The Kyoto Pad Production Engineering Section takes the polishing pads developed by the Pad Development Section and configures systems to ramp up the scale of production, steadily mass-producing them. One way to think of it is that the departments before us go from 0 to 1, and we go from 1 to 100. The designing of the massive mechanized manufacturing lines is handled by the Equipment Engineering Section. Its main duties are installing the equipment used in mass production and determining the settings and conditions of existing equipment.
Personally, I’m responsible for the line that manufactures soft polishing pads. Specifically, I optimize the manufacturing line process conditions to manufacture products while maintaining quality. I feel a mission to supply the new products that the whole company has its hopes on, and I think that through the trial-and-error I’ve done over the course of roughly two years, we’ve perfected our mass production manufacturing line.

Our biggest recent challenge was large-scale production of polishing pads. This involves a polishing pad resin formation process, and that process determines the broad characteristics of the polishing pads. The formation process conditions are therefore extremely important. Changing setting values has major impacts on the physical characteristics of the polishing pads, so finding the optimal values was an extremely difficult task. Applying the same conditions as used in small-scale production to large-scale production produced unexpected results. When we encounter situations like that, we configure actual manufacturing line conditions and perform verification testing. We confirm the changes in physical values that result from different settings and look for optimal production conditions. Polishing pads have several physical parameters, so we need to find conditions that cover everything.
Our company has over 40 years of experience in manufacturing polishing pads, and we have a wealth of knowledge and information that has been built up through the years of trial-and-error by our specialists with expertise in polishing pads. I combine the past experience and case examples of the engineers who came before me with my own knowledge and understanding of mechanisms from having majored in chemistry in university to set optimal conditions.

My own department is one that combines both technical and manufacturing facets, and I do a lot of work in the plant. Working on the factory side, closer to our customers, I hear a lot of customer requests, demands, and complaints. Most of the customers that buy our products are manufacturers of semiconductors and silicon wafers. Electronic devices, computers, automobiles, and the like use semiconductors, so if there are problems in our products, this can lead to customer complaints. That’s why I feel a strong sense of mission to satisfy our customers.
Minor condition and setting changes on manufacturing lines can cause unexpected problems, so when we make changes in response to customer requests, we need to verify conditions and settings with even more care that during initial deployment. I believe that showing a posture of confidence in responding to customer requests helps build customer trust in us and provides peace of mind, so in this area, as well, I’m always led by this sense of mission.

Our products are only truly products when they can be mass-produced in our plants. We encountered many difficulties, so it wasn’t always smooth sailing, but sales of the new products made on this manufacturing line are showing clear growth. That’s why my participation in that product really motivated me.
I feel special gratitude to two senior colleagues in my department, for whom I have the greatest respect. Due to the nature of what I do, I work with many other people, but these two colleagues are especially skilled communicators, and I’d like to follow their example. We’ve started working on our next new product, and in this new project, I hope people will rely on and take a liking to me, just like I rely on and have taken a liking to these colleagues.