Jumping into the unknown and becoming a technical expert.

I’ve been with the company for four years, and I work as a machining engineer in the Manufacturing Department.

For the first couple of months after joining the company, I learned how to use tools and how to measure things in the assembly section. After that, for two years, I was in charge of rough machining (creating a rough shape before finishing) using a three-axis computer numerical control (CNC) machining center.

I use an end mill tool to drill holes in parts called “chuck jaws” so other parts can fit into them, I also process grooves to combine them with the main body, and finally remove burrs. I am in charge of manufacturing about 90% of the parts called “chuck jaws”.

At first, I thought it would be difficult. However, even though it is a three-axis CNC machine, when it comes to machining, it is like moving each axis one at a time, so I don’t think it is that difficult.

Specifically, the first thing I do is decide on the tools and machining conditions to suit the material to be machined.

Next, I make the machining program and run the machine at a pace of one or two items per day, thinking things through myself or making adjustments to what my predecessor left behind.

When you think of machining, you probably imagine a craftsman finishing each piece by hand, but when you use a CNC machine, you have to think a lot about how to move the machine and the tools.

Well, for example, even if you’re simply drilling a hole, it can be either deep or shallow. Cutting produces chips, so if you try to drill a deep hole all at once, it will get stuck.

So, we have to divide the work into several steps, like this much per one process. It’s hard to learn the best way to process things through trial and error, but that’s also what makes it worthwhile.

My biggest mistake at work has been the most useful thing for my work. For example, once I used a measuring instrument incorrectly and cut away too much of a part. A senior colleague pointed out that I had cut away too much of the part, and taught me how to use the correct measuring instrument right there and then.

Fortunately, it didn’t turn out to be a serious problem, but after that I became much more careful about how I measured things. My senior also taught me that even machines that have the same name can have slight differences in their processing positions and performance depending on how long they have been used, so it’s important to learn the quirks of each machine as soon as possible.

I majored in law. In my seminar, I studied medical law and hospital management. It has nothing to do with my current job (lol).

Yes. Although I started with no experience, I was able to understand standard product processing after three months, and after a year I was able to do the whole process. Now I can make decisions about what I need to do on my own, and I know how to write a program.

Sometimes there are parts that are so difficult that I wonder how they were made. I find it worthwhile to keep trying to make them work, repeating tests, and asking other people for help if I don’t understand something. When I’ve finished, I feel happy that I’ve done a good job.

Even with relatively simple processing, if I get the tolerance (the minimum to maximum dimensional error allowed in machining) right the first time, I think I’ve saved time.

Consistently keeping to the very fine tolerances indicated in the drawings when machining machine tools, and also performing tasks such as removing burrs from machined parts, even when doing them by hand, in the same way as with a machine.

Even now, I sometimes damage parts because I can’t make a good hole in them with a drill, and sometimes I can’t finish the burr removal at a uniform angle. I can’t stop worrying about it.

I play games. Pokémon, Resident Evil, FPS, I like to play all kinds of games.

To be honest, I didn’t originally plan to join Kawatatec. By the summer of my fourth year at my university, I had received job offers from three companies, including a major corporation, but I didn’t fit in with the life at the company dormitory and ended up getting homesick.

So in November, I narrowed down my job search to companies that I could commute to from home and restarted my job seeking activities. I went to a large-scale job fair where companies I was interested in were participating. However, I made a wrong turn in the venue and couldn’t find the booth I was looking for.

Instead, I met President Kawata at the end of the wrong road, and that was how I came to meet Kawatatec. No other company was talking to students outside their booths, and the fact that President Kawata himself spoke to me as a student made a big impression on me, and I decided I wanted to move forward with the selection process for this company.

I later received an official job offer from Kawatatec in February, and even though it was a job I had no experience in, I decided to join the company because I was interested in manufacturing and thought I might be able to work there due to the calm and free company culture.

The company has a stable management, is expanding overseas, and has a good reputation for its made-to-order products, which have a wide sales channel.

The senior staff are kind. From the time I joined the company, not only the senior staff in the production department, but also the senior staff in other departments would talk to me in a friendly way, asking me what I was doing, and it was easy for me to talk to them too.

At first, I didn’t know what I should be doing at work, and I would often go to the senior staff to ask the same thing over and over, but they would always teach me the right way. Thanks to the kind senior staff, even when I wasn’t used to the work yet, I was able to think, “I’ll come to work tomorrow too”.

I know that you may feel impatient when your friends and other people around you get job offers or when graduation gets closer, but in times like that, I’d like you to stop for a moment and broaden your horizons.

There may be workplaces that suit you in industries you never imagined.

Please find the company that you feel most satisfied with, even if it takes a while. I’m sure you’ll find a workplace that suits you!