More than 94% of manufacturing companies are experiencing labor shortages.

While attention is focused on “skilled human resources” as the most important issue, the challenge is how to make “on-site productivity” high and strong with human resources as immediate workforce and how to hand down skills to the next generation. In addition, as the competitiveness of quality is recognized as being linked to corporate growth, “quality improvement” is being emphasized, and the root of differentiation is largely related to the shortage of human resources, such as employees’ awareness of quality improvement and human resource issues. It is important to show what the manufacturing industry should look like in the future and to provide “options.

For example, MISUMI, as a social infrastructure for the manufacturing industry, which is a key industry in Japan, creates innovations that solve problems and leads the manufacturing industry DX. MISUMI has developed “mevyi,” a globally unique AI platform for procuring machine parts that eliminates inefficiencies in the manufacturing industry and provides “time value” on a global scale. It is a case study of successfully creating 90% of time through productivity innovation, and is the manufacturing industry of the future and strategy.

In addition, how are Yamaha’s domestic and overseas musical instrument manufacturing plants utilizing data to “improve the quality” and “pass on skills” of musical instruments, which are carefully made one by one with high sensitivity and craftsmanship, as part of the smart factory concept? This is an interesting case study of Yamaha’s approach to the quality of musical instrument manufacturing and the transmission of technical skills.

In these manufacturing industries, an increasing number of companies are focusing their efforts on passing on skills due to the difficulty of securing human resources and the aging of skilled workers. How can we preserve the skills that are an important asset of manufacturing sites? The visualization of know-how and skills is an effective way to promote the transfer of skills, and from the perspective of DX, the transfer of skills at manufacturing sites can be changed by visualizing know-how and skills.