuracy requirements will continue to intensify moving forward. For the time being, engines won't be eliminated all entirely, rather there will be a period of hybrid cars. Also, in addition to engines, I think bearings will remain a necessary vehicle part. In which case, there will be demands relating to fuel efficiency, noise, etc., and in line with this, even higher accuracy will be required. That is how I predict things will be.
In China, electrification of vehicles is being advanced by the government, however, motorization is progressing and people are driving at fast speeds and longer cruising distances. We have more interest from OEMs seeking Japanese engine bearings due to their high reliability and high output/high rotation without seizure. Moreover, not only in regards to gasoline-drive vehicles but also diesel vehicles, in order to meet the requirements of Euro 6 vehicle emission standards, we are attempting to increase compression rate to improve combustion efficiency. For this reason, the bearing material must be able to withstand an even higher surface pressure. This is an area where we can harness our material technologies, so we are also strengthening our raw material bases in China.
Both Toyota and Taiho Kogyo have been well cared for by ACCRETECH's various precision measuring machines. Particularly in the area of machining where I worked, we needed measuring equipment for all aspects, both in-line and off-line and in the measuring room, to secure accuracy of the I.D/O.D., roundness, cylindricity, flatness, roughness, and shape. When I worked for the Production Engineering & Development Dept., if I was in a hurry I would prototype what I’d designed then measure it myself, and I was able to use almost all of the measuring equipment we had. Back then, things were primarily manual, but I was also able to prepare fixtures and align the machines before measurement. Nowadays that kind of alignment, etc., is corrected automatically, so it’s not something I can boast about, but back then, mass production machining lines were usually dedicated lines comprising of individual SPMs (special-purpose machines) connected into the flow. This is okay for large-volume production, but when part variety increased or design changes were made, we would have to set up the measurement machine all over again, and this was very time-consuming. These days, general-purpose machines have better performance and are capable of combined machining, so the mainstream approach is cell production in which all processes are integrated. We organically transitioned from an era where special-purpose measuring equipment was installed within a line, to an era where measurements could all be taken care of by a general-purpose CMM. In my generation, I saw measuring equipment transition from manual to electronic, but many more factors are also changing in terms of tangible and non-tangible elements.
Yoshida: Even at Tokyo Seimitsu, we’ve seen the change from conventional contact-type measuring to non-contact type and predict that non-contact needs will increase even further. To achieve further cost reduction, increasing takt time will be imperative, so we’d like to make it possible to measure products in-line as they are being machined and reflect measurement results into production processes instantly. We must also rise up to new challenges moving forward or we won’t be able to grow any further. Together with customers such as Taiho Kogyo, we are looking forward to embarking on our journey into these new frontiers.