I have been running a manufacturing community since 2021. Why did I start such activities in the first place? The idea was born from multiple viewpoints intertwined with each other. I’ve learned from a book recommended by my friend that there was a person who put it into practice 50 years ago. Honestly, I was deeply impressed, so much so that I referred to this person as my predecessor. At the same time, however, I was disappointed by the fact that little progress had been made over the past 50 years.

Today’s manufacturing industry is built on a structure that the whole process is divided into four different stages of thinking, producing, selling, and using. Those involved in each stage tend to seek their own benefits in silos, resulting in a proliferation of products that fail to capture the essence of manufacturing and lack thoughtfulness for their users. As one of those involved in developing industrial products, I can’t help feeling frustrated at this situation. In its original sense, manufacturing is an act of making things to satisfy one’s needs based on one’s own initiative with a bit of ingenuity. With this principle in mind, our community aims to restore a desirable mechanism of manufacturing in its original form.

Members with different areas of expertise get together to share their ideas and experiences and join hands to work on the project. Each member aims to gain their own advantages that are different form each other. So, the community works like an ecosystem where its members benefit from mutual assistance and benefit. Through this process, a workable system for manufacturing is expected to emerge in a sustainable manner, taking advantage of the once-thriving integrative perspective that’s teetering on the brink of vanishing due to the ongoing segmentation of manufacturing process.

Isn’t it nice to dream about an exciting future like this?

Isao Sakata

Product Design Dept.

Senior Director