Business Strategy and Outlook
| Jason Kondo |Yaskawa Electric is one of the leading players in the servo motors/controllers, inverters, and industrial robots markets. With a strong core in its "mechatronics" technology, which is an engineering field that integrates mechanical and electronics principles into devices/systems and a term pioneered by the company, it is looking to realize synergies among its products by making a shift from being a provider of motion-control products to a provider of data-driven factory automation solutions, through its i3 mechatronics (pronounced “i cubed”) initiative. To lay the foundation for this shift, the company has built and commenced operations of its Yaskawa Solution Factory, which leverages big data and interconnects the key devices/components like motors to increase automation and improve productivity (see Economic Moat section for details). We expect the company will transfer this production technology to its other manufacturing sites, which will realize efficiencies and increased capacity to meet further demand.