Project Story

Hirohiko Furukawa (joined the company in 1989)

New Business Development Team Leader

Reasons for joining the company
I've been involved in circuit design for laser products, but I joined Ono Sokki because I wanted to be involved in promoting products from start to finish.

Ryota Oshima (Joined the company in 2005)

Development Team Leader

Reasons for joining the company
As an engineer, I was drawn to the fact that they develop everything in-house, from detectors to analyzers. At Ono Sokki, the opportunity to be involved from research to product development and mass production is also one of its attractions.

The "LV series" laser Doppler vibrometer measures vibrations of microstructures non-contact. A flagship product of Ono Sokki since the 1980s, it has enjoyed a high market share, but with technological advancements, there has been a growing demand for even higher functionality. In response, the "LV-1800" was released as the sixth-generation model. We spoke with them about the development process behind this revamped best-selling product. The "LV series" Laser Doppler Vibrometer is a measuring instrument that measures vibrations of microstructures non-contact, and is used in fields such as PCs, hard drives in home appliances, micro-rolling, and medical equipment. The mission was to add new functions to the conventional "LV-1700" and release the "LV-1800" as a new flagship product.

Furukawa: The "LV series" was already highly regarded for its sensitivity and enjoyed a large market share, but in addition to customer requests for "even higher sensitivity" and "improved handling," the fact that other companies are now offering similar products means that further competitiveness is necessary. Furthermore, sales staff have also frequently heard requests from clients and distributors directly regarding performance improvements and pricing.
In that sense, even with best-selling products, we are always thinking about upgrading them. The improvements this time are to increase the detection sensitivity of the laser that measures the amplitude of the target object, and to incorporate a camera. First, we discussed with the technical department whether it was technically possible to do so.

Oshima: From a technical standpoint, increasing detection sensitivity is a challenge, and we also have to consider the cost of mass production. If the cost is higher than conventional products, it will be difficult for customers to accept it. Improving detection sensitivity has been a challenge since the start of the project, and I remember being very happy when the sensitivity increased 100-fold during the research phase. We were also able to measure objects with low reflected light, which was a request in the planning stage.

Furukawa: It's very encouraging to hear that from the technical team. The planning team's job is to decide to what extent to incorporate diverse market demands into mass-produced catalog products. Based on direct customer feedback and marketing data, we find the best balance between functional improvements and mass production costs.

Oshima: We had a lot of trouble incorporating the camera into this project. We had to rethink the product's mechanism from the ground up.

Furukawa: In that sense, I made quite a few unreasonable requests. I had them make prototypes so many times.

Oshima: I didn't want to compromise on that, so I went through countless design changes.

Furukawa: In addition to improved performance, there were many requests from customers for enhanced usability, so we were confident that our new product with a built-in camera would be well-received.

Furukawa: Improving the functionality of our measuring instruments is essential for enhancing the quality of our customers' final products. Properly feeding back this feedback from the field into product development is key to creating better products.

Oshima: Our technology is prepared to handle any request our customers may have. Innovative things don't happen overnight; it's important to constantly accumulate ideas and expand our repertoire. We are proud to say that we were able to pack many of those ideas into the "LV-1800."

Furukawa: The resulting "LV-1800" is something we can confidently propose to our customers. All the hints for creating better products are found on the factory floor. To ensure that customer feedback is incorporated into next-generation products, we encourage not only sales staff but also those involved in product development to actively go out into the field.

Oshima: On the technical side, we want to make sure we don't compromise on the requests from our customers and sales team, and instead strive to create high-quality finished products that meet their specific standards.

Increased sensitivity by 100 times, making it easier to use.

Hirohiko Furukawa (joined the company in 1989)

Ryota Oshima (Joined the company in 2005)