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Web-only Exclusives
November 30, 2000

From Our Correspondent: Hirohito and the War
A conversation with biographer Herbert Bix

From Our Correspondent: A Rough Road Ahead
Bad news for the Philippines - and some others

From Our Correspondent: Making Enemies
Indonesia needs friends. So why is it picking fights?

Asiaweek Time Asia Now Asiaweek story

OCTOBER 29, 1999 VOL. 25 NO. 43

I, Robot
Through his computer-controlled devices, Inaba changed manufacturing
By TODD CROWELL and MURAKAMI MUTSUKO Tokyo

    HALL OF FAME
Asiaweek Business Hall of Fame
Asiaweek salutes three business pioneers who helped make the Asia of today and stand as an example to those building the region's tomorrow
• Inaba Seiuemon: Through his computer-controlled devices, Inaba changed manufacturing
• Y.K. Pao: Hong Kong's first businessman of truly international stature
• Washington SyCip: From one-man auditor to management services multinational

Asiaweek Entrepreneurial Hall of Fame
The entrepreneurial ethic had never really caught on in Asia, where bigger was usually considered better. But those days may well be gone
• Adi Adiwoso: A maverick businessman looks to change Indonesia
• Liu Jing: China's get-rich ethic is changing private enterprise
• Daniel Ng: Are there riches in teaching companies about the internet?
• Park Soo Woong: Today's lesson: how to start a successful business

Past Laureates
Every year since 1994, Asiaweek has honored a selection of business people who have made a truly great impact on the region's commerce and industry

  RELATED STORIES
Asiaweek Hall of Fame 1998

Asiaweek Hall of Fame 1996

Just about everything at robotics giant Fanuc Ltd. is a bumblebee yellow. The company cars and helicopter are painted yellow. The office ladies who bring visitors their tea wear yellow smocks. Yellow is, not surprisingly, the favorite color of Fanuc chairman Inaba Seiuemon. He likes to point out that it is "the emperor's color." That is appropriate since Inaba presides over his company and the world of factory robots and numerical control (NC) devices like an emperor.

Fanuc is the world's leading producer of industrial robots and NC devices, which have, in a sense, redecorated the globe's factory floors with thousands of nimble mechanical arms that can do anything from weld new car doors to sculpt supertanker propellers. The company boasts about 50% of the world market for NC devices (70% in Japan) and the lion's share of the market for industrial robots. It has been historically one of the country's most profitable companies, making money even during Japan's prolonged recession, and is one of the firms winning investor confidence in the wake of the current recovery. Its shares are rising steadily after reaching a low one year ago.

Unlike some of Japan's other industrial legends, such as the late Morita Akio, Inaba did not build his enterprise from scratch. Fanuc is a subsidiary of the electronics giant Fujitsu (the name Fanuc was originally short for Fuji Automatic Numerical Control), and Inaba has always been a company man. Born in 1925 in Ibaraki prefecture north of Tokyo, Inaba studied how to design cannons among other things at the University of Tokyo during World War II and later earned a Ph.D. in engineering from the Tokyo Institute of Technology. He still prefers to be called "Dr." Inaba. In 1946, he joined Fuji Tsushinki Seizo, the predecessor of Fujitsu. He worked at a plant in the countryside until 1955 when, at age 30, he was tapped to head the new control-device division on the recommendation of a distant relative who sat on the board of directors.

Diving into overseas research, Inaba quickly decided that the future lay in numerically controlled machines (such as automated machine tools), and produced Japan's first NC device a year later. When microprocessors came along, Inaba quickly leapt to adopt them as well. The new production machinery proved not only the answer for factories struggling with a shortage of skilled workers, they also allowed Japanese companies to achieve world-beating levels of productivity and quality. Fanuc's role in revolutionizing manufacturing was perhaps proved in 1982 when General Motors formed a joint venture with the Japanese firm. The link made GM a pioneer among U.S. carmakers in introducing robots on the factory floor, while opening the way for Fanuc to acquire new American-designed technology. (GM sold out a decade later. Fanuc operates another joint venture with General Electric.)

Research is Inaba's pride. One-third of Fanuc's staff are researchers and 10% of revenues go to research and development - only because researchers cannot consume more, Inaba says. But the company's fundamental breakthrough came not so much from advanced technology but from an early decision by Inaba to develop versatile devices capable of multiple tasks, rather than custom products made to order. That allowed the company to apply the classic Japanese techniques of standardization, mass-production and, above all, quality control and product reliability. Another foundation of Fanuc's success is its expertise in both computers and servo-motors - the brains and the muscle of its products, respectively - that helps it stay ahead of rivals. And keeping an eye on the ball; Fanuc has never deviated from its two basic products, industrial robots and NC devices.

Inaba is said to run his company with almost military-like precision. Once he makes a decision, it is nearly impossible to talk him out of it. But if a better idea comes along, he is quick to pick up on it. One such brainstorm was to move the company's headquarters and major production plant to Oshino, a picturesque village at the base of Mt. Fuji, after he saw numerous U.S. and European corporations head to the countryside. Oshino is far enough from Tokyo that Inaba provides many of his workaholic employees with comfortable housing and cultural facilities (complete with a plainly named "Drinking Place" for after-work refreshment.)

Since Fujitsu spun off Fanuc in 1972, Inaba has served as managing director, then president, and since 1995 as chairman. At age 74, he is still going strong. Considering the company's strength and the alluring prospects for introducing more robots to European and U.S. assembly lines, the "emperor" of robotics is not yet ready to change his colors.

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