is a

machine tool builder A machine tool builder is a corporation or person that builds machine tools, usually for sale to manufacturers, who use them to manufacture products. A machine tool builder runs a machine factory, which is part of the machine industry. The machin ...

based in Ōguchi, Aichi Prefecture, Japan. It has global market share in CNC machine tools such as CNC

lathes A lathe () is a machine tool that rotates a workpiece about an axis of rotation to perform various operations such as cutting, sanding, knurling, drilling, deformation, facing, and turning, with tools that are applied to the workpiece to cr ...

, machining centers, and turn-mill machining centers. The company also offers FA (factory automation) products and

servomotor A servomotor (or servo motor) is a rotary actuator or linear actuator that allows for precise control of angular or linear position, velocity and acceleration. It consists of a suitable motor coupled to a sensor for position feedback. It also ...

s. It is listed on the

Tokyo Stock Exchange The , abbreviated as Tosho () or TSE/TYO, is a stock exchange located in Tokyo, Japan. It is the third largest stock exchange in the world by aggregate market capitalization of its listed companies, and the largest in Asia. It had 2,292 listed ...

and is a component of the

Nikkei 225 The Nikkei 225, or , more commonly called the ''Nikkei'' or the ''Nikkei index'' (), is a stock market index for the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE). It has been calculated daily by the '' Nihon Keizai Shimbun'' (''The Nikkei'') newspaper since 1950 ...

stock index In finance, a stock index, or stock market index, is an index that measures a stock market, or a subset of the stock market, that helps investors compare current stock price levels with past prices to calculate market performance. Two of the pr ...

History

The company was founded in 1898, as the Okuma Noodle Machine Co., to manufacture and sell noodle-making machines. Eiichi Okuma, the founder of the original company, was working on how to make

udon Udon ( or ) is a thick noodle made from wheat flour, used in Japanese cuisine. It is a comfort food for many Japanese people. There are a variety of ways it is prepared and served. Its simplest form is in a hot soup as with a mild broth called ...

more effectively. He was using lathe to make "sticks", that has an important role in cutting the udon noodle. But the lathes used in those days in Japan were of poor precision. This was one of big reasons which convinced Okuma to start making machine tools. In 1918 Eiichi established Okuma Machinery Works Ltd. and started selling the OS lathe. Okuma is a machine tool builder with a history of more than 100 years. Lathes were the main product category in the early days of company. The line now includes many CNC

machine tool A machine tool is a machine for handling or machining metal or other rigid materials, usually by cutting, boring, grinding, shearing, or other forms of deformations. Machine tools employ some sort of tool that does the cutting or shaping. All ...

s, including lathes, machining centers (mills), multitasking (turn-mill) machines, and grinding machines. Okuma's Double-Column Machining Center has a large market share in Japan.

Technological development

Okuma MULTUS U3000 multi-tasking machine with automatic tool changer 2

Most machine tool builders source their CNC controls from partners such as

Fanuc FANUC ( or ; often styled Fanuc) is a Japanese group of companies that provide automation products and services such as robotics and computer numerical control wireless systems. These companies are principally of Japan, Fanuc America Corpor ...

, Mitsubishi Electric, Siemens, and

Heidenhain Dr. Johannes Heidenhain GmbH is a privately owned enterprise located in Traunreut, Germany that manufactures numerical controls for machine tools, as well as mechatronic measuring devices for length and angle. Their linear and angle encoders a ...

. Several builders have developed their own CNC controls over the years (including Mazak, Okuma, Haas, and others), but Okuma is unusual among machine tool builders for the degree to which it designs and builds all of its own hardware, software, and machine components. This is the company's "Single Source" philosophy. Okuma's CNC control is called the "OSP" series. It offers closed-loop positioning via its absolute position feedback system. The "OSP" name began as an abbreviation for "Okuma Sampling Pathcontrol". In an industry that pushes hard for continual technological innovation, Okuma has often been an innovative leader. For example, it has been among the leaders of development for thermal compensation and collision avoidance. Thermal compensation is designing the machine elements and control to minimize the dimensional distortion that results from the heat generated by machining. This is done both by preventing heat buildup (for example, flowing coolant through machine elements formerly not cooled) and by detecting and compensating for temperature rises when they occur (for example, monitoring temperature with a sensor and using the sensor's output signal as input to the control logic). Collision avoidance is designing the machine to predict and prevent interference, for example, having the machine "know" the form and location of all fixturing so that it can foresee a crash and stop its own movement before crashing. Recent innovation includes technology to avoid chatter, both by predicting and preventing it and by early automatic detection and correction (via dynamic changes of speeds and feeds) when it does occur.

References

External links

Corporate Homepage

Okuma Global

Okuma on Facebook
{{Authority control Engineering companies of Japan Machine tool builders Multinational companies headquartered in Japan Manufacturing companies established in 1898 Companies based in Aichi Prefecture Companies listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Japanese companies established in 1898 Science and technology in Japan Japanese brands