We're attending and have some partner meetings at Logis-Tech Tokyo (sort of the ProMat of Japan) this week.
This show is held at Big Sight in the south Tokyo area (and I've often wondered if there's a misconception in the name between sight and site) but it is without a doubt a very big sight. The exhibition halls here are as large as any metropolitan city in the US - and probably larger.
As is usually the case, we see some things in Tokyo that you are likely not going to see elsewhere.
Now that's a big forklift - it's actually a container forklift. It took the booth attendants a while to get the answer to that question. Then I asked them what its capacity was. After another conference among the folks in the booth they told me that it would lift a full container. Doesn't matter how much it weighs - this machine can pick it up. This thing was every bit as big as any Cat earth mover - with wheels taller than a six foot human being. Very impressive.
Generally, there wasn't much new on the block here. There's a bit more emphasis on automation this year as compared to the last few years - certainly with a resurgence in AGV technologies as horizontal transport strategy.
Notably, a couple of companies are featuring AGVs powered by fuel cells - with a refueling strategy that is in loop - i.e. they address the capacity issue by making fuel stops as needed during production. It will certainly be interesting to see how this develops.
From our perspective, one thing that the Japanese don't seem to mind in material management - is handling something in process multiple times. Where operations design in the US is almost alway focused on limiting the number of 'touches', Japanese design features significantly more automation - significantly more than what US companies are willing to invest in - but with a large number of 'touches' of human interaction in process for inscrutable reasons.
