Page 85 - Forbes - USA (March 2020)

SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION
THK TO MAINTAIN MID- TO LONG-
TERM BUSINESS STANCE
While many companies have assumed a
short-term business stance, Akihiro Terama-
chi is keeping his sights on the mid- to long-
term, and is looking to capitalize on the new
reality of digital technology, aging popula-
tions and globalization.
“The business world is shifting more and
more to a short-term stance. It’s a bit like Extended Life Expectancy
being told to be ‘on your mark, get set and Presents Staggering Business
go,’ then having to dash. I believe business Opportunity
is more like a marathon, so we need to see
things over the longer term if we are to react
efficiently,” says Teramachi, Chief Executive
Officer and President of the company that
developed the Linear Motion (LM) Guide
mechanism in 1972.
Akihiro Teramachi graduated from Keio University in 1971 and joined THK Co., Ltd. in 1975.
He became a Director in 1982 and Vice President in 1994, before becoming CEO in 1997.
“I believe business is more like a mar-
athon, so it is necessary to see things
over the longer term if we are to react
efficiently.”
Akihiro Teramachi
Chief Executive Officer and President, THK
Impact of Digital Technology
and OMNIedge Launch
Teramachi and his staff are not adopting a
short-term stance, but are seeking medium
to longer term solutions as their clients switch
strategies, products and business flows using
the latest in digital technology.
Digital technology underpins AI, IoT and
robots, all of which are fields where THK Globalization
solutions are in demand. However, increased
digitalization has also created a need to boost
their response time to their clients. To reply
to those demands, the company developed
Omni THK, a platform for communicating
with clients.
Following on this development, from 2020
THK will offer a new service—OMNIedge.
OMNIedge installs sensors on THK com-
ponents embedded in client machines to
monitor and predict faults by collecting and
analyzing data as well as issuing alerts.
“The data gathered from this diagnosis not
only makes our products more visible, but
can also be used to help us advance to the
next stage,” Teramachi says.
Amid predictions that human beings may live
until the age of 120, the challenge is to keep
up with the compound needs of the ultra-
aging population. Teramachi believes sup-
port robots are the answer, but he sets high
entry requirements.
www.thk.com
“Human beings are multifunctional ani-
mals. Hence, robots that perform only single
tasks will not be able to help us in the future.
Human symbiotic or human-friendly robots
that can perform multiple tasks or jobs are
needed,” he says.
That suggests a business opportunity of
staggering proportions.
“The global population is approximately 7
to 8 billion people, and if the approximately
1 billion of those people who live in the
advanced industrialized world live in har-
mony with such human-friendly robots, then
we are talking about the birth of a market
equivalent to that of the global automobile
market,” Teramachi says.
Given that 60% of its workforce now works
overseas, it is no surprise that THK is also
banking on globalization. The company is
building a new factory in India, and Terama-
chi expects the country to develop into a
market second only to China. Further facto-
ries are being considered as THK looks to cut
the distance between supplier and user.
“When it comes to components produced
in volume, supply and distribution lead times
become extremely important, and we are
setting up a system that allows us to pro-
duce close to our clients. I believe this to be
an important strategy,” he says.
The adoption of these bold strategies sug-
gests that Teramachi and THK will success-
fully continue to adapt to the changing busi-
ness environment of the future.
Akihiro Teramachi
Chief Executive Officer and
President, THK
Japan 7