Monodzukuri Nippon Grand Award HOMEJapanese
Documentation of Award Winners’ Enthusiasm
search by keyword search by region play video see cartoon version
Professionals Who Create the World's Leading EdgeProfessionals Who Succeed Tradition and Keep Progressing
Oita Kimono dressmaking Robot
Oita City, Oita Prefecture
Open i Systems 
Co., Ltd.
Nakamoto, Daiichiro(38) 
President Oita City, Oita Prefecture
Open i Systems Co., Ltd.
Nakamoto, Daiichiro(38) 
President
Development of Dressmaking System by Employing the Expert Skills of Japanese Dressmakers
One-third of the time needed to make a kimono is occupied by the tachi (“cloth cutting”) process. It takes even a skilled kimono maker about four hours to determine the cutting lines after achieving a perfectly matched design, which requires many years of experience. The “Tachi (cutting) Robot” developed by Mr. Nakamoto of Open i Systems allows the operator to conduct such dressmaking processes as matching designs on the operation monitor by entering certain physical data about the person who will wear the kimono. Mistakes can be avoided by checking the displayed conceptual image of the kimono wear. Simply pushing the start button activates the robot to mark the cutting positions as well as the sewing lines.
The time it takes for this process has been significantly reduced to just 40 minutes and the beautiful finish obtained has earned this robot system a favorable reputation.
The vast experience and expertise of my mother, a 1st-class Japanese dressmaker, is generously integrated in the dressmaking robot that I developed.
read prize-winner’s documents
Company Profile
Open i Systems Co., Ltd.
http://www.open-i-systems.com/
Established in 2004. The company’s main business is the development of dressmaking robots. Their robot system has been delivered to the clothing factory of “Funai Corporation” managed by the family of Mr. Nakamoto, who is also one of its executives. The latest software has been sold to five other dress manufacturers. Mr. Nakamoto intends to set up an online kimono shop by April 2006.
The cutting process that requires expert dressmaking skills can be done by a robot.
“The most dutiful son in Japan,” read the headlines in a local newspaper that reported Mr. Nakamoto being awarded the prize.
Mr. Nakamoto was raised by a single mother as he says, “As long as I can remember, I didn’t have a father.” Despite his majoring in industrial engineering at university, he entered a securities company because he “wanted to experience a different world.” Still, he had already made up his mind to take over his family’s dressmaking business in the future.
“I grew up brainwashed by my mother who persistently told me to take this job (laughingly).”
After working as a securities dealer for one year and then at a kimono-related company in Kyoto for another year, he returned to his home in Oita at the age of 29 to work at “Funai Corporation,” the dressmaking company headed by his mother, Nobuko. She had established the company about 40 years ago and is certified as a 1st-class Japanese dressmaker. About 30 people are working there making kimono wear from rolls of cloth.
Kimono making mainly consists of three processes: cutting the cloth,
marking the cloth, and sewing the material. Of these, cloth cutting requires more expert skill than the other two processes. This process involves the marking of cutting positions while envisioning a design matching that of the completed kimono wear, and then cutting by using scissors. To avoid a mismatching design, such as between the left and right sleeves, the utmost care is necessary. It takes well over four hours even for a certified, experienced dressmaker to cut out all eight parts of a kimono, such as the sleeves, body, and neckline parts. This poses such a demanding task that many dressmakers simply give up and quit.
The “dutiful son” grew up playing in a dressmaking factory while becoming computer-savvy to the point of writing a program as a 5th grader in elementary school. Upon facing the difficult situation presented by dressmaking, he deliberated about how he could make the cloth-cutting process much easier by utilizing IT (information technology). His idea to use the computer culminated in a kimono-making system called “Tachi (cloth-cutting) Robot,” as a term of endearment.
   
Once the operator enters the data, the robot does the rest of the work, moving over the cloth and accurately marking the positions
Once the operator enters the data, the robot does the rest of the work, moving over the cloth and accurately marking the positions
I want to activate the traditional industry through the utilization of IT.
This system enables the design-matching process to be done on a PC display by simply entering the personal physical data, such as height and arm length, of the person who is to wear the kimono. Then the robot moves over the kimono cloth spread on a 15-m-long table, marking the cutting and sewing positions according to the data entered. The rest of the dressmaking process, that is, cutting and sewing, is done by a dressmaker.
The effect of this system is phenomenal. The dressmaking company that introduced this robot succeeded in reducing the four-hour period conventionally required for cloth cutting to only 40 minutes. This allows a customer to order a kimono in the morning at the tailor, and then pick it up in the evening; a service thought inconceivable until now. Of course, the software represents the brains behind this system, and is a fruit of joint development involving the mother and her son working together for a single-minded purpose.
“I generously incorporated the extensive know-how of my mother, a 1st-class Japanese dressmaker, regarding such aspects of kimono cloth as its “texture,” since my knowledge was very limited. In turn, she didn’t know anything about computers or machines. In creating this system, we had spirited discussions, which may have sometimes sounded as if we were having arguments (laughing).”
Such discussion went something like, “Hey, you should bring this edge to the side a little bit!” “A little bit? How many millimeters are you talking about?” As a result of such an animated exchange of ideas, an epoch-making system capable of revolutionizing dressmaking was born.
Mr. Nakamoto established Open i Systems in 2004 for the purpose of manufacturing and selling his dressmaking robot system, and has also begun selling the system’s software to other dressmaking machine manufacturers.
“Despite having declined from its peak days, the kimono industry still represents a 600-billion-yen market. We are also witnessing a noticeable trend toward regaining an appreciation of traditional “Japanese” culture, and I believe the chances are good for another kimono boom to come. This system rationalizes the high-risk work that is particularly demanding of a dressmaker’s skills and time. Nothing brings me more joy than to see this system widely used to help invigorate the entire kimono industry.”
This system requires more than 15 meters of space for robot operation, and this may severely limit the number of dressmaking factories that can adopt the system. Consequently, a more “compact system” is now being developed, and features a device for rolling up the kimono cloth to save space. The challenge of this “dutiful son” of the industry—to revive the traditional industry by means of IT—has thus just begun.
Page TopPage Top
 
About this site (C)2006 The Japan Machinery Federation
The contents are based on the information as of 2006/03/31. This project is subsidized by the Japan Keirin Association