When lofty claims are supported by verified, tangible procedures, then noble words such as quality, repeatability, guaranteed products and processes are no longer mere clichés. Throughout the entire process, words remain in line with reality; chips are made the proper way, from the initial planning, design and production of the tool or equipment to on-site testing at the customer's premises.

So where does one start? Quite simply, from a concept that today is considered somewhat antiquated: old-fashioned respect. Respect for the customer and respect for attention to detail. This type of respect is characterized by a deep awareness of the many requirements demanded in precision manufacturing, and then meeting and exceeding them through careful, thoughtful design and production. Is this really an outdated approach? Even though it might appear somewhat archaic, a visit to the production sites and logistics center demonstrates the meticulous care and attention that is paid not only to production but also to inspection and shipping.

The challenge of an ever-changing market

In analyzing the market situation, Yasuhiro Uchida emphasized that there is a noticeable and growing demand for small and medium-sized machines, while demand for larger machines is declining. The same applies to tool holders and cutting tools. "From our perspective, it is necessary to continuously provide even greater precision. An example of this market trend is clearly visible in the automotive sector. In order to extend the battery life of electric vehicles, new cooling systems have been developed, which have complicated shapes with small holes and, therefore, require high-precision tools. Of course, we welcome this trend because high precision has always been the strength of both BIG DAISHOWA and BIG KAISER."

Thinking critically about the actual challenges faced in today's market leads to the realization that there are so many technologies available today that substantial innovation is becoming increasingly difficult to attain. What does this mean? 

"The technological challenge that we are faced with is to constantly improve the level of precision of our products. This is crucial because if we stop producing the highest quality market-leading products, it's game over," stress Yasuhiro Uchida and Kazuya Adachi.

"In Japan, our share in the tool holder market is now around 50% and in Southeast Asia (excluding India) it is almost 50%. In Switzerland, our share of the boring tool market is around 50%. Nevertheless, many companies throughout the rest of Europe are still unfamiliar with our products and we want to increase our penetration in this market by offering high-performance and extremely precise solutions. We want these companies to test our products in their operations, and let the results speak for themselves. For us, our key technological challenge and strength remains precision. From the business point of view, we need to increase our footprint. We have a lot to offer, and we can prove it."

A much-discussed topic is an interconnection of machines in production with data acquisition and management, namely industrial IoT, which is quickly becoming dominant and disrupting established mindsets. If one were to consider the machine tool, the tool holder and all the equipment as comprising a single system, the question then for BIG DAISHOWA and BIG KAISER becomes: how will the Internet of Things transform the market? While it is always difficult to predict the future, certain trends and indications are more than evident.

In regards to current communication protocols, the technical team at BIG DAISHOWA and BIG KAISER view the industry mainstay Bluetooth as inadequate for handling the ever-increasing volumes of data. Bluetooth is more than sufficient for simple communications between the sensor of an instrument and a receiver, however, for more demanding communications between the receiver and the machine tool, a new solution will need to be determined as there is still no industry standard – this is a key step.

"Today, the tool holder communicates with the machine via our Factory Manager system: this system is used at Production Site No. 2, in Awaji," explains Yasuhiro Uchida. "In the future, the tool holder will have to provide real-time data for parameters such as the vibration level of the cutting tool, the balance of the tool holder and various cutting conditions. It will essentially have to become smart. In our opinion, this will become the key characteristic of future tool holder development. We are currently developing new products with integrated sensors for communicating with measuring tools. Our latest product, Dyna-Vision, which is currently not yet available for the European market, measures tool profiles using an M2M communication protocol. To meet our customers' growing demands for more accurate data, we need to improve the communication between the machines and the sensor to provide more profiling data. In our opinion, the next big step in the development of the Internet of Things will be the communication systems between the measuring instruments and the machines to enable appropriate corrections to be made automatically and promptly when an inconsistency with the design specification arises."