Question:
Tell us about how Yaskawa Electric got started in the motor industry.

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The history of electric and electronic control gear by our company began with a coal pit hoist in the Chikuho coal fields on the island of Kyushu. That was 88 years ago. After that, our headquarters were built in Kurosaki, Kitakyushu, and we had the advantage of being located right next to Nippon Steel (called Yawata Steel Works at that time) which gave us the chance to work on electric control gear for steel manufacturing. In the 1970's we built the control gear for a continuous casting process that gradually cooled and hardened cast iron (made from coal, iron ore, and other minerals in a blast furnace) while cutting it into so-called “slabs” and “billets” and conveying them. In a process in which materials flowed from upstream to downstream, electromotive technology-in which electric power is converted to mechanical power-was utilized to convey the materials. This technology could be used outside of the steel industry as well, such as for the winding of paper in the paper industry, or the winding of threads in the textile industry.

Soon we began to hear requests for smaller and faster motors, and the servomotor was born. Servos are the motors used in wire bonders and other types of semiconductor manufacturing equipment, and their motion must be extremely fast compared to that of the motors used in steel manufacturing. In 1960, we established the field of servomotors by coming out with new motors, including the “Minertia Motor” and the disc-shaped “Print motor,” that pushed the limits of servo performance. These motors became popular for a variety of applications, and I think they contributed in the evolution of the current field of “mechatronics”.

Question:
In what areas are the servos and inverters developed during your company's history used today?

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Motors convert electrical energy to mechanical energy, and are used just about everywhere in our society. In manufacturing processes (and in a wide range of other applications), the conveying of materials and goods in one form or another is performed almost exclusively by motors.

For example, servomotors move robot arms and drilling and cutting devices at the machine tool, and are used in capacitor winding machines, press brakes, textile machinery, chip mounters for printed circuit boards, and injection molding and bonding machines. Inverters are used for motor drives in escalators and elevators.

Still, while motors and inverters enhance the convenience of all of these kinds of equipment, they consume a large amount of energy (the electric power used in electromotive power applications amounts to approximately 70% of the total power) and so there is call for more energy-saving designs.