Inaba's all-electric revolution garners him Hall of Fame spot

A leading technology pioneer in the plastics industry will take a place in the Plastics Hall of Fame.

Yoshiharu Inaba never expected to be getting such a nod, but he considers the induction a high honor, he said through a translator from his Japan offices during a recent interview with Plastics News.

"I was quite surprised," he remarked.

Inaba's 110 patents and projects speak for themselves.

Inaba, who is currently serving as the chairman of Fanuc Corp., has been working on the all-electric injection molding machine since he began his career nearly 40 years ago.

"For me, this award is one of the highest honors I've ever received," he said.

Hydraulic injection molding machines were often an inefficient use of energy, challenging for plastics manufacturers and had a host of environmental issues such as oil leaks, noise, controllability and stability.

After a visit to Milacron in Cincinnati in 1983, Inaba turned his sights to begin designing a new machine that would resolve such issues.

He returned to Japan to jump-start the machine with a team and got to work. In two years, Fanuc released the first electric injection molding machine for mass producing types of plastic.

Glenn Anderson, Plastics Industry Association vice president of industry relations and member engagement, nominated Inaba because of his design expertise and the revolution of mass producing precision injection molded plastics.

"Today, it is estimated that the entire fleet of all-electric injection molding machines globally is in excess of 200,000 units, which reinforces the significant impact that Dr. Inaba has had on the global plastics industry," Anderson stated in the nomination.

Inaba graduated from the Tokyo Institute of Technology in March 1973 and worked for 10 years at Isuzu Motors, which was part of General Motors at the time. He later earned a doctorate in precision mechanical engineering from the University of Tokyo in January 1999.

After he completed his bachelor's degree, he was able to take a three-month fellowship in the United States, which was when the idea to electrify was sparked.

Inaba said he and four other Japanese fellows rented a home in Cincinnati and studied together. During the day, they would study the hydraulic machines Milacron had to offer.

"But at night, we discussed how to electrify the injection molding machine," he said.

He has fond memories of the house: They would imbibe and chat into the wee hours of the night and talk machinery.

He explained the Cincinnati Milacron crew was "chummy" with the fellows and supported them throughout their short visit from January to March of 1983.

"During my stay in the U.S., I was able to expand my logical perspective," he said. "And after returning to Japan, I joined Fanuc."

He was assigned to develop the electric injection molding machine using servo mechanisms by his father, Seiuemon Inaba, the founder of Tokyo-headquartered Fanuc. He and the other students got to work to design the machine.

"At the time, my father and myself had absolutely no knowledge of injection molding machines," he said.

By November 1983, they were able to produce 15-ton and 75-ton prototypes of the electric machine, the Fanuc Autoshot.

Inaba said he didn't always enjoy school as a child because it's "predetermined and fixed."

"It has to be done in such a manner," he said.

But having an interest and curiosity in engineering helped him focus.

"I was able to concentrate deeply on my interests," Inaba said.

He described having a wide variety of interests from physics to chemistry — anything that "ticked" his mind. Even more business-minded subjects like running a company and later injection molding machinery kept him interested.

"I think having such a wide range of subjects of interests contributed to my personal success," Inaba said.

Inaba enjoys learning about new research from the Fanuc team and provides feedback and advice — one of his favorite perks of the job. He likes to hear of new developments in the industry at large, as well.

"Because I am interested in so many things, I'm able to enjoy anything," he said.

Particularly, artificial intelligence. Besides the Fanuc headquarters at the base of the Mount Fuji foothills, it has an advanced technology institute in San Francisco, where it researches state-of-the-art AI. Inaba suspects that AI is the future and in the next 10 years, technological advancements in favor of AI and Internet of Things will be critical.

"The biggest theme is for the industry to produce a flexible and smart calculation system employing IoT and AI. We are at this critical phase right now," he said.

Inaba expects the industry to have a lasting change from the coronavirus pandemic. During the interview, in which Inaba and those in his Japan office were all masked and separated by plexiglass dividers, Inaba said he believes it has created a good environment to make it easier for exchanging information online.

"Just like today, we can talk to each other without visiting the U.S., and I think this is a wonderful thing," he said.

At the beginning of Inaba's career, many thought that the all-electric injection molding machine would not be successful or spread.

"I received many criticisms for trying to develop an all-electric machine," he said.

Inaba oversaw the expansion of both production and support of Fanuc's products across the globe in Europe, the Americas and Asia. The company has a market capitalization of $36 billion.

Today, nearly 100 percent of injection molding machines in Japan are all-electric, with the percentage rising in the United States and Europe.

The all-electric machines have a third less power consumption, meaning there's less carbon emissions. If there were no all-electric machines, there would be no cameras, smartphones, DVDs, Blu-rays and optical discs.

"So many things that people use in their daily lives that would not have been possible," he said.

Inaba served as president of the company his father founded for 16 years before stepping down in 2019. He oversaw much of the global growth, including the supply of machine tools for smartphone cases for which demand boomed in the late aughts.

Inaba is still a chairman and representative director, and he remains active in the company.

He also serves as chairman of the Japan Robot Association and the subchairman of the Japan Machine Tool Builders' Association.

"I am able to advise in my personal work with other companies in the same industry," he said. "I think it's a pleasure for me to be able to contribute to the manufacturing industry."

He finds it important to have a deep interest and contribute to society through those interests.

"See how this is having an impact on the world. It's the ability to forget oneself and just concentrate on this specific thing," he said. "This is the only way you could really contribute."