For ASANO to Continue to Evolve

Placing value on “Opinions from the workplace” and “Speed”

Two of the pillars that support ASANO’s monodzukuri  (manufacturing). That is “development using opinions from the workplace” and “development speed”. The expertise that combines these two things, which are sometimes at conflict, is the strength of ASANO manufacturing. This article features ASANO product development that increasingly evolves through the use of 3D printers .

Customer opinions obtained from 3D samples

3D printers play a vital role in the development of ASANO products. It has become more common to see 3D printers in the world of monodzukuri (manufacturing). However, at ASANO, we have been using them for development and study purposes ahead of other companies. 3D printers excel at allowing us to “repeatedly conduct detailed studies on products prior to mass production”. The ability to touch an exact size 3D sample not only allows us to discover any underlying problems in advance, it also allows us to receive more feedback from our customers. We take these 3D samples along to our sales activities and exhibitions, where we receive a great deal of hints for development and improvement by having people handle the samples.

A powerful tool for joint-development

Exact size 3D samples are also important items to have when conducting joint-development with customers. It is very important that people can view 3D samples at an early stage when moving forward with product development together with everyone in the workplace such as fishermen. The ability to exchange opinions in an honest and speedy manner has allowed us to pursue even high quality. Using the latest technology including 3D printers as shown here, we will continue to work on products that resolve customer problems from the very beginning. This ASANO STYLE will continue to progress into the future. We look forward to hearing your opinions in the near future!