安川电机_公司介绍_中文 - PDF to Podcast
Published on Sep 01, 2026
Description:
Welcome back to The Circuit. Today we're looking at a company you've probably seen in the background of every automated factory: Yaskawa Electric. Sam, where do we start?
Let's start at the beginning. Yaskawa was founded in 1915, and its first product was a 20-horsepower three-phase induction motor. The company says that motor responded 100 times faster than conventional products of its time.That early motor became the prototype for today's servo motors, and it embedded in the company a simple but enduring purpose: to pioneer electric motors and their applications.
And that led to robots, right?
Exactly. In 1977 Yaskawa introduced MOTOMAN-L10, Japan's first all-electric industrial robot. It replaced hydraulic robots and opened the door to the modern industrial robot era.
A 20-horsepower motor in 1915, and then an all-electric robot in 1977. That's a pretty clear thread: motors were always the beating heart.Let's dig into some of the milestones that made Yaskawa such a core name in automation.
Over the years, Yaskawa has clocked a long list of firsts and bests, from the Minertia motor and the VS-616T to a crystal-transistor inverter in 1983. Its motion control business grew around two pillars: AC servo drives and variable-frequency inverters.In its own words, the company has long held the world's top market share in AC servos, thanks to high-speed, high-precision control technology.Then in 2017, Yaskawa unveiled its solution concept, i3-Mechatronics. The three i's stand for integrated, intelligent, and innovative. The idea is to use servos, inverters, robots, production data, and AI together to raise quality, predict breakdowns, and create stoppage-free production lines.The hardware side keeps progressing, too. In 2017 Yaskawa released collaborative robot MOTOMAN-HC10, and in 2021 it introduced the YRM-X controller, which synchronizes data from machines and robots in real time across a production cell.It also mass-produced an industrial dual-arm robot in 2023 and, in 2013, developed a dual-arm robot system for biomedical analysis preparation using reagents and samples.
So it's not just about building robots; it's about turning a whole factory into a smart, connected organism.Now, Yaskawa isn't just looking backward. What's the strategy for the future?
The corporate philosophy was formalized as a company constitution in 1979 after the oil crisis, and reorganized in 2022 into Our Purpose, Our Values, and Our Actions. Its mission is to contribute broadly to society and human welfare through business, especially by solving labor shortages and removing people from dirty, demanding, and dangerous 3K work.In 2021, the company adopted a Sustainability Policy and identified key materiality issues under a Sustainability Committee chaired by its president.Long-term, Yaskawa has been executing Vision 2025 from fiscal 2016 through fiscal 2025, with the current three-year phase called Realize 25. It calls for planned cumulative investment of 150 billion yen over three years to strengthen in-house production, automation, plant restructuring, and local production.Financially, the target for fiscal 2025 is revenue of about 650 billion yen, operating income of 100 billion yen, and a 15.4% operating margin, up from roughly 11.5% in fiscal 2023.Beyond financials, Yaskawa says it will keep working toward SDGs, climate change response, clean infrastructure, and safe, comfortable life, using technology, data, and open innovation to expand into new fields.
So the hundred-year-old motor maker is really positioning itself as a sustainable society builder.
I think that's the story they want to tell: a century of accumulated motor technology, now driving society forward.
Thanks, Sam. That's a great snapshot of Yaskawa Electric. If you enjoyed this episode, subscribe so you don't miss our next deep dive into the machines shaping our world.