OKI Micro Engineering: Contributing to Society with Values that Move Things

Please start with a quick introduction to your company.

Our company is located in Nihonmatsu, Fukushima Prefecture. Our production subsidiary Adachi Protechno Co., Ltd. is located in the same location.  Nearby our company, there are tourist places such as Nihonmatsu Castle Ruins and Mt. Adatara (Adatara-yama), and Mizuhara River, where hundreds of swans fly in winter. In English, our company name is Oki Micro Engineering Co., Ltd., which we often abbreviate to OME. Our employee headcount is about 70 right now. Our company specializes in the development, design, manufacturing, and sales of precision small motors and actuators. Our affiliates are Adachi Protechno Co., Ltd. in Japan, a sales subsidiary in Hong Kong and a manufacturing subsidiary in China.

Now I would like to discuss the history of the company. OME’s business has started from our original company called Tohoku Oki Electric Co., Ltd., which was founded in 1961. We began manufacturing and selling printer motors in 1966 and have been manufacturing and selling motors for about 60 years. During that time, we developed solenoid gas valves and swing selectors, which were produced in China beginning in 2006. Our latest development, our Thumbelina line, began production in 2020, featuring high-torque, small motors.

Thumbelinas equipped with various reducers

A compact manipulator equipped with five Thumbelinas

With the key message “Delivering OK! to your life,” OKI Group is committed to using technology toward realizing a more prosperous society. Within society, there are multiple challenges, including SDGs and creating a circular society. OME aims to contribute to society with values that move things. As a customer requests to solve a societal issue, we contribute to solving those issues through the supply of our products using our actuator technologies.  

Next, I will cover some of our products. First, we have the aforementioned Thumbelina Brushless DC motor, which is very light and has low power consumption. We released this product in 2023. Our rotary solenoid is what we refer to as swing selectors. We were also a pioneer in the space of solenoid gas valves. Overall, we have sold approximately 400 million actuators.

Our company engineers through concurrent engineering, covering all aspects from design to production of actuators in parallel. In addition, our company possesses magnetic field simulation technology, which is utilized to make appropriate proposals to customers. Our simulation technology checks the motor design to see whether the motor behaves the way it should in advance without prototyping. While software can run simulations for us, accumulated design data is required since data is necessary for the simulation to be accurate. The design data developed over many years is the strength of OME. In process design, we’ve tried to emphasize the keywords automation, simplification, multiplication, and streamlining, as well as in-house procedures. Automation is needed to eliminate the need for manual work. Simplification is the process of making processes that are very complicated and simple. Multiplication means that multiple tasks can be performed simultaneously. Streamlining is to eliminate stagnation and to make things flow smoothly in the production process. The production engineering division and the manufacturing division are working together on streamlining through production improvement and equipment installation.

In 2015, the United Nations adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and earlier, you mentioned how your actuators tackle sustainability for your clients. How do those products like your actuators tackle sustainability for your clients? What are some of the other sustainability initiatives you’re undertaking to minimize your environmental impact?

We don’t merely perceive environmental sustainability as our responsibility; we are proactively approaching it as one of our corporate strategies. There are two main initiatives for sustainability, and one of them is our high-efficiency motor. The Thumbelina motor, in particular, is high-torque and requires less power consumption.

The second initiative is the provision of motors and services that can be recycled. The only parts of our motors that wear over time are the bearings. Other than the bearings, everything else can be recycled. We collect used motors from customers, disassemble them, replace the bearings, and then deliver the reassembled motor to the customers.

What is the shelf life of the bearing?

We purchase the bearings from a supplier. It really depends on the supplier’s specifications.

Thumbelina is your recent product, first launched in 2023. It is specifically made to fit in a robot hand for robotics. Can you tell us what makes this product stand out in terms of innovation? What do you think are the core development strengths of your company that allow for the development of innovative products such as the Thumbelina? 

The background for this development was based on the increasing demands from the robotics and production industry. Robot hands have to have high-performance technology. We have developed motors that can answer the robotics industry's demands. If you compare the size and weight to a JPY 1 coin, it is smaller, with the length being about 18 coins stacked and the weight also being about 18 coins.

