Sam Thomason went from an arts degree to CNC engineer at a Japanese precision machinery company after a 2006 Rotary exchange to Ishikawa Prefecture. He started on the assembly line mounting ball screws within 5 µm tolerance, moved to test-cutting, and now works for the North American importer. He's hosting a virtual factory tour on May 14th.
Hey everyone, this is Sam, or Sam the Robot man as my mates like to call me because I love automation. And this is a little story about how I went from a completely clueless arts major to a CNC applications engineer at one of Japan's most precision obsessed CNC manufacturing companies, Takamatsu Machinery. So I'm not exaggerating when I say when I started, I literally didn't know what a CNC machine was. I didn't know the difference between a lathe and a banana. So I really started from the bottom. So how did I end up where I am today? So our story begins all the way back in 2006 when I went on a Rotary youth exchange program to a small rural town in Ishikawa Prefecture on the west side of Japan. Now, I fell in love with the region, the people, the culture, the food, the language, everything. And years later, after finishing university, I knew I didn't want to just visit again. I wanted to live there. And one company stood out above the rest, and that was Takamas. Now, at the time, I had a background in sales and a degree in arts and communication, but zero engineering knowledge. But they hired me anyway, mostly for my bilingual skills. Or so I thought. And I naively thought that I would study up on the catalogs, learn a bit about the product, and in a few months time, I'd be out there swinging CNC machines left and right in Japan. Boy, was I in for a rude awakening. So as it turns out, Takamasu doesn't let anyone near their customers until they know the machines inside and out from the ground up. So instead of putting me into the sales team as I was hoping, I was put into the assembly line. And my first job was learning how to level machines, mount ball screws to within 5 microns of straightness, and yeah, even put the stickers on the machine covers perfectly straight. So perfection wasn't just for ball screws and that sort of thing. It was in every task, big or small. That's the Japanese way. And they really kicked my ass into it until I learned it properly in the best possible way. So after about a year on the assembly line building machines by hand, they moved me into the test cutting division. And I learned how to program CNC machines as well as pick tools, work holding, read a drawing and all the rest, as well as crash the machines, fix them and then get them running better than they had been working before. Or at least so I thought. It wasn't always smooth. I stayed up late, I asked a million questions until I'm sure the people around me who were very patient must have been sick of my questions and I made a lot of mistakes but I kept going and slowly I became a machinist, an engineer and I guess you could say a CNC guy. So fast forward to today. Now I work for UAS International which is the master importer for the Takamas line in the United States and Canada. But it all started in that factory in Ishikawa on the west side of Japan. Now in a few weeks time on May 14th I'm heading back to Takamas where it all started for the first time in many years and I'll be doing a virtual tour sharing the story, the machines and the culture that shaped me. And I want to bring you along for the ride. So if you're interested in precision machining, factory automation or just love a good underdog story, follow me. There's a lot more to come. Look forward to seeing you there mate.
