Nearly 100 Units Installed, Backed by Immense Trust in Evolving Performance

Taiyo Co., Ltd.

(Headquarters: Hamamatsu, Shizuoka)

Established in 1961, Taiyo Co., Ltd. has been involved in cutting aluminum products for over half a century. The company has its headquarters in Hamamatsu City, Shizuoka Prefecture, as well as a plant in Kumamoto Prefecture. It has 80 employees, all working hard daily to create high-quality products.

SPEEDIO Continues to Evolve, Keeping up With the Times

Taiyo's relationship with Brother began in 1985. The former president attended an exhibition at Brother's Mizuho plant and was captivated by the tapping center's high-speed machining capabilities and excellent tapping performance, leading to the purchase of their first machine, the TC-211. Since then, the partnership has continued to grow for nearly 40 years.

During this period, the company transitioned from BT40 to BT30 machining centers, for their superiority in faster machining and cost reduction. Today, all of Taiyo's machining centers have been updated to the TC series and SPEEDIO series, with 65 SPEEDIO units, including the S500Xd2, in operation at the headquarters plant in Hamamatsu and 27 units at the Kumamoto plant.

President Miyachi explained that the reason they continue to choose SPEEDIO is because "it continues to evolve." For example, regarding machining space, he noted: "The range of machinable workpiece sizes has expanded even within the same capacity, enabling us to handle large-part machining as well." A few years ago, the company also began installing rotary tables, which had previously been sourced from another manufacturer, as part of a set. Since then, he said they have not experienced a single malfunction, placing great trust in the system.

Furthermore, he said that he feels SPEEDIO is a machine that aligns with the needs of the times, addressing social issues such as energy savings and carbon neutrality. In particular, business partners these days are increasingly seeking initiatives toward carbon neutrality. "When adopting a new machine, it's extremely helpful to be able to immediately see information on how much power consumption will change compared to the previous machine."

New Model Proves Useful as a Debugging Machine

Taiyo updates its machines each time a new model is released. One of the latest models is used as a debugging machine during the startup of new production lines. President Miyachi explained the reason behind this: "As machines continue to evolve, we need to be able to understand their performance."

Mr. Miyata, who operates the machines on the production floor, highlighted three key features of SPEEDIO: "First is serviceability. When a problem occurs, all it takes is a phone call, and the parts arrive the next day. That's extremely helpful. Next is operability. The screen display is easy to understand, and anyone can use it. This helps improve work efficiency. Maintainability is also a major attraction. New machines may have more parts, but their structure is clear and easy to maintain."

Mr. Mamiya, who designs the programs, added, "Since switching to the Brother rotary table, we've been able to control all axes simultaneously, which has dramatically improved the speed of axis movement and magazine turn. To be honest, it's surprisingly fast. I feel that this is one of SPEEDIO's strengths." He also noted, while prefacing that it's an error that should never occur, "Even when tapping twice, the accuracy is so high that there's no misalignment," praising the machine's performance. At the same time, they provided valuable feedback on areas for improvement and issues, such as chip evacuation.

Information Extraction and Connectivity Are the Next Key Challenges

Looking ahead, President Miyachi identified two goals: visualizing and improving productivity.

"To achieve this, the key is how much useful information we can output from these machines. We need to explore that potential. Of course, developing the human resources to do so is a major challenge. However, we ourselves must actively master technologies such as AI and IoT, and continue moving forward without falling behind in the wave of machine tool evolution."

He further emphasized that the future of the manufacturing industry will require close integration of three elements: equipment, people, and robots, connecting them as a unified system.

Lastly, drawing on Taiyo's extensive track record of machine implementation, he also expressed high expectations for Brother:

"It's rare to find an environment with such a large number of machines. We hope you'll propose collaborations and tie-ups that create new value by leveraging this environment."

Taiyo is working with a clear vision for the future. With SPEEDIO and Brother machines as ongoing partners supporting these challenges, the company aims to carve out a brighter future together. We hope this partnership will lead to further improvements in productivity and the creation of new value.