Our motors use an inner rotor system. This motor has a cored structure with multiple magnetic polarities and slots. The motor also utilizes our new technology to allow for wiring in even very small spaces. This integrated core increases the efficiency of the wiring. The second key difference with our products is the magnetic structure which divides a magnet and combines magnetized magnets at each pole. This separation improves the performance of the magnets and, thus, the efficiency of the motor. All of these improvements result in the power requirements being reduced significantly. Customers benefit in this sense because they are able to utilize motors of similar power but in a smaller space. With the volume being reduced by 49%, the footprint of the motor is considerably smaller. With the smaller size and weight, torque is increased by 86%, and when compared to a similarly powered motor, power consumption is reduced by 46%. This can be applied in many fields including medicine, space exploration, drones, and robotics.

You asked how we can develop such innovative products, and I think that comes from our challenging spirit. We develop and never give up, working towards achieving the targets we’ve set ourselves. One of the main points might be the fact that we don’t introduce specific technologies for motors; instead, we are utilizing existing technologies that are used outside of motors. We are leveraging those technologies to enable what was previously never done.

The need and speed to improve has pushed many technological fields towards miniaturization, with a requirement these days for technologies to be smaller as well as faster than previous generations. You told us that power consumption was reduced by 46% and torque is up 86% in your Thumbelina Brushless Motor. For the next iteration of the Thumbelina, what targets have you set to evolve your product line further?

The basic goal for the next iteration of the line is to vary the motors we offer. This is because customers have been requesting either smaller or larger motors with variations in the power output. Requests such as these are diverse; therefore, diversifying the lineup would be an approach that could cater to a wide variety of clients. In addition to the motor, we are also looking into proposing peripheral modules and making improvements to the computer drivers for the motor. For the drivers, we are working with a partner company with the intention of making the printed circuit boards (PCB) smaller.

Earlier, you mentioned that Thumbelina has applications in medical devices, for example. Among all of the potential applications you mentioned, which has seen the most success so far?

So far, I expect applications in the medical field, robotics, and semiconductor manufacturing equipment, and we are focusing on these fields.

In addition to brushless DC motors, you also manufacture stepper and geared motors, which are suitable for printers and copiers. The geared motors are also designed for use in medical equipment and factory automation. What are the advantages these motors offer, and which industries do these motors hold the greatest potential for applications to drive future business growth?

Regarding stepper motors, we produce to industry standards, so we don’t believe there is any priority in this area right now. However, our geared motors are quite unique. I would like you to think for a second about pachinko (Japanese pinball) and slot machines. We have motors that are specifically designed for these machines. These motors have high torque and hard to leak magnetic flux. These machines require motors that do not respond to magnetic sensors, and we recognize that our company has an advantage.

Your solenoid Swing Selector is commonly used in ATMs and vending machines. The actuator comes in a variety of sizes. What growth opportunities does this aspect of your business present, and how does it compare to your motor business?

Regarding the Swing Selector, we are looking into applications for auto-locking doors, but compared to our motor business, growth potential is quite small. In terms of the actuators, we have gas valves, and we believe there is room to grow in international markets by working with MABUCHI MOTOR CO., LTD. in the future.

Rotary solenoid with “Swing Selector” trademark

Your company is actively participating in exhibitions and fairs, and examples include the Monozukuri Fair in 2024 in Fukuoka and the Robotics and Aerospace Festa in Fukushima. What value do these exhibitions bring, and how have products such as your Thumbelina been received?

We participated in three exhibitions recently. The first one you mentioned was the Monozukuri Fair, and for that, we exhibited with our partner ADI. Thanks to this joint exhibition, we are now receiving increased inquiries from customers, which is leading to further business opportunities.

Imagine that we have this interview all over again in five years' time. What goals or dreams do you hope to achieve by the time we come back for that new interview?

Finally, we have reached the point where we have launched our Thumbelina motor, so we hope that by the time you come back for that new interview, we will have achieved JPY 500 million in revenue. I hope that our products are utilized worldwide.

For more information, please visit their website at: https://www.oki-microeng.co.jp/