Mitutoyo Celebrates 90th Anniversary with Grand Ceremonies

July 3, 2024

Mitutoyo (Kawasaki, Japan; President: Yoshiaki Numata) is celebrating its 90th anniversary this October. In advance of this milestone, commemorative ceremonies were held on May 30th in Utsunomiya and June 13th in Hiroshima, both of which included tours of nearby production facilities. President Numata emphasized the company’s commitment to craftsmanship.

Uncompromising quality from the beginning

The venue with about 400 participants.

“Two years after our founding, we succeeded in producing Japan’s first micrometer. But out of a batch of 100, only 17 were perfect and the rest were buried in the ground. This demonstrated our commitment to uncompromising quality, a principle that remains unchanged today,” said President Numata, opening his speech at the anniversary celebration with this anecdote.

Mitutoyo is celebrating its 90th anniversary this year, and a ceremony was held at a hotel in Utsunomiya on May 30. About 400 participants, including executives from machine tool manufacturers, trading companies, and major users, gathered to celebrate.

Moving showroom concept

Tours of the “M³ Solution Center” and other facilities were also conducted.

At the event, President Numata reiterated the company’s commitment to craftsmanship. The opening anecdote underscored this point. Mitutoyo is also in the midst of reorganizing its production system, has been shifted all production to domestic facilities over the past five years. “By pursuing high productivity and quality with Made-in-Japan products, we can continue to develop and compete globally,” Numata explained.

To support this shift, the company has been enhancing its domestic production bases, incorporating automation and digital technologies. The goal is to increase productivity while leveraging data from the production floor for quality assurance and design development.

The Utsunomiya plant is also being reorganized as part of this policy. On May 30th and 31st, tours of three factories and the “M³ Solution Center” showroom in Utsunomiya were held to showcase the newly established factory building. “We aim to create a ‘moving showroom’ where we can share our automated and data-driven factories with visitors, and create new ideas with them,” said Numata.

Looking ahead to the 100th anniversary, Numata pledged to foster a corporate culture where employees can freely take on challenges for the next 10 years.

Governor Attends Celebration

The post-ceremony reception in Utsunomiya was also graced by the presence of Governor Tomikazu Fukuda of Tochigi Prefecture, who enlivened the event with a celebratory toast. A similar ceremony was held in Hiroshima on June 13, followed by factory tours on the same day and the following day.